Methods and systems for producing carbon-neutral fuels from aragonite

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12104263-B2
Application number	US-202318446803-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 9, 2023
Priority date	Jul 26, 2022
Publication date	Oct 1, 2024
Grant date	Oct 1, 2024

Abstract

Carbon-neutral fuels are produced from aragonite in a solar thermal decomposition process in which the carbon dioxide generated from the aragonite is catalytically converted to methane, ethanol, or Fischer-Tropsch liquids. Advantageously, heat from the aragonite production can be recovered and used in downstream processes to thereby minimize the carbon footprint of the fuel production.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of thermally decomposing a decomposable carbonate-containing material and recycling waste heat from thermal decomposition, comprising:
directing solar radiation reflected from a plurality of reflective surfaces to a receiver that contains the decomposable carbonate-containing material;
wherein the step of directing the solar radiation comprises positioning at least some of the reflective surfaces such that the reflected solar radiation preferentially heats (i) a first portion of the decomposable carbonate-containing material in the receiver relative to a second portion of the decomposable carbonate-containing material in the receiver and/or (ii) a heat transfer medium in the receiver;
wherein at least some of the decomposable carbonate-containing material is heated in the receiver by the reflected solar radiation and/or the heat transfer medium to a temperature at which the decomposable carbonate-containing material releases carbon dioxide gas and forms a decomposed material; and
wherein the decomposed material and/or the carbon dioxide gas contain the waste heat; and
recovering the waste heat with a heat exchange circuit;
wherein the heat exchange circuit recycles the waste heat by:
a. preheating the decomposable carbonate-containing material prior to thermal decomposition; and/or
b. applying the waste heat to a chemical reaction in which the carbon dioxide gas is reduced to fuel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of positioning of the reflective surfaces to preferentially heat the first portion of the decomposable material in the receiver is effected by a controller.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the controller effects the positioning based on a distribution and/or a type of the decomposable carbonate-containing material in the receiver.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the controller determines a size of the first portion based on a quantity of the released carbon dioxide.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of reflective surfaces are heliostats, and wherein the heliostats heat the decomposable carbonate-containing material in the receiver to a temperature of 500-950° C.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiver is configured as an hourglass shaped receiver, a fluidized bed receiver, or a flatbed receiver.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of directing the solar radiation produces a focal vertex or a focal edge on the receiver.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the decomposable carbonate-containing material comprises calcium carbonate.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the decomposable carbonate-containing material comprises oolitic aragonite.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the oolitic aragonite has an average particle size of between 1-100 μm.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat exchange circuit further exchanger receives waste heat from a process that is co-located with a plant.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the waste heat is waste heat from a combustion process, waste heat from power generation, waste heat from exothermic heat of a chemical reaction or reaction sequence, waste heat from a drying operation, or waste heat from a refining operation.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of preheating the decomposable carbonate-containing material uses thermal energy extracted from decomposed material and/or the carbon dioxide gas.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a step of feeding the carbon dioxide gas into a reactor and reacting the carbon dioxide in the reactor to produce a fuel.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the reactor further comprises a catalyst that catalyzes a reduction reaction.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the fuel is methane, ethanol, or a Fischer-Tropsch liquid.

17. A method of producing a fuel from aragonite, comprising:
thermally decomposing aragonite using solar energy and supplemental heat thereby forming a carbon dioxide gas and a calcium oxide solid; and
subjecting the carbon dioxide gas to a catalytic reduction or an electrocatalytic reduction thereby generating hydrogen, methane, ethanol, or a Fischer-Tropsch liquid as the fuel;
wherein the supplemental heat is (a) waste heat from a co-located process, (b) heat from the calcium oxide solid, and/or (c) heat from the carbon dioxide gas; and
wherein the supplemental heat is provided by a heat exchanger.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the supplemental heat is provided by the heat exchanger and wherein the supplemental heat is used to preheat the aragonite.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the solar heat is provided from a heliostat and/or a molten salt liquid that was previously heated by solar energy.

Assignees

• Nant Holdings Ip Llc
• Calcean Minerals And Mat Llc

Inventors

• Soon-Shiong Patrick
• Myers Anthony

Classifications

• C01F11/04

  by thermal decomposition · CPC title

• C25B1/23

  Carbon monoxide or syngas · CPC title

• C01B2203/0272

  containing a non-catalytic decomposition step · CPC title

• C01B32/50 Primary

  Carbon dioxide · CPC title

• C10G2/50

  from carbon dioxide with hydrogen · CPC title