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Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is an area of technology that has received national and interna-tional attention. CCS is seen by

some as a way to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into the atmosphere and thereby decrease the threat of global warming. Consequently, propo-nents have increased pressure on state and federal governments to make such reductions mandatory.

Although the benefits of CCS to the environment may be great, so are the costs of implementing CCS. The additional energy required by a plant employing current CCS tech-nology to capture and store the CO2, as well as the initial capital costs of providing the plant with CCS capa-bility, is estimated at $40–$90/ton of CO2 captured. This translates to an increase in electricity production costs of $0.02–$0.03/kWh [1].

The chemical process industries (CPI) expend a significant amount of money seeking out new ways to use CO2 and developing more efficient methods for its capture, transport, and storage. By seeking intellectual property (IP) pro-tection through patents, copyrights, and trademarks for their solutions, those who spend time and money working on the problems of CCS can be more cer-tain of a return on their investments. Furthermore, IP protection, particu-larly patent protection, can serve as an incentive for the development of new and better CCS approaches.

This article explores the current state of CCS technology and the pro-tections available for the IP being gen-erated in this field. It also examines the areas of CCS that appear to be the current focus of innovation, as well as external forces that may affect IP pro-tection for CCS developments.

The emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is generally associated with the combustion of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and gas. Power plants, automobiles, and industrial facilities are among the largest sources of CO2 emissions. Mineral production, metal production, and the use of petroleum-based products can also result in the generation of CO2. Although nature provides for the sequestration, or re-moval, of CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, the destruc-tion of trees and plants has exacerbated the accumilation of CO2 emissions [2].

CCS is an effort to capture CO2 as it is produced and store it in appropri-ate geologic formations to keep it from being released into the atmosphere. Thus, CCS can be broken down into three challenges: (1) capturing the CO2; (2) transporting the CO2 to a storage location; and (3) storing and maintaining the CO2. Efforts to ad-dress each one of these challenges may lead to valuable IP that can provide a level of exclusivity for a new business venture and generate income for its owners if properly protected and man-aged (see box, p. 31)

Capturing CO2Based on a search of patents and pub-lications from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (Washington, D.C.; www.uspto.gov), much of the research and innovation in CCS thus far has been to find new and better ways to capture, or sequester, CO2 as it is pro-duced — for example at the site of a power generation plant. Capturing and compressing CO2 requires a large amount of energy, and so efforts to find more efficient methods of seques-tration that require less energy and less cost (both environmental and eco-nomic) remain at the forefront of CCS development. Companies heading up these efforts have often sought and obtained patent protection for their inventive technologies (Table, p. 29).

Alstom Technology LTD (Leval-lois-Perret, France; www.alstom.com) owns several patents and patent ap-plications related to carbon sequestra-tion. U.S. Patent No. 7,022,168, which issued in April of 2006, describes a device that removes CO2 from the exhaust gas of a gas-turbine plant by subjecting it to a heat recovery process. The CO2 is removed at a high temper-ature level before the heat recovery process using a rotating, regenerative absorber/desorber that operates be-tween the exhaust gas stream and a separate carbon dioxide cycle [3].

More recently, in 2007 Alstom entered into a memorandum of un-derstanding with American Electric

Technology Showcase

Sep. Shift PSR ReformSteam

Turbinefuel

To steamturbine

Gas turbine

~

Ambient air

Steam

Fluegas

Hydrocarbonfeed

CO2

H2

H2PSR Regen

ProduCing hydrogen fuel and CaPturing Co2

Michele M. Glessner and Jeffrey E. Young, Alston & Bird

Carbon Capture and Storage

Whether a CPi company’s interest is based on reducing its own Co2 emissions

or supplying technology to curb that of its potential customers,

this growing field has implications for all

FIGURE 1. In ExxonMobil’s process, a hydrocarbon feed such as methane and

steam are passed through a pressure-swing reformer (PSR) and converted to synthesis gas. In a shift reactor, the CO

in the synthesis gas is converted to CO2 and a hydrogen-enriched gas stream is produced. Hydrogen is separated from the CO2 in a separation zone and used

