{
  "patent_number": "US 20110132770",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "Making Chemicals from Carbon Dioxide and Steam Using Electricity",
  "original_title": "Process for producing compounds of the cxhyoz type by reduction of carbon dioxide (co2) and/or carbon monoxide (co)",
  "summary": "This patent describes a process that uses electricity to split steam and then reacts the resulting hydrogen with carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide to create various carbon-based compounds, like fuels or plastics.",
  "what_it_does": "This process uses an electrolyzer with a special proton-conducting membrane to convert steam and carbon gases into useful chemicals. First, steam is injected under pressure into the anode compartment (Claim 1). Water in the steam is oxidized at the anode, creating protonated species that travel through the proton-conducting membrane (Claim 1). These species are then reduced at the cathode surface, forming reactive hydrogen atoms (Claim 1). Simultaneously, carbon dioxide (CO2) and/or carbon monoxide (CO) are introduced under pressure into the cathode compartment (Claim 1). The reactive hydrogen atoms then reduce the CO2 and/or CO, forming compounds of the CxHyOz type, which are organic chemicals like hydrocarbons or oxygenates (Claim 1). For example, this system could take waste CO2 and steam, and using electricity, convert them into a liquid fuel such as methanol or ethanol.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover electrolysis processes that do not use a proton-conducting membrane to separate the anode and cathode compartments.",
    "Does not cover systems that produce only hydrogen gas without also reducing carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide into CxHyOz compounds.",
    "Does not cover processes where carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide are reduced by hydrogen that was not generated directly from steam electrolysis within the same system.",
    "Does not cover CO2/CO reduction methods that operate outside the specified temperature range of 200°C to 800°C (Claim 9) or pressure ranges for steam and CO2/CO (Claims 6, 8).",
    "Does not cover the direct electrochemical reduction of CO2/CO without an intermediate reactive hydrogen step from steam."
  ],
  "filed": "2009-05-15",
  "granted": null,
  "expires": "2029-05-15",
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "Areva SA",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/areva-sa",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Olivier Lacroix",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/olivier-lacroix"
    },
    {
      "name": "Béatrice Sala",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/batrice-sala"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 22,
  "tags": [
    "energy",
    "chemical_manufacturing",
    "environmental_technology",
    "cleantech",
    "materials"
  ],
  "abstract": "The present invention relates to a process for electrolysing steam introduced under pressure into an anode in compartment ( 32 ) of an electrolyser ( 30 ) provided with a proton-conducting membrane ( 31 ) made of a material that allows protonated species to be incorporated into this membrane under steam, water injected in steam form being oxidized at the anode ( 32 ) so as to generate protonated species in the membrane that migrate within this same membrane and are reduced at the surface of the cathode ( 33 ) in the form of reactive hydrogen atoms capable of reducing carbon dioxide and/or carbon monoxide, said process comprising the following steps: injection of CO 2 and/or CO under pressure into the cathode compartment ( 33 ) of the electrolyser ( 30 ); -reduction of the CO 2 and/or CO injected into the cathode compartment ( 33 ) by said reactive hydrogen atoms generated, in such a way that the CO 2 and/or the CO form compounds of the C x H y O z type where x>1, y is between 0 and 2x+2 and z is between 0 and 2x.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/20110132770/process-for-producing-compounds-of-the-cxhyoz-type-by-reduction-of-carbon-dioxid",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/20110132770/process-for-producing-compounds-of-the-cxhyoz-type-by-reduction-of-carbon-dioxid/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US20110132770",
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}