Carbon Dioxide Conversion

Catelectric’s control system has been proven to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into products of value, with selectivity shown to be determined by the materials in the catalytic electrode and controllable parameters of the system. Products have been identified by gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and NMR by independent University of Connecticut scientists. They include paraformaldehyde, H2, CO, methane, ethylene, ethane, propane, propylene, cyclic hydrocarbons and alcohols in excellent yields. Over 1,000 products have been detected and can be produced selectively. Many of those products are now produced from petroleum feedstock.

Significant amounts of free molecular oxygen are also produced. The process is analogous to industrial scale photosynthesis at a far higher reaction rate.

The energy required is less than 4 watt-hours per mole of product in laboratory scale tests, making the cost of the process a small fraction of the value of the hydrocarbons produced. Economies of scale have been indicated for the energy requirement as the reactor size is increased.
In the subject tests, there was no conversion of CO2 when the control signal was turned off. The CO2 simply passed through the reactor unaffected.

There are significant market strengths for the Catelectric control system:

Direct one-step production is a single reactor with high selectivity of product.
Production of hydrocarbon and other valuable products from very inexpensive feedstock. Substitution of CO2 for petroleum as a feedstock also contributes to National energy independence
Creation of carbon credits by eliminating carbon dioxide from the environment. The U.S. electric power generation industry generated 2,245 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 1999. At the current trading rate for carbon credits, that market alone is approximately $4.5 billion dollars. Carbon dioxide feedstock need not come directly from the power plant emissions to produce a carbon credit for the plant, but may come from air or a purified air product.
Prior sequestration of CO2 is not required. Catelectric, partnering with the Department of Chemistry at the University of Connecticut, has developed a catalyst for the CO2 conversion application that naturally traps CO2 and releases it to the catalyst with no additional energy required. Sequestration by existing technology can use 25-30% of the energy of the power plant.

Examples of Products of CO2 Conversion and Economics

Aldehyde

• Currently produced from alcohol or petroleum

• Used to make polymer plastics, adhesives, and textile finishing agents (permanent press).

• Market value approximately $.21 per pound.

• U.S. Production 4.33 million metric tons (2003)

-$2 billion market

Ethylene

• One of many alkenes produced

• Currently produced from fossil fuels

• Used to make plastics (polyethylene), to ripen fruit and as a fuel.

• Market value approximately $1,570 per ton.

• Global Production 147 million metric tons (2005)
- $230 billion market

Climate Change

While there has been some debate over the cause and effect of global warming, the “greenhouse effect” is proven. There is a direct correlation between the gaseous components of a planet’s upper atmosphere and its surface temperature. Certain gasses are known to promote radiative forcing and have become known as “greenhouse gasses”. The atmosphere of Venus, for example, is 96.5% carbon dioxide and its surface temperature is over 870F

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is 85% of the greenhouse gas in our troposphere and most of it has come from human activity. Because CO2 is a highly stable molecule, with two double-bonds, it cannot be efficiently broken down by existing technology. Thermodynamically, the energy required would be similar to the energy of fossil fuel combustion. It is estimated that CO2 has an effective life of over 650 years under solar bombardment in our atmosphere.
Remediation measures have consisted of either sequestration and storage of CO2 or offset trades. Storage is problematic in that there are limited places, perpetual containment is not assured and there are environmental consequences. Deep ocean storage, for example, has the effect of acidifying sea water.

Greenhouse Gas	Preindustrial Level	Current Level	Increase since 1750	Radiative forcing (W/m²)
Carbon dioxide	280 ppm	384ppm	104 ppm	1.46
Methane	700 ppb	1,745 ppb	1,045 ppb	0.48
Nitrous oxide	270 ppb	314 ppb	44 ppb	0.15
CFC-12	0	533 ppt	533 ppt	0.17

Offset trades allow the implementation of other greenhouse gas mitigation efforts to be used to trade for what amounts to the right to release CO2. Such rights trade on the Chicago Climate Exchange and the European Climate Exchange, with a combined world market of over $30 billion.

Mitigation efforts include capture of methane from decaying biomass and forestation. Combustion of captured methane releases CO2. It would take the forestation of an area the size of Texas every ten years to offset only the CO2 produced from power generation in the U.S. alone.

A better solution for CO2 mitigation would be in demand and have great market value. The Catelectric control system is the first and only way to eliminate CO2 rather than compensate for its generation.

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. 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.

The remaining energy required is thermal. Catalytic reactions are driven by the kinetics of thermal energy. The Uconn series of CO₂ conversion experiments were run between 250-800 °C. The Catelectric control system has been shown to drive catalytic reactions at lower temperatures, but the thermal energy requirement remains.

There are two ways this system works with economic feasibility. First is by using waste heat. Fossil fuel plants try to turn as much heat out of the combustion as possible to energy, so the flue gas after the preheater is at about 150 °C. Catelectric is currently working with catalysts that promise to be effective at that temperature.

The second way the process can work economically is in existing applications that require thermal energy. For example, formaldehyde is produced industrially by the catalytic oxidation of methanol. In the more commonly used FORMOX process, methanol and oxygen react at 250-400 °C. The thermal energy is already invested in the process. The economic advantage this system can bring is the use of a lower cost feedstock (CO₂ instead of methanol) and the production of carbon credits.

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.