as fuel for a gas turbine

Source: US Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0201929

28 ChemiCal engineering www.Che.Com may 2008

Power (AEP; Columbus, Ohio; www.aep.com) allowing AEP to use Alstom’s Chilled Ammonia Process (CE, April, p. 13) for post-combustion carbon capture. According to AEP, Alstom’s pro-cess captures CO2 by isolating the gas from the power plant’s flue gases and can significantly increase the efficiency of the CO2 capture process. The system chills the flue gas, recovering large quantities of water for recycle, and then uses a CO2 absorber in a simi-lar way to absorbers used in systems that reduce sulfur dioxide emissions. The remaining low concentration of ammonia in the clean flue gas is cap-tured by a cold-water wash and re-turned to the absorber. The captured CO2 may then be compressed and used for enhanced oil recovery or stored away. Alstom claims that its new process has been demonstrated to capture more than 90% of CO2 at a

cost that is less expensive than other carbon capture technologies.

Other large energy companies are also getting in on the action. Compa-nies like ExxonMobil Corp. (Irving, Tex.; www.exxonmobil.com) and Statoil ASA (Stavanger, Norway; www.statoil.com) have published applications deal-ing with facilitating CO2 capture and designing power plants that implement CO2 capture (Figure 1) [4].

Allen Wright, Klaus Lackner, and Eddy Peters are three inventors that have approached the capture problem

from a different angle. U.S. Published Application Nos. 2006/0186562 and 2006/0289003, both published in 2006, deal with removing CO2 from the air after it has been released by power plants and other sources. Devices that would function like “synthetic trees” would absorb CO2 from the ambient air and hold it for disposal or further processing. The appeal of capturing CO2 from the ambient air is that such a process would allow for removal of CO2 that is already released and present in the atmosphere, rather than requiring

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MAY-ChemicalEngineering_halfpg_HPI.indd 2 4/10/08 4:02:57 PM

Circle 25 on p. 90 or go to adlinks.che.com/7372-25

Seeking PatentS on aSPectS of co2 caPtureinvention title Patent or pub-

lished applicationowner

Method and apparatus for efficient injection of CO2 in oceans

6,598,407 UT-Battelle, LLC

Device for removing carbon dioxide from exhaust gas

7,022,168 Alstom Technology LTD

Method for recycling carbon dioxide for enhancing plant growth

6,237,284 The Agricultural Gas Co.

Integration of hydrogen and power gen-eration using pressure swing reforming

2005/0201929 ExxonMobil Research and Engineering

Removal of carbon dioxide from air 2006/0186562 Wright, et. al.Efficient combined cycle power plant with CO2 capture and a combustor arrangement with separate flows

2006/0112696 Statoil ASA

System and method for combined microseismic and tiltmeter analysis

2006/0081412 Pinnacle Technologies, Inc.

CO2 to be captured directly from ex-haust gases as it is produced [5].

Much, if not all, of the capture tech-nology is dependent upon technical standards that do not yet exist. For example, there is no pipeline or res-ervoir specification for CO2 intended for storage in deep saline formations. This means that the designers of such equipment face hurdles in making the billions of dollars of investments that would be needed to design and build facilities such as capture-ready Inte-grated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) power plants.

Transporting CO2Carbon dioxide is transported and in-jected as a supercritical liquid, which means that pipeline transport is nearly always required. The compression costs associated with moving CO2 long dis-tances by pipeline are not trivial.

This aspect of CCS holds great prom-ise for IP opportunities as researchers

identify more efficient ways of moving the CO2 from the cap-ture site to the storage site and develop better devices and methods of monitoring the gas during transportation to avoid leakage. Improvements in compression technology, for ex-ample, may hold great promise in reducing operating expenses associated with pipeline trans-portation of CO2.

Storing CO2Currently, most efforts view the goal of CCS as the safe storage of cap-tured CO2 for a very, very long time, geologically speaking. At present, most captured CO2 is injected directly into underground geological formations in a method known as geological storage, or geo-sequestration. Suitable storage locations have included oil fields, gas fields, saline formations, and un-min-able coal seams that include physical

and geochemical trapping mechanisms to prevent the carbon dioxide from escap-ing to the surface.

