CA2029101A1

CA2029101A1 - Process for reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and recycling of waste products

Info

Publication number: CA2029101A1
Application number: CA 2029101
Authority: CA
Inventors: Anthony Rowland Raab
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-11-01
Filing date: 1990-11-01
Publication date: 1992-05-02

Abstract

PROCESS FOR REDUCTION OF CARBON DIOXIDE
EMISSIONS AND RECYCLING OF WASTE PRODUCTS
ABSTRACT

It has been established through many scientific studies that one of the causes of warming of the earth's atmosphere is the presence of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere. In a thermal power station, the burning of fossil fuels leads to the emission of gases of which the principal one is carbon dioxide. By the control and processing of these emissions, it will be possible to reduce the quantity of carbon dioxide vented to the atmosphere.
Since carbon dioxide is fixed in organic form by the action of photosynthesis under sunlight, the use of suitably cultivated, or genetically engineered or otherwise modified biological organisms under the right conditions of pressure, temperature, solar flux, nutrients, oxygen and other necessary reactants lead to an enhanced rate of photosynthetic fixing of carb, and the generation of biomass of considerable utility in the further production of fuels, soil additives and other useful products.

Description

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PROCESS FOR REDUCTION OF CARBON DIOXIDE
EMISSIONS AN~ RECYCLING O~ W~STE PRODUCTS
SPECIFICATION
Background of the Invention It has been well established that the presence of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere leads to an increased temperature of the planet. The increased man-made emissions of carbon dioxide over the past few centuries are suspected of enhancing this greenhouse effect to the point where the resultant global warming may have severe consequences for the well-beinq of mankind. The principal source of carbon dioxide is the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas, widely and increasingly used in industrial societies in such facilitie~ and equipments as thermal power stations, industrial plants, `automobiles and domestic heating installations. Practical and economic ways of reducing such carbon dioxide~ssions are important in managing the effects of greenhouse warming and minimizing its consequences.

Brief Description of the Invention Briefly, a means for reducing carbon dioxide emissions is achieved by utilizing an optimum combination of sunlight and growing plant ~aterialjunder the correct conditiions required for accelerated photosynthesis and rapid growth of the plant material or biomass. By selection of the appropriate biomass constituents, and physical arrangement of the biomass within a stream of carbon dioxide gas, with proper sunlight or other photonic radiation, the well-known photosynthesis of carbon dioxide into biomass will occur at a greatly accelerated rate.
The resultant biomass, representing a significant fraction of the stored radiative flux used in the fixing of the carbon dioxide emissions are then available for further processing as a source of fuels such as methane, or as soil additives for agricultural purposes, to name a few applications. Since sunlight, consisting of ultraviolet, visible and infrared radiation, reaches the surface of the earth at low latitudes with an intensity of about 600 W/meter-squared, an area of 1 kilometer-squared would receive sufficient solar flux to convert at 100% efficiency the carbon dioxide emissions of a 600 MegaWatt thermal power station, though practical considerations such as cloudiness, night, biomass conversion and other efficiency factors reduce overall efficiency :
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Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiment A more detailed description follows ir conjunction with th~
following drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is an illustration of existing techniques used in the generation of electrical power by a thermal power station FIG. 2 is an illustration of a thermal power station located in an area of high solar flux embodying the present invention Referring to FIG. 1, it is common practice to generate electrical power (1) by the process of burning fossil fuel such as oil or coal or natural gas in a thermal power station (2). Among the by-products of this process are gases such as water vapour, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides as well as large volumes of carbon dioxide. In addition, there are produced large quantities of particulate matter. All of these may be discharged freely to the atmosphere. In power stations subjected to emission control reguons, many of these gases are removed to a significant extent by such facilities as a condenser tower (~) and a scrubber (4), though such controls are not a necessary adjunct to the use of the present invention. The residual gases are then freely vented to the atmosphere. In particular, carbon dioxide gas is not subiected to any controls, and is allowed to escape through stacks (5).
Re~erring now to FIG. 2, which shows an embodiment of the invention, the operation of the power station is identical to that described previously, excepting that in the terms of the invention, the carbon dioxide gases are not vented to the atmosphere through sitaqks,i but are caused to flow i~nto a! carbon dioxide distribution and transport facility (6). The purpose of this facility is to arrange for the proper concentration, preparation and mixing of the carbon dioxide gas with other reacting agents such as nutrients, water and air. After such pre-processing, the mixture is taken to a biomass reaction and growth chamber (7) where a transporter mechanism is used to promote rapid reaction with the solar radiation flux (8). By the use of solar focussing mirrors and like devices, it is possible to direct the solar energy to the appropriate parts of the biomass reaction and growth chamber to ensure optimum mixing and photosynthesis reaction rate. At the end of the photosynthesis process, a considerable guantity of biomass will have been produced to be discharged into the biomass transformation chamber (9). This biomass is available for the further production of useful products. Among such products are methane gas, which can be used as a fuel to augment supplies of natural gas, obtainable from the anaerobic decay fo the biomass, and dried biomass soil conditi~ners for the agricultural industry.

Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A process for the conversion of carbon dioxide gas by photosynthesis to biomass.

2. A process for the rapid reaction of carbon dioxide gas under controlled sunlight or other photonic radiative fluxes to enhance the photosynthetic conversion of carbon dioxide gas to biomass.

3. A process as defined in Claim 2 in which the biomass is carefully selected m naturally occurring biological constituents or modified by gene-manipulation or created by genetic-engineering techniques to produce a substance whose ability to convert carbon dioxide to biomass is enhanced.

9. An apparatus to distribute and pre-process carbon dioxide so as to react more favourably with biomass under radiative flux inputs in order to enhance photosynthesis.

5. An apparatus to control and distribute radiative flux as claimed in Claim 4 so as to optimize the flow of reaction between the biomass and carbon dioxide gas in a reaction chamber in which biomass growth occurs.

6. A process for the conversion of the biomass grown in a reaction and growth chamber using enhanced photosynthesis as defined in Claims 1 through 5 to other useful products.