(334g) Flue Gas (CO2) Extraction and Bio-Sequestration (FGXB) for Increased Crop Yields and Water Utilization Efficiency (WUE)

There are no existing technologies and markets that can use the billions of tons or gigatons per year (GT/Y) of CO₂ produced by stationary industrial and power plant, and mobile transportation sources, until now. The Black sWan Cycle (BWC) proposed in this presentation uses stationary and mobile sources of CO₂ bearing exhaust to make food (agricultural products), increase biomass, and make water/reduce water consumption with Flue Gas eXtraction and Biosequestration (FGXB.) The increased biomass is used for fuel. BWC with Membrane Air Enrichment (MAE) performs Direct Air Capture (DAC) of CO₂, water, and oxygen and uses Oxy-Combustion to decrease fuel consumption, increase capacity, increase the heating value of low-quality biofuels, such as solid biomass and landfill/sanitation anaerobic digester biogas, and concentrate the CO₂ in the flue gas for more economic use and capture.

The first step of BWC utilizes the conventional science of Crop Carbon (dioxide) Enrichment (CCE) that has been practiced in greenhouses for almost a hundred years, and researched in crop Open Top Chambers (OTC) and Free Air Carbon (dioxide) Enrichment (FACE- meaning without any enclosures) systems for decades by the Brookhaven National Laboratory and USDA. CCE is the agricultural/ horticultural practice of raising a plant's biosphere from ambient 400 ppmv to under 1000 ppmv CO₂ for the purpose of increasing biomass, yield, growth rate, and water utilization efficiency of plants by minimum 40%. Dr. Bruce Kimball et al of USDA has produced dozens of studies for wheat, cotton, citrus, grapes, and soybeans validating this science and its performance, including a 17 year study showing increase of citrus yield by average 70% by using 550 ppm CO2. Conventionally the CO₂ is provided at a high operating cost ($300/Ton) by fit-for-purpose fuel fired flue gas (at 5 to 10% CO₂₎ generators, or supplied from trucked-in/ locally stored near pure (90+%) CO₂ liquid or dry ice, and then diluted down to 1000 ppmv CO₂.

The Kolodji Corporation, an energy carbon management engineering company, utilizes patented and patent pending BWC technologies to commercialize and monetize the use of CO₂ in emissions with BWC FGXB by making food and water, saving water, and producing biomass for fuel. Another crucial aspect is the low energy/cost BWC Wig Membrane which uses Direct Air Capture (DAC) to recycle the fugitive CO₂ in a carbon enriched orchard by producing an enriched oxygen and water, and further CO₂ enriched permeate stream for substitution of combustion air in a conventional fired system by using the BWC Membrane Air Enrichment Oxy-Combustion (MAE) process. The benefits of MAE are reduced firing fuel consumption, increased firing efficiency, temperature, and heating value, as well as water recovery, Direct Air Capture of Water and CO₂, and increased concentration of the CO₂ in the flue gas for ease and more economic use and capture from the flue gas.

Four pilot scale applications of under 1000 Ton CO₂ per year BWC FGXB and MAE have operated in orchards in Kern County, California since 2018. The largest pilot facility is in a 50-acre almond orchard in the midst of 100s of acres of crops, across from a refinery emitting 200,000 tons per year CO₂, and is funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA.) A demonstration scale MAE application that increases the sustainability and CO₂ capture potential of a biogas/natural gas fired 2.5 MW power plant, and a second smaller (under 1 MW) in two California sanitation districts are planned. These projects emphasize the key benefit of MAE to eliminate the need for supplemental firing of the 100% sustainable renewable biogas fuel with un-sustainable non-renewable natural gas by raising the heating value of the biogas using oxy-combustion. Further, the flue gas is concentrated from 5 to 15% CO₂ making it easier to capture or use the flue gas. Funding potential is for $4.4 Million in grants pending award by the California Energy Commission in April/June 2021.

Shared in this presentation are pilot plant results, and demonstration unit plans including a Bryan Research and Engineering (BR&E) PROMAX(TM) process simulation models, heat and material balances and process flow diagrams, as well as utility consumption benefits and a capital/ operating cost-benefit analysis to profit (return on investment) from fuel savings, increased agricultural yields, and water make/ savings, and as well, highlighted carbon (dioxide) balance. With wide acceptance of this BWC technology, Kolodji Corp will justify targets of carbon neutrality in the state of California (negative 300 Million Tons per year CO₂ production) by 2025, twenty years earlier than the 2045 mandated statutory requirement. As well, there is the goal of US wide CO₂ deceleration (-0.05 Tons/year/year or negative 5 GT/Y) of CO₂ by 2030, and global neutrality by 2035.