In some cases, the process of storing the CO2 can pro-duce additional benefits. For example, CO2 injected into oil reservoirs may serve to

increase oil production by expanding and thinning out the oil so that the oil is able to flow more easily (see, CE, January, p. 12). In another example, storing the CO2 in deep coal beds can free natural gas that sits on the coal’s surface. The natural gas can then be burned to provide energy [6]. The ben-efit of enhanced oil and natural-gas recovery is that the sale of the recov-

Seawater

Consolidated hydrate–CO2–water system

CO2liquid

FIGURE 2. UT-Battelle’s method of mixing seawater and CO2 is claimed to in-crease efficiency, increase the residence time of CO2 in the ocean, and decrease the cost of CO2 sequestration, while reducing the negative effects of simply releasing CO2 gas into ocean water

Source: U.S. Patent No. 6,598,407

Technology Showcase


ChemiCal engineering www.Che.Com may 2008 31

PROTECTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

intellectual property is a term used to describe the legal rights that authors, inventors, and others have in the product of their creative efforts. There are different types of intellectual prop-

erty, and the protection of each type confers a particular bundle of rights to the owners for a certain amount of time.

The three most common forms of IP are copyrights, patents, and trademarks. Copyrights apply to the expression of an idea in a tangible media, such as a scientific paper, technical manual, drawing, or brochure. If the author of the work is one or more in-dividuals, copyright protection may endure for the life of the oldest living author plus an additional 70 years. If the work is created on behalf of a corporation or is otherwise considered “made for hire,” the term of copyright protection is 95 years from the year of first publication or 120 years from the year of creation, whichever expires first [17]. However, copyright does not protect the ideas expressed in the paper or drawing, only how it is expressed. Thus, while an owner of a copyright generally has the exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work, the right to prepare derivative works based upon the work, the right to distribute copies of the work to the public, the right to perform the copyrighted work pub-licly, and the right to display the copyrighted work publicly [18], copyright provides no right to stop a competitor from using new concepts described in the copyrighted work.

A patent, on the other hand, does protect inventive concepts, such as a new and useful process, machine, article of manufac-ture, or composition of matter [19]. Patent rights include the right to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing a patented invention for the life of the patent [20]. In general, a patent expires 20 years from the date the patent application was filed [21].

Trademark rights protect brands — that is, the reputation that a company has developed for its product in association with a trademark or service mark. Some good examples in the energy industry are Exxon for petroleum products and HTC Purenergy for CCS equipment. HTC Purenergy is a trademark and service mark owned by HTC Hydrogen Technologies Corp. and covers, among other goods and services, “Scientific apparatus for capturing and storing carbon dioxide, namely, sensors, controllers and auto-mated process control systems comprised of computer hardware and software that provide realtime performance analysis to ensure operation of power plants and CO2 reservoirs in accordance with guidelines to meet performance specifications to remove CO2 from oilfields and to capture and store CO2 and produce and deliver alternative fuels such as hydrogen and bio-fuels etc.” A company can select a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or a combination of these elements and use it in commerce to distin-guish a product or service from the products and services of others. Then, no one other than the trademark owner or its licensee has the right to identify goods or services using that trademark or a mark that is sufficiently similar to the trademark to create a likelihood of confusion in the mind of a consumer. Unlike copyright and patent rights, trademark rights can last indefinitely, as long as the mark continues to identify a product or service and has not been “ge-nericized”. Examples of words that once were strong trademarks but have become generic and thus are available for anyone to use as the name of the item include escalator, zipper, thermos, and frisbee, among many others.

Work in the field of CCS implicates all forms of IP. Research and findings published for public access in hard copy, as well as on the internet, are protected under copyright laws; new methods and devices for accomplishing or implementing CCS, including improvements on existing methods and devices, may be protected under patent laws; and marks used in connection with CCS products and services, such as the name of a machine, a chemical composition, or a company, may be identified by a trademark and receive protection under trademark laws. For a new technology, patents are usually the most valuable IP, because

patent rights allow a startup venture to invest in developing the technology while preventing competitors from freely copying pat-ented concepts.

Each aspect of CCS represents its own set of problems and chal-lenges. In the following discussion, we will consider the current state of CCS technology and take a closer look at how IP factors into the CCS equation.

IP protection in an international contextResearch and development work in the field of CCS is not limited, by any means, to the U.S. Many of the sites currently implement-ing CCS are located elsewhere. For example, the aforementioned Sleipner project is located off the coast of Norway and is run by a Norwegian petroleum company; the Weyburn project is lo-cated in Southeastern Saskatchewan in Canada; and the In Salah CCS site is located in a natural gas reservoir in Algeria.

