Conversion of CO<sub>2</sub> into Synthetic Graphite

Abstract

Carbon Dioxide (CO2) can be utilized as a source for producing synthetic graphite. Our method converts CO2 into solid carbon. These CO2-sourced solid carbon have an anisotropic property that allow them to be graphitized into synthetic graphite. Our patented thermal catalytic process uses carbon dioxide and hydrogen as the feedstocks for the reaction, producing solid carbon material, with distilled water as the sole byproduct. The process is designed as a closed loop, where all feedstock gases entering the reactor are converted into durable bulk carbons and water, with no emissions. These carbons materials can be sintered into a solid structure and then thermally annealed, taking the carbon atoms from a disordered state to a highly ordered state of graphitic material – producing synthetic graphite structures. Phase 1 will prove that these bulk carbons can be sintered into a machinable solid carbon structure, which will then be annealed into a fully graphitic solid structure. Standard analytics will be done to verify the extent of graphitization (Raman, XRD). Proving this CO2-sourced carbon pathway to synthetic graphite structures will give the US a domestic supply route for this critical material and remove reliance on foreign sources. In addition, since the synthetic graphite structure is made from CO2-sourced carbon, this is also a method to mitigate CO2. Graphite structures are used in high temperature and high friction applications, for example, as anodes for steel refining, for brake pad linings, as neutron reflectors in nuclear reactors.