The real solution for Carbon problem:
When mother nature buried Carbon under the ground by way of fossil,
we human beings mined them at enormous cost and added further value by
combustion with air converting it into CO2 (carbon dioxide). In fact, we human
beings added enormous value to carbon that remained buried (with zero value) for
millennia. We were interested in the heat of combustion but forgotten about the
CO2 emission. This is the fundamental flaw in the commercialization of thermal
power using fossil fuels. Now there is a price to pay. There are only 2 options
to overcome this problem.
1 We
can completely ignore and ban fossil fuel all together at enormous cost (we
have already invested in trillions in mining, processing, transporting and
storing) and seek completely a new solution without any Carbon at all. This is
unlikely to happen.
2 We can continue to use fossil fuel and
generate base load power as we have been doing for decades but capture CO2 and
convert it back into fuel so that it can be recycled with Zero CO2 emission.
This is certainly feasible.
Many “so called innovators” are suggesting alternatives to
fossil power generation using renewable source of energy. These sources were
available with us from the beginning of the world as we know it, but they are
intermittent. We are used to 24
x7 base load power using fossil fuels.
The real solution lies in using intermittent renewable energy
to generate base load power (24 x 7) with zero Carbon emission. Renewable Hydrogen can achieve this
goal. In doing so battery can also play a small role but not a major role. Couple
of things should happen to achieve this goal.
1.
Capturing
CO2 at the lowest cost. It can be best achieved using Oxy combustion of fossil
fuel such as LNG (because it is a purified form of natural gas) using Brayton
cycle with 100 % CO2 capture.
2.
Generate
renewable Hydrogen (RH) using electrolysis using renewable energy source such as
solar and wind etc. Technology is well proven and commercially available.
3.
Convert
captured CO2 into CH4 using methanation reaction (which is already commercially
practised) and recycling CH4 as a fuel to continue the base load power
generation as usual. The newly generated CH4 becomes a renewable natural gas (RNG) by substituting fossil Hydrogen with renewable Hydrogen (RH). This technology developed by CEWT is known as Carbon Recycling Technology (CRT). It is a perfect example of a circular economy. Governments around the world should scrap fossil subsidies, tax Carbon @ $100.Mt ( at least) and offer liberal subsidies to renewable energy so that the cost of renewable hydrogen (RH) is at the lowest. CRT will allow Carbon to remain below ground as nature has done for several years. CRT will allow to run base load power (24 x 7) using RNG with ZERO CARBON EMISSION.
The above process is the only economical, commercial and
environmental solution to the problem of global warming and climate change. All
other methods will be expensive, time consuming with no guaranteed results and
are unlikely to happen in the shortest time we have.
We at CEWT have the solution (not just theoretical but practically
and commercially implementable immediately) and we seek like-minded partners
and investors to team up with us so that we can show case the technology and
implement them worldwide.