Biomass and hydrocarb technology for removal of atmospheric CO sub 2

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1991 · International Journal of Energy-Environment-Economics; (United States)

OSTI ID:5409267

Steinberg, M ^[1]

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1. Dept. of Applied Science, Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (US)

All mitigation scenarios proposed to date either tend to slow down the rate of atmospheric emissions or level out the CO{sub 2} concentration in the atmosphere. A unique system has been devised which offers a method of actually reducing the CO{sub 2} concentration in the atmosphere while still generating energy from fossil fuel. The only economically and technically reasonable method for removal of CO{sub 2} from the atmosphere is by the process of solar photosynthesis which extracts carbon from atmospheric CO{sub 2} by formation of biomass, e.g., hemi-cellulose. The biomass is then thermochemically converted by the HYDROCARB technology with fossil fuel, gas, oil or coal to produce carbon black and methanol. The carbon is returned to the earth, for long-term storage, while the methanol is used as fuel. In this manner, methane gas and oil co-processed with biomass results in a net removal of CO{sub 2} from the atmosphere of about 78 lb CO{sub 2} per million Btu of methanol generated energy. There is also a large energy enhancement in utilizing gas and oil for producing methanol compared to conventional methanol processes using these fuels. Co-processing with coal results in no net CO{sub 2} generated or removed per unit of methanol energy generated. Co-processing with coal results in no net CO{sub 2} generated or removed per unit of methanol energy generated. This compares to an emission of 330 lbs CO{sub 2} per million Btu when conventional steam reforming coal is used for methanol production. The process chemistry system is described and quantified in this paper.

• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 5409267
• Journal Information: International Journal of Energy-Environment-Economics; (United States), Vol. 1:4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
CARBON DIOXIDE
AIR POLLUTION CONTROL
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
BIOMASS
CARBON BLACK
CHEMISTRY
COAL
FOSSIL FUELS
METHANOL
MITIGATION
NATURAL GAS
PETROLEUM
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
ALCOHOLS
CARBON
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CONTROL
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
MATERIALS
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
POLLUTION CONTROL
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
SYNTHESIS
540120* - Environment
Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
100200 - Synthetic Fuels- Production- (1990-)