Synthetic Fuel Production with a Reduced Carbon Footprint

Lead Inventors: Marco Castaldi, Ph.D.; Frank Zeman, Ph.D. Problem or Unmet Need:As the world begins to focus upon reducing greenhouse gas production, technologies that reduce carbon dioxide emissions will become increasingly important. One of the easiest ways to reduce carbon dioxide emission is to simply capture and store it, as is done for large, point-source emitters, such as factories. Approximately 50% of emitters, however, are small and mobile, and therefore, cannot benefit from carbon capture and storage technologies. 65% of these emitters are associated with the transportation sector. One way to reduce vehicular emissions would be to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emitted during the production of hydrocarbon fuels. This technology uses chemical looping combustion technology to produce liquid hydrocarbons, such as methanol, with a reduced greenhouse gas emissions profile. Overall, the invention uses methane and carbon dioxide to produce synthetic fuel and carbon dioxide, which can be stored for future use. The technology performs this task in three stages. First the methane and carbon dioxide are reformed to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. These gases then undergo chemical looping combustion, during which a metal reduces the carbon monoxide and produces hydrogen and pure carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide may finally be stored and captured while a synthesizer uses the hydrogen to produce synthetic fuel. Depending on the original source of the carbon dioxide and the heat for the process, one may produce methanol, for example, with a greenhouse gas emissions profile of .25-1.645.

Lower carbon emissions profile than the usual technique of steam reforming methane. May use carbon dioxide and methane (or another basic hydrocarbon) from a number of different sources. The carbon dioxide may come from biogases or fossil fuels or may be reused from industrial processes. Can be redesigned to produce synthetic fuels other than methanol, such as DME.

Reducing carbon emissions during the production of fuel for vehicles, houses, and industrial processes -- if one uses biogases as input into the process, one can achieve a greenhouse gas emissions profile of .25-.645, much less than 1 May be tuned to produce organic chemicals for industrial uses Converting stranded natural gases into synthetic fuels Increasing the use of the carbon dioxide from tar sand plants, as tar sands become a more important source of fuel

Overall, the invention uses methane and carbon dioxide to produce synthetic fuel and carbon dioxide, which can be stored for future use. The technology performs this task in three stages. First the methane and carbon dioxide are reformed to pro...

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