CO2 Recycling Discussed
April 2016 by Krebs & Sisler LP
Carbon dioxide (CO2) recycling occurs slowly in nature. It provides the oxygen we breathe. The natural process may be enhanced many times by the growth method of U.S. Patent # 8,673,615. This is the first large-scale method for recycling CO2 from fuel combustion waste gases whereby CO2 is rapidly converted to useful biomass and oxygen. It should achieve more than 100 times the natural biomass growth rate for a cyanobacteria like Spirulina in a continuous process.
We have so far determined that there are at least sixteen factors affecting the biomass growth rate, led by CO2 saturation in a deep continuous water flow and lit by 400 to 700 nm (nanometer) LED lighting.
This CO2 conversion process is called "The Oxygen Factory".
Multiple aerobic and autotrophic biochemical operations occur including the absorption of waterbourne elements released in titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalysis which accelerates purification of the water. Any mineral content is absorbed in the growing biomass. The biomass byproduct is an approximately 50% carbon fuel when dried.
CO2 is a crucial airborne plant growth nutrient. CO2 recycling may achieve numerous useful benefits within a single continuous process while overcoming the charge by some that it is a pollutant to be sequestered or eliminated from the air by onerous and expensive regulations.
Recycling Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
April 2014 by Krebs & Sisler LP
Air-fired coal and natural gas-burning power plants waste CO2, heat and water into
the atmosphere. Costly deep underground sequestration has been proposed as a method of disposing CO2. But sequestration wastes carbon (C) and oxygen (O2), two essential elements necessary for life on Earth. Because CO2 is a source for both carbon and oxygen, it has great value if these two elements can be economically separated.
While nature recycles CO2, its efforts are overwhelmed by large-scale producers
such as coal or natural gas-fueled electric power plants which typically exhaust 1,000 tons or more of CO2 per day. What is needed is large scale recycling of CO2 at the source.
We have developed a low cost CO2 separation and recycling method called
“Enhanced Photosynthesis and Photocatalysis Water Treatment/Biomass Growth Process.” It is described in U.S. Patent No. 8,673,615 granted March 18, 2014. It neatly complements the O2/CO2 combustion and condensing boiler system of our U.S. Patent No. 6,907,845 which separates and recovers CO2 and all other combustion-generated exhaust gases.
We discovered economical CO2 recycling in the finding that hydroponic biomass
growth can be increased more than 100 times the natural rate by continuous CO2 infusion and simultaneous LED visible light saturation. This improvement is outlined in the 8,673,615 patent.
In O2/CO2 combustion, oxygen is diluted with CO2 for temperature control of the
fuel oxidant used to combust coal, petroleum coke or natural gas. Excluding the nitrogen that is present in air-fired combustion enables cost-free recovery of both the condensate and the CO2 from a condensing boiler. The condensate and CO2 are pumped into deep and slowflowing water channels, saturated in the visible light spectrum of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). A photocatalyst mineralizes organic and inorganic compounds for absorption into a cynobacterial biomass like Spirulina. The absorption of minerals in the growing biomass concurrently purifies the flowing water. These processes when optimized will reliably operate at high efficiency with no harmful emissions or effluents into the environment. They will also produce a carbohydrate and protein-rich biomass useful for fuel, fertilizer, animal feed or a human food supplement.
We are now developing a combination coal, rotary kiln, O2/CO2 combustion
condensing boiler. It will have significant cost, efficiency and emission advantages. A critical factor for heat transfer efficiency is that the crushed coal rotary kiln method of combustion allows three to five minutes or more for complete fuel-burn and heat-transfer time, whereas the pulverized coal combustors presently in use allow only three to five seconds. Today’s air-fired plants operate at an average 34% fuel efficiency. Our O2/CO2 combustion method, when combined with a condensing boiler, can more than double plant fuel efficiency and thereby reduce both the fuel and oxygen requirements by half.
The many applications and advantages of this combination of processes include the
conversion of waste CO2, wastewater and saltwater to profitable biomass and demineralized drinking water, improved electric power production efficiency, virtually no harmful emissions, relatively low capital and operating costs at large scale, improved fuel flexibility, improved revenues and compact use of space compared to presently operational electric power production methods which waste CO2, heat and water vapor into the atmosphere.