The international and cooperative nature of CCS projects today raises a number of important questions relating to the protection of IP in the global context. In many countries, IP can be protected through a variety of mechanisms, including patents, copyrights, and trademarks, similar to the protections available under U.S. laws. However, there is as yet no true unitary system of IP protec-tion at the moment, and each country has its own twist on IP pro-tection. For example, in the area of patent laws, the number of claims that can be included in each patent application may vary from country to country, with substantial increases in application and maintenance costs associated with additional claims. Fur-thermore, subject matter that may be patentable in the U.S. may be more difficult or even impossible to protect in other countries [22]. In addition, rules regarding permitted disclosure of an in-vention prior to filing for a patent (for example in a publication or in an offer for sale) vary, which may cause a researcher relying on U.S. laws to inadvertently abandon an invention to the public domain in a foreign country, thereby forfeiting patent protection in that particular country.

In many developing countries, IP protection is not as robust as it is in the U.S., and one must take additional precautions to guard against infringement. However, the good news is that more and more countries are realizing the importance of IP protec-tion to their economies and are actively working on improving such protections. For example, the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (known as TRIPS) is an international agreement administered by the World Trade Or-ganization (WTO) that sets down minimum standards for many forms of IP, including patents. Any nation seeking to be a member of the WTO must ratify TRIPS and enact the IP laws that TRIPS mandates. For this reason, TRIPS is considered by many to be the most important multilateral instrument for the globalization of intellectual property laws [23].

Closely related to the protection of the IP itself is the need for agreements between members of joint ventures or partners other-wise collaborating on a CCS project. Both in the U.S. and abroad, an agreement regarding who will own what aspects of the IP de-veloped during the project is essential at the start of project. Often, members of a team consisting of more than one corporation or business entity that start out in the true spirit of collaboration can end up at odds with one another over technology that both de-veloped. In the absence of a contract, laws may allow joint own-ers to pursue an invention independently without any obligation to share profits with another joint owner. Thoughtful, reasoned IP agreements entered into before such problems arise can be use-ful in maintaining the positive engagement of all team members and fairly distributing the fruits of the collective development of IP. Confidentiality agreements between the different players often play a key role in keeping new technologies from being prematurely placed in the public domain and may also be used to protect as trade secrets technology that will not be patented [24]. ❏

ered resources can be used to offset the cost of CCS.

The storage of CO2 in the ocean has also been proposed as an alternative to geological storage. One concept is that CO2 injected by ship or pipeline into the water column at a depth of at least 1,000 m would dissolve into its surroundings. A second concept in-volves depositing the CO2 onto the sea floor at more than 3,000 m so that the CO2, which is denser than water, can form a self-contained “lake,” thereby delaying dissolution of the CO2 into the environment. Another idea is to convert the CO2 into bicarbonates or hydrates through reactions with other substances, such as limestone [7].

Ocean storage, however, presents re-searchers with numerous environmen-tal challenges. Large quantities of CO2 may pose a threat to ocean organisms in the area, and the reaction of CO2 with the surrounding water may form carbonic acid, increasing the acidity of

the ocean water and very likely affect-ing the surrounding aquatic life.

Federally sponsored research by UT-Battelle, LLC (Oak Ridge, Tenn.; www.ut-battelle.org) in an attempt to over-come such challenges has resulted in U.S. Patent No. 6,598,407, which issued in July of 2003. UT-Battelle’s patent covers a method of mixing seawater and CO2 in a pipeline at a predeter-mined ocean depth, such as 700 m or greater, until a paste-like consolidated CO2-hydrate/ CO2-liquid/water stream is formed (Figure 2). The paste-like mix-ture is then discharged into the ocean at that predetermined depth, where it forms a negatively buoyant stream. The patented method of forming the CO2-seawater mixture is claimed to in-crease efficiency, increase the residence time of CO2 in the ocean, and decrease the cost of CO2 sequestration while re-ducing the negative effects of simply releasing CO2 gas into ocean water [8].

Mineral storage, in which the CO2

is reacted with minerals such as metal oxides to produce stable carbonates, is also being explored as a potential storage method. Considered one of the most permanent methods of storage, its downside is the amount of energy required to facilitate the reaction. Although the process of CO2 mineral storage is a natural one, accounting for the presence of surface limestone, the reaction itself is very slow and would require pretreatment of the minerals in a large-scale operation — a very energy-intensive proposition. A power plant implementing CCS, for example, is estimated to require 60–180% more energy to accomplish mineral storage than a power plant without CCS [9]. More research is still needed to de-velop ways to make large-scale min-eral storage a cost-effective solution.

