Patents Assigned to International Communication & Energy, division of International Optical Telecommunications, Inc.
  • Patent number: 4927856
    Abstract: Electricity generation, hydrogen gas production, and methanol production are combined in an integrated system and process for recovering both energy and chemical values from a geothermal resource. Electricity is generated by turbines run by the heated pressurized gas stream emerging from the resource, and the electricity is then used in an electrolysis unit which converts water, optionally condensed from the resource gas, to hydrogen gas, which is then reacted with the carbon oxides in the resource gas to form methanol. Hydrogen sulfide is removed from the resource gas prior to the methanol synthesis by passing the gas through a scrubber where it is contacted with an aqueous solution which is then regenerated by contact with either oxygen from the electrolysis unit or air, and the regenerated solution, free of the regenerating gas, is recycled to the scrubber, thereby avoiding dilution of the resource gas prior to its use in the methanol synthesis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 23, 1989
    Date of Patent: May 22, 1990
    Assignee: International Communication & Energy, division of International Optical Telecommunications, Inc.
    Inventor: Glenn R. Elion