The Carnol process for CO{sub 2} mitigation from power plants and the transportation sector

A carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) mitigation process is developed which converts waste CO{sub 2}, primarily from coal-fired power plant stack gases, to methanol for use as a liquid fuel and a coproduct carbon for use as a materials commodity. The Carnol process chemistry consists of methane decomposition to produce hydrogen which is catalytically reacted with the recovered waste CO{sub 2} to produce methanol. The carbon is either stored or sold. A process design is modeled, and mass and energy balances are presented as a function of reactor pressure and temperature conditions. The Carnol process is a viable alternative to sequestering CO{sub 2} in the ocean for purposes of reducing CO{sub 2} emissions from coal burning power plants. Over 90% of the CO{sub 2} from the coal burning plant is used in the process which results in a net CO{sub 2} emission reduction of over 90% compared to that obtained for conventional methanol production by steam reforming of methane. Methanol, as an alternative liquid fuel for automotive engines and for fuel cells, achieves additional CO{sub 2} emission reduction benefits. The economics of the process is greatly enhanced when carbon can be sold as a materials commodity. The process design and economics could possibly be achieved by developing a molten metal (tin) methane decomposition reactor and a liquid phase, slurry catalyst, methanol synthesis reactor directly using the solvent saturated with CO{sub 2} scrubbed from the power plant stack gases. The application of CO{sub 2} mitigation technologies, such as the Carnol process, depends to some extent, on how serious the country and the world takes the global greenhouse gas warming problem