Monitoring stored CO2Once the CO2 has been captured, trans-ported, and stored, it cannot be forgot-


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ten. Systems must be put in place to measure, monitor, and verify that the CO2 is being safely maintained in the storage environment [10]. For geologi-cal storage sites, the Intergovernmen-tal Panel on Climate Change (IPCC; Geneva, Switzerland; www.ipcc.ch) es-timates that the CO2 could be trapped for millions of years, with 99% of the CO2 remaining in storage for at least 1,000 years [11]. The estimates are somewhat lower for ocean storage, with retention depending on the depth at which the CO2 was injected, but the IPCC estimates 30–85% of the CO2 would be retained after 500 yr for stor-age depths of 1,000–3,000 m.

Estimates aside, there is very little

empirical data on how safe longterm storage of CO2 may be. The Sleipner gas field, operated by Statoil 250 km off the coast of Norway, is the old-est plant that sequesters and stores CO2, having started CCS in 1996. At Sleipner, natural gas and condensate (light oil) is produced from the Heim-dal sandstones, which are about 2,500 m (8,000 ft) below sea level. During the process, an 8,000-ton treatment plant separates CO2 from the natu-ral gas using amines and pumps the CO2 into the Utsira sandstone forma-tion 1,000-m beneath the seabed of the Norwegian North Sea. The Utsira formation itself is capped by an 80-m thick layer of shale, which is consid-

ered an additional safeguard against the leakage of CO2 [12].

At Sleipner, seismic surveys are used to determine the location of the CO2 and to evaluate the retention of CO2 in the Utsira formation. 4-D seismic data has also been used at the Wey-burn CCS project to image injected CO2. Another technique that is con-sidered one of the most effective and economical is known as produced fluid and gas monitoring. Produced fluid and gas monitoring takes advantage of the unique “fingerprint” that hydro-carbon-derived CO2 has as compared to organic, or naturally occurring, CO2. Thus, samples of fluid and gas, for example taken from production


AVOIDING INFRINGEMENT OF OTHERS’ IP

as CCS activity increases and IP protection accelerates, compa-nies entering the CCS arena will have to be careful to avoid infringing the patents of others. A corporation or individual

may be liable for direct infringement under U.S. law if they make, use, sell, offer to sell, or import a patented technology or its equiv-alent without permission of the patent owner during the term of the patent. Unlike infringement of a copyright, a party may be liable even if it did not actively copy the patented invention or intend to infringe the patent [25].

In addition to direct infringement, a third party may be liable

for indirect infringement if it supplies a product that can only be reasonably used to make a patented device [26]. For example, a company that manufactures and sells a gadget that only has a use as part of a patented piece of equipment may be liable for contributory infringement for, in effect, contributing to the in-fringement of the equipment patent. Furthermore, a third party may be liable for inducing infringement if it encourages or assists another party to infringe a patent, for example, by requiring the other party to perform a patented method or build a patented apparatus [27]. ❏

wells or other communicative zones within the reservoir, can be analyzed and compared to pre-storage data to determine whether and how much in-jected CO2 is being released [13].

Although some CO2 monitoring technologies already exist or are being adapted from other related industries, there is still a great need for the de-velopment of large-scale, efficient, and cost-effective monitoring technologies. In fact, some companies are antici-pating the rising importance of CO2 monitoring by focusing their offerings on the monitoring, mitigation and ver-ification of CO2 sequestered in CCS operations, indicating a strong poten-tial for the generation of technological innovation in this area. For example, Pinnacle Technologies, Inc. (Houston, Tex.; www.pinntech.com) has applied for a patent that would cover a system and method for combined microseismic and tiltmeter analysis to determine a location, orientation, and dimension

of a fracture developed during a geo-physical process at a storage site [14].

CO2 outlets as a commodityMuch of the activity surrounding CCS treats CO2 emissions as a waste prod-uct to be captured and stored away. Another approach, however, is to turn captured CO2 into a commodity rather than a waste product by using the CO2 to make other products or improve on-going profit-generating activities.

