Transportable system for production of liquid transportation fuel using atmospheric CO2 and water

This Phase I SBIR project will investigate two methods of generating water and liquid hydrocarbon transportation fuels, i.e. gasoline and diesel, in the field from atmospheric CO2 and water using an available non-CO2 emitting source of power. Enzymatic and molecular sieve methods are compared to determine the most appropriate for Army field use in terms of cost, weight, efficiency, readiness and transportability. The general process is to utilize electrical power and heat from available power sources to: 1) capture and recover the 385 ppm by volume of CO2 existing in the atmosphere, using physical and chemical means; 2) electrolyze water to produce hydrogen; and 3) combine the H2 and CO2, to produce the synthetic liquid hydrocarbon fuel. The CO2 would first be shifted to CO by the water gas shift reaction and then combined with H2 to produce synthetic fuel using a catalyzed Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) reaction. An alternative to F-T is a catalytic methanol reactor and dehydration to the hydrocarbon synthetic fuel. These methods will be investigated and optimized with respect to development of a mobile system that can be deployed to forward operating bases. Advanced electrolysis and F-T reactor methods are included in the study.