US 4,428,905 AGranted

System for the production of ketene and methylene from limestone utilizing a solid electrolyte electrolysis cell

AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.

InventorsD. Colin Phillips, Werner S. Emmerich, Arnold O. Isenberg, Michael G. Down

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Abstract

Organic hydrocarbon materials are produced from plentiful inorganic limestone type materials by: (1) thermally decomposing the limestone type materials to produce CaO and CO.sub.2, (2) using the CO.sub.2 in a solid electrolyte electrolysis cell to produce CO, (3) catalytically decomposing the CO to produce carbon, (4) reacting the carbon with the CaO produced in step (1), to produce CaC.sub.2, (5) hydrolyzing the CaC.sub.2 toi produce C.sub.2 H.sub.2, (6) catalytically reacting the C.sub.2 H.sub.2 with steam to produce CH.sub.3 COCH.sub.3, (7) pyrolyzing the CH.sub.3 COCH.sub.3 to provide ketene and methane, and separating the ketene. The ketene may then be decomposed to provide methylene, which can be reacted with an alkane, such as methane in an insertion chain reaction, to provide organic hydrocarbon materials. An in-place nuclear reactor can provide energy for the endothermic reactions of the system.

Claims16

Dependent claims

A process of converting inorganic carbonate mineral material to organic hydrocarbon material, comprising the steps of:

(1) thermally decomposing inorganic carbon containing carbonate mineral material at a temperature over about 700.degree. C., to produce a product mixture comprising CaO and CO.sub.2,
(2) feeding the CO.sub.2 produced in step (1) as a fuel into an electrolysis cell comprising an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte therebetween, where CO.sub.2 at the cathode is converted into CO and O.sup.=,
(3) catalytically decomposing the CO produced in step (2) at a temperature over about 450.degree. C. to produce carbon particles,
(4) reacting the carbon particles produced in step (3) from CO.sub.2, with the CaO produced in step (1) at a temperature over about 1,600.degree. C., to produce CaC.sub.2 and CO, and then
(5) water hydrolyzing the CaC.sub.2 produced in step (4) to produce C.sub.2 H.sub.2 and heat energy which is removed, and then
(6) reacting the C.sub.2 H.sub.2 produced in step (5) with excess steam in the presence of a catalyst effective to produce CH.sub.3 COCH.sub.3, and then
(7) high temperature pyrolyzing the CH.sub.3 COCH.sub.3 produced in step (6) to produce ketene and methane,
(8) where all the reactants except water and steam are derived from the carbonate starting material.

5 more elements

A process of converting inorganic carbonate mineral material to organic high carbon chain hydrocarbon material, utilizing nuclear reactor energy, comprising the steps of:

(1) thermally decomposing inorganic carbon containing carbonate mineral material at a temperature over about 700.degree. C., to produce a product mixture comprising CaO and CO.sub.2,
(2) feeding the CO.sub.2 produced in step (1) as a fuel in a high temperature electrolysis cell comprising an anode, a cathode, and a solid electrolyte therebetween capable of allowing migration of O.sup.= ions therethrough from the cathode to the anode, where CO.sub.2 at the cathode is converted into CO and O.sup.=,
(3) catalytically decomposing the CO produced in step (2) at a temperature over about 450.degree. C., to produce carbon particles,
(4) reacting the carbon particles produced in step (3) from CO.sub.2, with the CaO produced in step (1) at a temperature over about 1,600.degree. C., to produce CaC.sub.2 and CO, and then
(5) water hydrolyzing the CaC.sub.2 produced in step (4) to produce C.sub.2 H.sub.2 and heat energy which is removed, and then
(6) reacting the C.sub.2 H.sub.2 produced in step (5) with excess steam, at between about 250.degree. C. and about 475.degree. C., in the presence of a catalyst effective to provide gases which upon condensation yield CH.sub.3 COCH.sub.3, and then
(7) high temperature pyrolyzing the CH.sub.3 COCH.sub.3 produced in step (6), at between about 600.degree. C. and about 800.degree. C., to produce ketene and methane,
(8) decomposing the ketene from step (7) to produce methylene, and
(9) reacting the methylene produced in step (8) with methane produced in step (7), to provide a product which is reacted with additional methylene in a manner effective to cause methylene insertion chain reactions and provide hydrocarbon materials containing at least three carbon atoms;
where all the reactants except water and steam are derived from the carbonate starting material, and the heat energy required for the electrolysis in step (2) and the pyrolyzing in step (7) is supplied, at least in part, by a nuclear reactor.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.