CO2 is a generally inert gas that will react with certain elements and com-pounds and is known for its cooling properties when compressed into liquid form. CO2 currently has several com-mercial uses: it has been used as a raw material for the production of various chemicals; as a working material in fire extinguishing systems; for carbonating soft drinks; for freezing food products such as poultry, meats, vegetables and fruit; for chilling meats prior to grind-ing; for refrigerating and maintaining

ideal atmospheric conditions during the transportation of food products to market; for enhancing oil recovery from oil wells; and for treating alkaline water, among many other uses [15].

Some firms, for example, have pro-posed using CO2 as an enhancer for the growth of crops and other plants. The Agricultural Gas Co. (Hudson, Wisc.; www.aggas.com) obtained U.S. Patent No. 6,237,284 in 2001 to pro-tect a method of encouraging plant growth by storing a mixture of gas containing captured CO2 in an under-ground void at a temperature of about 68°F, subsequently distributing the stored mixture to plants during day-light hours, and distributing water to the plants during non-daylight hours. The patent suggests that the use of CO2 according to this method not only provides a way to naturally re-cycle excess CO2, but also reduces the amount of water and fertilizer con-sumed by the plants, thereby tackling

Circle 29 on p. 90 or go to adlinks.che.com/7372-2934 ChemiCal engineering www.Che.Com may 2008

Technology Showcase

more than one environmental issue at the same time [16].

CO2 is already being used to de-crease the viscosity of oil trapped un-derground in enhanced oil recovery processes, as previously mentioned. Any productive use of captured CO2, even if the CO2 eventually ends up in storage at the end of the process, would help to recoup the additional costs associated with capturing, transporting, and storing the gas and may make CCS a more financially at-tractive proposition.

Increasing CCS incentives on the horizon Many interested parties envision a booming market for CCS technology in the years ahead. Much of the world has already adopted cap-and-trade programs, which limit the amount of carbon dioxide that industrial facili-ties may emit. Europe, for example, has adopted regulations that effec-


Technology Showcase References1. “Discussion Paper for 2nd IEA/CSLF Work-

shop on Legal Aspects of Carbon Capture and Storage, 17 October 2006, Paris, France,” draft, pp 13–14.

2. “Human-Related Sources and Sinks of Car-bon Dioxide,” United States Environmen-tal Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/co2_human.html#carboncapture.

3. U.S. Patent No. 7,022,168.4. U.S. Published Application No. 2005/0201929

(assigned to ExxonMobil Research and Engi-neering Co.); U.S. Published Application No. 2006/0112696 (assigned to Statoil ASA).

5. U.S. Published Application Nos. 2006/0186562 and 2006/0289003.

6. “Carbon Capture and Storage to Combat Global Warming Examined,” Science Daily, June 12, 2007, http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/06/070611153957.htm.

7. “Carbon Capture and Storage,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_capture_and_storage.

8. U.S. Patent No. 6,598,407.9. IPCC special report on Carbon Dioxide Cap-

ture and Storage, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, chs 7–8, available at http://www.mnp.nl/ipcc/pages_media/SRCCS-final/IPCCSpecialReportonCarbond-ioxideCaptureandStorage.htm.

10. Id. at 341.11. Id. at 197.12. “Global Climate Change and Energy: Case

Study: Sleipner—A Carbon Dioxide Cap-ture-and-Storage Project, http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/climate_change/sleipner.htm; see also http://www.statoil.com/stato i l com/SVG00990.NSF/web/sleipneren?opendocument.

13. “Monitoring CO2 During Enhanced Hydrocar-

bon Recovery and Geological Carbon Storage,” Mark Raistrick, IOR Views, Issue 13, Feb. 2007, available at http://ior.senergyltd.com/issue13/research-development/universities/calgary/

14. See Pinnacle Technologies website, http://www.pinntech.com/index.html; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0081412, published April 20, 2006.

15. “Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Properties, Uses, Ap-plications CO2 Gas and Liquid Carbon Diox-ide,” Universal Industrial Gases, Inc., http://www.uigi.com/carbondioxide.html.

16. U.S. Patent No. 6,237,284. See also Day, Danny M. et al., “Distributed Hydrogen Pro-duction with Profitable Carbon Sequestra-tion: A Novel Integrated Sustainable System for Clean Fossil Fuel Emission and a Bridge to the New Hydrogen Economy and Global Socio-Economic Stability,” available at http://www.eprida.com/hydro/ecoss/presentations/NHA/Poster_Handout.pdf.

