Self-Contained Mobile Electrically Powered Methanol Synthesis Plant

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The primary synthesis product is methanol an alcohol with chemical and physical properties that are nearly identical to ethanol. The means to synthesize carbon-neutral fuels is designed to be self-contained easily transportable and may be operated at existing sites that emit carbon dioxide (e.g. fermentation plants) and/or sites with abundant (renewable) low cost electricity which may be used to disassociate water in order to obtain the requisite hydrogen. The plant consumes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere or carbon dioxide destined to be emitted into the atmosphere (e.g. smokestacks fermentation processes etc.) hydrogen (ideally obtained from water and renewable electricity) and electricity only. Its only outputs are methanol water and heat. Further processing may convert methanol to DME gasoline and/or plastics. When powered by renewable electricity the plant is capable of producing a renewable carbon-neutral liquid transportation fuel that can be used in all gasoline engines without modification. There are currently no systems like this on the market. The invention is designed to operate at various scales depending on the availability of the carbon dioxide and hydrogen sources and the desired methanol output. With this invention carbon dioxide to methanol conversion efficiencies are estimated to be 95% or greater and product purity is estimated to be 99.5% or greater. Technology Applications: Methanol can be blended with gasoline up to 20% (M20) and burned in any un-modified internal combustion engine or at blends up to 85% (M85) in flex fuel vehicles. While methanol can be used directly as an automotive fuel the invention can also include a means to further process methanol into Di-methyl Ether (DME) an excellent diesel fuel and propane substitute synthetic gasoline and even carbon-negative plastics such as ethylene and propylene. Methanol produced using this invention may be sold to either fuel distributors or to individual fuel stations and/or individual fuel consumers.

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