Rocket motor syngas process
Rocket motor synthesis gas process
This is a really big idea, one that I really have no hope of maintaining a patent position on the basic idea. The crux of this invention is that rocket motors are the most efficient heat engines other than a gun. I have proposed reacting methane gas with only enough oxygen to partially convert this mixture to synthesis gas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen primarily, but also including water, carbon dioxide). In general this process is referred to as partial combustion, and it is used in several commercial plants which convert natural gas to synthetic oil via a Friedel crafts synthesis from the syngas that is actually produced by the partial combustion. Existing partial combustors however do not harvest useful work during the partial combustion process. Using a rocket engine to perform the partial combustion is potentially a way to have a coproduction of energy and synthesis gas.
The key realization for me was that the higher is the temperature, and the higher the pressure, the faster will be the equilibration process. At sufficiently high temperature and pressure, there will be no need for catalysts to achieve equilibrium. Then if you consider the temperatures and pressures actually generated in rocket motors, it is obvious that you can get into the temperature and pressure range of interest for manufacturing syngas by partial combustion of methane, without using catalysts. In fact the conditions seem to line up very nicely with feasible rocket motors. The really tricky part is that one must design a turbine capable of harvesting mechanical energy from a supersonic flow coming out of the rocket. Because of the difficulty of that step, I have concluded that protecting the basic concept is silly. What is really valuable is the way to actually design a turbine to do that. I do have a patent position on one way to accomplish that. I will hold that piece close to the vest in hopes of being able to get some economic return. However I did not want to hold back the basic idea as I think it is very timely.
In view of what I have said above, I have decided to post the presentation that I gave to
Shell Game Changer on December 18, 2012. This public disclosure will definitely make it impossible henceforth to patent the basic idea. Meanwhile, if you are an investor you might want to consider that I have an invention that could go into a supersonic flow and efficiently generate electricity (I think).
This is a really big idea, one that I really have no hope of maintaining a patent position on the basic idea. The crux of this invention is that rocket motors are the most efficient heat engines other than a gun. I have proposed reacting methane gas with only enough oxygen to partially convert this mixture to synthesis gas (carbon monoxide and hydrogen primarily, but also including water, carbon dioxide). In general this process is referred to as partial combustion, and it is used in several commercial plants which convert natural gas to synthetic oil via a Friedel crafts synthesis from the syngas that is actually produced by the partial combustion. Existing partial combustors however do not harvest useful work during the partial combustion process. Using a rocket engine to perform the partial combustion is potentially a way to have a coproduction of energy and synthesis gas.
The key realization for me was that the higher is the temperature, and the higher the pressure, the faster will be the equilibration process. At sufficiently high temperature and pressure, there will be no need for catalysts to achieve equilibrium. Then if you consider the temperatures and pressures actually generated in rocket motors, it is obvious that you can get into the temperature and pressure range of interest for manufacturing syngas by partial combustion of methane, without using catalysts. In fact the conditions seem to line up very nicely with feasible rocket motors. The really tricky part is that one must design a turbine capable of harvesting mechanical energy from a supersonic flow coming out of the rocket. Because of the difficulty of that step, I have concluded that protecting the basic concept is silly. What is really valuable is the way to actually design a turbine to do that. I do have a patent position on one way to accomplish that. I will hold that piece close to the vest in hopes of being able to get some economic return. However I did not want to hold back the basic idea as I think it is very timely.
In view of what I have said above, I have decided to post the presentation that I gave to
Shell Game Changer on December 18, 2012. This public disclosure will definitely make it impossible henceforth to patent the basic idea. Meanwhile, if you are an investor you might want to consider that I have an invention that could go into a supersonic flow and efficiently generate electricity (I think).
Comments
Post a Comment