17. 17 U.S.C. § 302.18. 17 U.S.C. § 106.19. 35 U.S.C. § 101.20. 35 U.S.C. § 271.21. 35 U.S.C. § 154(a)(2).22. Young, J., “Patenting of Financial Business

Methods Gains Momentum,” IP Value 2006 (Globe White Page).

23. “Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intel-lectual Property Rights,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agreement_on_Trade-Related_As-pects_of_Intellectual_Property_Rights.

24. 2nd IEA/CSLF Workshop on Legal Issues of Carbon Capture and Storage: Summary of Key Issues Raised, p. 3, http://www.cslforum.org/documents/iea_cslf_Paris_Summary_Workshop_Discussions.pdf.

25. 35 U.S.C. § 271.26. 35 U.S.C. § 271(c).27. 35 U.S.C. § 271(b).

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87_Flexim-Anzeige-ChemEngin 1 11.01.2008 11:18:49 Uh


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VIBRATORYSCREENERS1 to 5 screening decksyield up to 5 precise particle sizes from 2 in.(50 mm) to 25 microns.Diameters from 18 to 100 in. (460 to 2540mm). Batch or continu-ous, gravity-fed or in-line pneumatic modelswith rates to 30 tons/h.Numerous options.

CENTRIFUGAL SCREENERSExclusive 2- and 3-bearing cantileveredshaft designs providevibration-free opera-tion while allowingrapid removal of com-ponents for thoroughcleaning and screenchanges. Continuous,gravity-fed or in-linepneumatic models.

FLUID BED DRYERSAND COOLERSExclusive circular, vibra-tory self-contained dry-ers and coolers providegreater performance in less space at lowercost than ever beforepossible. Lab modelsfrom 18 in. (400 mm)and high capacity models to 84 in. (2135mm) in diameter.

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83

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tively require CCS to be deployed in a variety of energy facilities in the decade ahead.

Those requirements appear to be coming to the U.S., too. At the federal level, Congress continues to debate numerous cap-and-trade proposals. The New England States have ad-opted a regional cap-and-trade pro-gram known as RGGI (the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative), and California, through a law known as AB 32, is currently in the midst of de-veloping its own carbon-cap regula-tions. Even outside of these regions, CCS requirements are cropping up in nearly every venue dealing with the permitting and siting of new coal-fired power generation in the U.S. as project developers face increasing pressure to demonstrate that they are taking steps to manage their project’s carbon dioxide emissions, even in the absence of formal regula-tory requirements.

ConclusionThe problems associated with the var-ious aspects of CCS abound, as do the opportunities for generating related in-tellectual property. As public and gov-ernmental support for CCS increases, there will be greater restrictions im-posed regarding the emission of CO2, both in the U.S. and abroad; and solu-tions to the problems associated with CCS will become even more valuable. Protecting IP through copyrights, patents, and trademarks increases the value of a company’s technology, shields the owner from competition in the patented technology for a limited time, and provides a mechanism for recouping investment and research costs. In addition, knowing what tech-nology is already protected can help companies and individuals avoid li-ability for infringing the patents of others. IP knowledge and protection can be a catalyst for changing CO2 from a waste gas to a profit-generat-

ing resource. And developments in the field of CCS will presumably make the environment happier, too. ■

Edited by Rebekkah Marshall

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AuthorsJeffrey E. Young is a part-ner in the Intellectual Prop-erty Practice of Alston & Bird (One Atlantic Center, 1201 West Peachtree Street, Atlanta GA 30309-3424; Phone: 404-881-7857; Email: [email protected]; Web: www.alston.com/jeff_young) and a registered patent attor-ney. He advises major corpo-rations in seeking worldwide

patent protection, licensing intellectual property, and analyzing issued patents, publishing and speaking extensively.

Michele M. Glessner is an associate in the Intellectual Property Practice of Alston & Bird (Bank of America Plaza, Suite 4000, 101 South Tryon Street, Charlotte NC 28280-4000; Phone: 704-444-1124; Email: [email protected]; Web: www.alston.com/michelle_glessner) and a registered patent attorney. Her experience in prepar-

ing and prosecuting patent applications is aug-mented by experience as an engineer in the chemical industry.


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