Patent Application
20150134503
The present teachings generally pertain to global pollution control systems, and more particularly to a global pollution control system that employs hybrid incentive trade instruments featuring exchange-established market values that may be traded on a global electronic exchange platform along with other financial instruments.
The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Selecting pollution control instruments is a crucial environmental policy decision, as evidenced in attempts to forge sovereign and global regulations pertaining to controls for greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions. However, in that case, debates among policy makers and critics have grown contentious due to fundamental disputes in public, private and academia sectors concerning the extent to which GHG (especially CO2) are global warming (“GW”) forces causing CC (hereafter referred to as “GHG Disputes”).
Extraordinarily high technology costs and long abatement periods exacerbate GHG Disputes. As a result, risks lurk that the United Nations Kyoto Protocol could fold barring a major turn of events. Due in part to those circumstances, a once-prominent GHG trading post (i.e., Chicago Climate Exchange) recently shuttered following nearly a decade of operations after trading volume plummeted and “carbon credit” (generic term for tradable certificates/permits holding the right to emit one metric tonne of CO2 or the mass of another GHG with a CO2 equivalent to one metric tonne of CO2) prices crashed 99% from their 2008 peaks.
In contrast, there are virtually no major disputes concerning benefits that can be realized by aggressively eliminating diesel PM. The market appears ripe for a global pollution control system based on the collection and eco-friendly recycling of captured agglomerated diesel soot (“CADS”), e.g. in the manner disclosed by in U.S. Ser. No. 61/531,126, assuming that financing mechanisms such as CADS Hybrids can gain traction over a suitable global market. U.S. application Ser. No. 61/531,126 is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
In some respects, incentive trade instruments employed to help curb GHG emissions in OECD countries, such as emission reduction credit (“ERC”) and capped allowance trading (“Cap-and-Trade”) systems, serve as trailblazers for the approach adopted in formulating CADS Hybrids. However, there is at least one major distinction: reducing GHG emissions in the OECD involves larger scale initiatives than those involved with abating the effects of super-emitters in countries compromised by needs to employ more affordably available but environmentally less desirable diesel fuels to power economic growth.
The former involves, inter alia, a myriad of extraordinarily costly and long term campaigns comprised of complex technology transformations, fuel conservation, displacement and replacement schemes, and related programs aimed as much at reducing reliance on fossil fuels as abating pollution levels. In fact, some GHG Disputes have involved heated debates as to whether CO2 should be treated as a pollutant.
The latter involves critical shorter term missions focused on DECAT technologies that are essentially already developed, are far less costly and merely require mobilization of forces to expedite mass implementation on a global scale. In fact, many leading scientists warn that time is of the essence to remove black carbon soot from the atmosphere; otherwise, tipping points could occur such that GHG reduction technologies on the drawing board may for all intents and purposes be rendered futile.
In terms of formulating a global pollution control system employing CADS Hybrids, pollution limits can in some cases be rate-based with no set limits on the maximum allowable level of pollution within the regulated area. Instead, pollution limits cannot exceed a specified rate of emissions (e.g., grams per mile or km for mobile vehicles; pounds or kg per MMBtu for power generators and stationary applications). Polluters can earn credits by employing qualified diesel emission control after-treatment (“DECAT”) systems designed to verifiably reduce emissions below specified rates. Having no cap on total emissions is appealing to policymakers in developing countries where anticipated economic growth is likely to occur alongside a corresponding increase in the number of individual polluters.
Alternatively, CADS Hybrid Cap-and-Trade systems can be formulated in a manner whereby allowable caps on total emissions are set, with a cap equal to the total number of allowances (permits) allocated to a group of polluters. Group allowances are then distributed among individual polluters. The number of allowances held by each polluter sets limits on levels they are entitled to emit. Allowances can be auctioned, with entities competing to purchase rights. Alternatively, they can be doled out as part of a government program. In any event, once all allowances are placed with rights holders, those entities must either reduce emissions directly or purchase allowances from other rights holders who achieve reductions below the required level.
Although not incorporated directly into the value of CADS Hybrids, other government policy tools are potentially useful as adjuncts to CADS Hybrid systems, such as: emissions taxes, fees and charges; subsidies; combining pollution standards with pricing approaches; and liability assignments.
Grants from sovereign and/or global regulatory bodies, as well as loans from entities dealing in concert with such bodies, can also play integral roles in the success of CADS Hybrid systems formulated.
All things considered, the timing is ripe for a new system that will help developing countries, as well as developed countries, proactively remediate local and global health, environmental and CC problems caused by diesel PM.
