CO2 commodity trading system and method

• US 7,966,250 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2009
• Issued: 06/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arelac, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Calera Corporation
• Inventors: Youngs, Andrew, Concha Soler, Manuel Jose, O'Neil, James R., Khosla, Vinod, Setton, Aurelia, Danziger, Robert, Camire, Chris, Ryan, Cecily, Constantz, Brent R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kramer; James A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gottschalk; Martin A
• Application Number:
  US12/557,492
• Publication Number:
  US 20100063902A1
• Time in Patent Office: 649 Days
• Field of Search: 705/35, 705/36.R, 705/37, 423/169, 423/220, 423/232, 423/432
• US Class Current: 705/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/84 Greenhouse gas [GHG] management systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/845 Inventory and reporting systems for greenhouse gases [GHG]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/90 Financial instruments for climate change mitigation, e.g. environmental taxes, subsidies or financing

Abstract

A system and method of generating and trading a CO₂ commodity that is correlated to a quantified amount of CO₂ sequestered in a CO₂ sequestering product comprising a carbonate and/or a bicarbonate. The tradable commodity can be purchased or sold for use in managing CO₂ emissions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

contacting a waste gas from a fossil fuel combustion with a saltwater comprising divalent cations in a reactor configured to sequester carbon dioxide;

increasing the pH of the saltwater to form a precipitate comprising a carbonate or bicarbonate comprising the divalent cations;

determining the source and amount of carbon dioxide sequestered in the precipitate;

generating a tradable greenhouse gas certificate to represent the amount of carbon dioxide determined to be sequestered in the precipitate; and

producing a construction material consisting of a supplementary cementitous material, an aggregate or a combination thereof with the precipitate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the waste gas comprises carbon combustion gases from a cement plant, a power generating plant or an ore processing plant.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the waste gas further comprises particulates or oxides of sulfur or nitrogen or other criteria pollutants.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the saltwater comprises sea water, a brine, or a brackish water.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the carbonate and/or bicarbonate comprises calcium or magnesium.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the precipitate comprises a metastable composition that is more stable in saltwater than in freshwater.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the precipitate comprises a saltwater source identifier.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the salt water source identifier comprises strontium.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the precipitate comprises sequestered criteria pollutants.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the source of the greenhouse gas is determined by measuring the amount of an isotope in the precipitate and correlating the isotope measurement to the source of the greenhouse gas.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the isotope measurement comprises measuring the δ

¹³C value of the precipitate.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising exchanging the certificate for a greenhouse gas emission credit or a carbon offset.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the a certificate comprises a CO₂ emission certificate, a CO₂ emission permit, a CO₂ emission credit, a carbon offset, carbon allowance, a criteria pollutant allowance, a Verified Emissions Reductions unit (VER), a Carbon Financial Instrument (CFI), a European Union Allowance (EUA), a Certified Emission Reduction unit (CER), an Emission Reduction Unit (ERU), a Voluntary Carbon Unit, or a tipping fee.

14. The method of claim 3, comprising charging a tipping fee for extracting criteria pollutants from the waste gas.

15. A gas sequestration system comprising:

a gas absorber configured to receive a waste gas from a fossil fuel combustion and to contact the waste gas with a saltwater comprising divalent cations;

a precipitator operably connected to the gas absorber and configured to receive the saltwater after contact with the waste gas and to precipitate a composition comprising the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide;

a pH increasing system operatively connected to the precipitator and configured to increase the pH of the saltwater to form a precipitate comprising a carbonate or a bicarbonate comprising the divalent cations;

an analytical apparatus operably connected to the precipitator and configured to receive and analyze the precipitate, and provide precipitate data for determining the source and amount of greenhouse gas sequestered in the precipitate;

a computer-implemented system operatively connected to the analytical apparatus and configured to receive the precipitate data from the analytical apparatus and generate a certificate that represents an amount of greenhouse gas sequestered in the precipitate; and

a material production system operatively connected to the precipitator and configured to receive and convert the precipitate into a construction material consisting of a supplementary cementitous material, an aggregate or a combination thereof.

16. The gas sequestration system of claim 15, wherein the gas absorber is operably connected to receive the waste gas from a cement plant, a power generating plant or an ore processing plant.

17. The gas sequestration system of claim 16, wherein the gas absorber is configured to contact the waste gas with the saltwater and extract criteria pollutants from the waste gas.

18. The gas sequestration system of claim 17, the gas absorber is operably connected to receive salt water from a source comprising sea water, a brine, a brackish water or a solution comprising divalent cations.

19. The gas sequestration system of claim 18, wherein the gas absorber is operable to sequester carbon dioxide in the precipitate comprising calcium or magnesium carbonate or bicarbonate.

20. The gas sequestration system of claim 19, wherein the gas absorber is configured to produce a precipitate comprising a metastable compound that is more stable in salt water than in freshwater from the waste gas.

21. The gas sequestration system of claim 20, wherein the gas absorber is configured to produce a precipitate comprising a saltwater source identifier.

22. The gas sequestration system of claim 21, wherein the salt water source identifier comprises strontium.

23. The gas sequestration system of claim 22, wherein the pH increasing system comprises an electrochemical system operatively connected to the precipitator for providing a pH increase to the salt water.

24. The gas sequestration system of claim 23, wherein the analytical apparatus is configured to measure the amount of an isotope in the precipitate and provide isotope data for correlating the isotope measurement to the source of the greenhouse gas.

25. The gas sequestration system of claim 24, wherein the analytical apparatus is configured to provide isotope data for measuring the δ

¹³C value of the precipitate.

26. The gas sequestration system of claim 25, wherein the computer implemented system is configured to generate a certificate that correlates the sequestered carbon dioxide for a greenhouse gas emission credit or an offset.

27. The gas sequestration system of claim 26, wherein the computer-implemented system is configured to generate a certificate comprising a CO₂ emission certificate, a CO₂ emission permit, a CO₂ emission credit, a carbon offset, carbon allowance, a criteria pollutant allowance, a Verified Emissions Reductions unit (VER), a Carbon Financial Instrument (CFI), a European Union Allowance (EUA), a Certified Emission Reduction unit (CER), an Emission Reduction Unit (ERU), a Voluntary Carbon Unit, or a tipping fee.

28. The gas sequestration system of claim 17, wherein the computer implemented system is configured to determine a tipping fee payable for extracting criteria pollutants from the waste gas.

29. The method of claim 15, wherein the construction material comprises a cementitous material, an aggregate product, or a man-made structure.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the cementitous material comprises a hydraulic cement.

31. The gas sequestration system of claim 15, wherein the material production system comprises a dryer operable connected to the precipitator and configured to dewater the precipitate.

32. The gas sequestration system of claim 31, further comprising a building products factory operatively connected to the dryer and configured receive dried precipitate and produce the construction material.