PROCEDE PERMETTANT LA REDUCTION DES EMANATIONS DE GAZ CARBONIQUE ET LE RECYCLAGE DES PRODUITS RESIDUELS GENERES PAR CE PROCEDE

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

Abrégé anglais

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.

Revendications

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.

Description

2029~




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

:
2029~




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.