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We've many times documented the plain fact, that, at one time, for a number of decades, Coal was being efficiently converted into liquid fuels just down and across the Kanawha River from, perhaps almost in sight of, the West Virginia State Capitol Building.
Union Carbide Corporation, at a couple of sites near and around Charleston, WV, starting in the late 1950's and even up until the early 1990's, prior to their assimilation by, in 2001 we believe, Dow Chemical Company, devoted a seemingly concentrated effort into demonstrating that Coal could be efficiently converted into a wide variety of hydrocarbons, which hydrocarbons included, even, synthetic rubber.
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Since it's now clear, as we most recently documented, for just one example, in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | US Gov Hires Penn State Bugs to Convert CO2 to Methane | Research & Development; concerning: "US Patent Application 20090317882 - Electromethanogenic Reactor and Process for Methane Production; 2009; Assignee: The Penn State Research Foundation; Abstract: Increasing competition for fossil fuels, and the need to avoid release carbon dioxide from combustion of these fuels requires development of new and sustainable approaches for energy production and carbon capture. Biological processes for producing methane gas and capturing carbon from carbon dioxide are provided according to embodiments of the present invention which include providing an electromethanogenic reactor having an anode, a cathode and a plurality of methanogenic microorganisms disposed on the cathode. Electrons and carbon dioxide are provided to the plurality of methanogenic microorganisms disposed on the cathode. The methanogenic microorganisms reduce the carbon dioxide to produce methane gas ... . Government Interests: This invention was made with government support under Contract Nos. BES-0401885 and CBET-0730359 awarded by the National Science Foundation. The government has certain rights in the invention";
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http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/
The United States Environmental Protection Agency Report we enclose via the above link clearly and definitively identifies Coal Ash, in it's several various forms, for what it truly is:
A readily available raw material resource that can serve as an energy-conserving and pollution-preventing substitute for conventional raw materials in the making of Portland-type cement and Portland-type cement concrete, and in a number of other construction and structural applications.
And, right up front, we want to reproduce one conclusion reached by the EPA, "the Agency", as excerpted from deep within the full document:
"(In) the Agency’s May 2000 Regulatory Determination for fossil fuel combustion wastes, EPA’s risk evaluation of the beneficial use of CCPs in cement and concrete concluded that national regulation under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is not warranted."
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United States Patent Application: 0090235587
We alert you that there is, in this dispatch, a rather satisfying "twist" to the Carbon Dioxide recycling technology disclosed herein; one that can and does relate directly to the indirect conversion of Coal, and of Carbon-recycling Biomass and wastes, into liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
We recently reported that a United States Patent had been awarded to a USDOE contractor, for the invention of a device that enables the conversion of a mixture of Water and Carbon Dioxide into a blend of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen; that is, a synthesis gas, or "syngas", suitable for catalytic chemical condensation into hydrocarbons.
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United States Patent Application: 0090317882
First, we remind you of an earlier dispatch, now accessible on the West Virginia Coal Association's web site via the link:
West Virginia Coal Association | Penn State CO2 to CH4 | Research & Development; concerning: "Direct Biological Conversion of Electrical Current into Methane by Electromethanogenesis; Shaoan Cheng, Defeng Xing, Douglas F. Call and Bruce E. Logan; The Pennsylvania State University; 2009; Here we demonstrate that methane can directly be produced ... by a process called electromethanogenesis. At a set potential of less than −0.7 V (vs Ag/AgCl), carbon dioxide was reduced to methane using a two-chamber electrochemical reactor containing an abiotic anode, a biocathode, and no precious metal catalysts";
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