Carbon Dioxide Conversion

The Opportunity

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere by human activity, most significantly electric power generation, is regarded as a major contributor to adverse climate change by the “Greenhouse Effect”. The US Department of Energy Carbon Sequestration Program funded over $630 million in research and development support.

A system that would activate CO2 and convert it to useful commodity chemicals with economic feasibility would be a superior solution to sequestration and storage. In addition to the capital cost and technical challenge, sequestration will use 25% or more of the power output of a coal fired power plant. There is also the risk of CO2 release over time and the threat to life of a sudden and substantial release from geologic shift. The stability of the molecule requires a storage life in excess of that for nuclear waste.

CO2 is an inert non-polar compound with a very low energy state, resulting in a very high stability that has long defied efforts to successfully activate it by scientists. Catelectric Corp. has developed and patented an electrical control system for catalytic reactions that offers a proven solution.

In a sponsored research project at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Connecticut, a catalytic reactor with the Catelectric control system has been proven to convert CO2 into products of value, with product Selectivity approaching 100%. In addition to a wide variety of hydrocarbon products of value, significant amounts of free molecular oxygen are also produced.

Core Benefits

Produces products of high value from inexpensive CO2 feedstock
Process does not require prior CO2 sequestration
Products are selectively produced, eliminating the need for separations.
Process yields valuable carbon credits
Process is done in a single catalytic reactor with no moving parts other than the fluid (e.g. flue gas and product).
Uses a non-noble metal oxide catalyst costing under $5.00/pound.

Products Include:
paraformaldehyde, H2, CO, methane, ethylene, ethane, propane, propylene, cyclic hydrocarbons and alcohols and in excellent yields. Hundreds of hydrocarbons can be selectively produced, including larger molecules (to date up to C-42).

Thermodynamics

The claim that our system can convert CO2 into valuable hydrocarbons with energy of less than 4 watt-hours per mole appears to defy the laws of thermodynamics. For example, the simplest possible reaction by which CO2 and water can be converted into an alkane, in this case methane:

CO₂ + 2H₂O à CH₄ + 2O₂

This is an endothermic reaction, requiring an input of 818.5 kilojoules of energy (delta G) per mole of methane produced (starting with water vapor (CO2(g) + 2H2O(g)  CH4 + 2O2), the delta G is 801 kilojoules per mole. The stated 4 watt-hours of energy, however, is equivalent to only 14.4 kilojoules of energy, less than two percent of the energy required.

Depending on the product, the control system electrical energy provides less than two percent of that required for mass-energy balance. The remaining energy used in this process is thermal. Catalytic reactions are driven by thermal activation (kinetics).

In the flue gas CO2 treatment application, the process will use the waste heat in the gas to drive the reaction. This will not only mitigate CO2 emissions but local thermal pollution as well.

Most chemical production processes are thermodynamically “uphill”. Substituting CO2 for more expensive feedstock and producing carbon credits makes the Catelectric process feasible.

The feasibility of this process is further enhanced by the low capital requirement for production. The entire conversion process is single stage catalysis and catalytic reactors are scalable and gangable.