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New alliance to develop reactor that uses carbon capture PDF
Mittwoch, den 30. September 2009 um 00:00 Uhr
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ImageMantra Venture Group and Korean air control company team up on new technology expected to be powered by renewable energy.

 

 

Mantra Venture Group (OTC:MVTG) said today it signed a letter of intent with Korean air control company KC Cottrell to develop a reactor capable of producing high-value materials from captured carbon dioxide.

With a process known as the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide, captured carbon dioxide is combined with water to produce high-value materials such as formic acid and formate salts.

These materials can be conventionally acquired by thermochemically processing fossil fuels. However, the process being pursued under today’s letter of intent doesn’t need high temperatures required by thermochemical processing and can be powered by renewable energy.

More details about the 100 kilogram-per-day (220 pounds) reactor are expected to be announced in coming weeks. Financial details were not disclosed about Mantra’s strategic alliance with Seoul-based KC Cottrell.

Mantra invests in clean technologies through its subsidiaries in the sustainable energy, carbon reduction and consumer product sectors. Mantra maintains Canadian headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia, and U.S. headquarters is Tacoma, Wash.

KC Cottrell is currently constructing a pilot project expected to capture and purify half a ton of carbon dioxide per day from an industrial power plant. The project is expected to be completed in December.

KC Cottrell is currently looking for an end use of the concentrated carbon dioxide.

And Mantra said its recycling technology offers a relevant use because it converts concentrated carbon dioxide emissions into useful products such as formic acid. The acid, found in nature in the stings and bites of many insects, is used in industry applications worldwide and has a market value of $1,400 per ton, according to Mantra.

Formic acid is also a combustion product that results from some alternatively-fueled vehicles.

Although the reactor concept being pursued under the strategic alliance may be new, capturing carbon and putting it to other uses is not.

In 2007, NRG Energy and Powerspan were conducting a large scale demonstration of carbon capture and sequestration technology at a coal-fueled power plant in Texas (see NRG, Powerspan to demo large scale carbon capture).

And last year, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, said they found a better way to filter out greenhouse gases from power plants, creating crystal structures that can selectively capture carbon dioxide without the use of toxic chemicals (see Carbon capture gets crystal powered).