Efficient and selective chemical recycling of carbon dioxide to methanol, dimethyl ether and derived products

An environmentally beneficial method of reducing the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere and preparing a renewable fuel by separating and chemically recycling carbon dioxide from a natural or chemical source that would otherwise be present in or discharged into the atmosphere, which method comprises:

• separating the carbon dioxide from such source and producing methanol by hydrogenatively converting the carbon dioxide thus separated under conditions sufficient to produce methanol;
• utilizing the methanol thus produced as an energy storage and transportation material or as a fuel sufficient to generate energy while producing an exhaustion stream of the combustion that contains carbon dioxide;
• and
• recovering the carbon dioxide content of the combustion stream for use as the chemically recyclable source of carbon dioxide for preparing additional fuel.