Method for producing methanol, dimethyl ether, derived synthetic hydrocarbons and their products from carbon dioxide and water (moisture) of the air as sole source material
AssigneeUniversity of Southern California
InventorsGeorge A. Olah, Robert Aniszfeld
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Abstract
A method for producing methanol and dimethyl ether using the air as the sole source of materials is disclosed. The invention relates to a method for producing methanol by removing water from atmospheric air, obtaining hydrogen from the removed water, obtaining carbon dioxide from atmospheric air; and converting the carbon dioxide under conditions sufficient to produce methanol. Thereafter, the methanol can be dehydrated to produce dimethyl ether or further processed to produce synthetic hydrocarbons, polymers, and products derived from them.
Claims16
A method for producing methanol from atmospheric air, which comprises:
- removing water from the atmospheric air;
- obtaining hydrogen from the removed water;
- obtaining carbon dioxide from the atmospheric air;
- and
- converting the carbon dioxide under conditions sufficient to produce methanol;
- wherein the carbon dioxide, water and hydrogen are obtained solely from the atmospheric air as the source material using any necessary form of energy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.