In one aspect the present disclosure relates to a pollution control system comprising a computerized trading exchange for trading hybrid incentive trade instruments. The hybrid trade instruments have underlying value associated with diesel emission controls. The computerized trading exchange may include a computerized storage device configured to store details selected from at least one of certificates, futures, options, forwards, swaps, and spreads associated with the buying and selling of the hybrid incentive trade instruments. A computerized trading exchange may be included for defining at least one regulation of trading and configured to allow a plurality of participants to buy and sell the hybrid incentive trade instruments. The computerized trading exchange may further be configured to enable communications from at least one party that enables details relating to the hybrid trade incentive agreements to be provided to the computerized storage device, and from at least one seller that enables an interest to sell a hybrid incentive trade instrument to be presented to the computerized trading exchange, and from at least one buyer that enables a purchase interest in a hybrid incentive trade instrument to be presented to the computerized trading exchange.
In another aspect the present disclosure relates to a pollution control system comprising a computerized trading exchange for trading hybrid incentive trade instruments. The computerized trading exchange may include a computerized storage device configured to store details selected from a group consisting of certificates, futures, options, forwards, swaps, and spreads associated with the buying and selling of hybrid incentive trade instrument with underlying value attributed to at least one of:
health and environmental benefits derived from attendant diesel emission control systems that eliminate particulate matter (“PM”) and pollutants from diesel exhaust; and
by-products generated by recycling captured agglomerated diesel soot (“CADS”) collected from said systems. The computerized trading exchange may also include a storage for storing at least one regulation of trading and configured to allow a plurality of participants to buy and sell the hybrid incentive trade instruments. The plurality of participants may include globally scattered communities of interest. The plurality of participants may also include at least one party for providing the details to the computerized storage device, at least one seller having an interest to sell in a hybrid incentive trade instrument, and at least one buyer desiring to purchase an interest in a hybrid incentive trade instrument. The computerized trading exchange may provide a transparent, electronic data exchange platform operative to authorize, transmit, receive, match, confirm, report, clear, settle buy and sell orders for the interest in the hybrid incentive trade instrument.
The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. In the drawings:
The present disclosure relates to a global pollution control system that employs hybrid incentive trade instruments featuring exchange-established market values that may be traded on a global electronic exchange platform along with other financial instruments. The system's underlying intrinsic benefits are at least two fold: (i) elimination of particulate matter (“PM”) and other pollutants from diesel exhaust, and (ii) by-products generated by recycling captured agglomerated diesel soot (“CADS”) collected from attendant diesel emission control after-treatment (“DECAT”) systems. The financial instruments used to achieve the foregoing may hereafter be referred to as “CADS Hybrid(s).” The present teachings also generally pertain to a method of establishing CADS Hybrid market values, comprised of a global electronic exchange platform that, inter alia, trades CADS Hybrid certificates, as well as related indexes, futures, options, forwards, swaps, spreads and other derivatives.
Hybrid systems are financing mechanisms aimed at facilitating aggressive DECAT retrofit initiatives in developing countries so their remediation benefits can take hold globally. CADS Hybrids are designed for trading over a global exchange to establish market values that are commensurate with the underlying system's intrinsic co-benefits. Such benefits include, without limitation, (i) valuable CADS recycling by-products, and (ii) economic gains realized by eliminating diesel PM (also known as black carbon soot) and other pollutants for health, environmental and climate change (“CC”) reasons, as explained more fully below.
In summary then, the present global pollution control system enjoins the forces of, inter alia, CADS Hybrids, adjunct government policy tools, grants from sovereign and/or global regulatory bodies, and loans from entities dealing in concert with the bodies. Together, those forces comprise an effective mechanism integral to the process of financing aggressive DECAT retrofit initiatives in developing countries so their PM remediation effects can take hold globally.
Providing the ability to discover and hedge the market value of CADS Hybrids taking the form of tradable certificates, as well as related indexes, futures, options, forwards, swaps, spreads and other derivatives, is an important embodiment integral to the successful establishment and ongoing viability of a CADS Hybrids system. As a result, the present teachings generally pertain to an Exchange where the market price discovery and hedging functions take place over a computerized trading exchange that, inter alia, matches, executes, clears and settles buy and sell orders placed by member and non-member commercials and speculators. The computerized trading exchange may be comprised of globally scattered communities of interest (“COI”) operating over a web-based Cloud network in generally the same manner as a method for energy market hedging taught by this Inventor in U.S. application Ser. No. 61/513,792, as explained more fully below. U.S. application Ser. No. 61/513,792 is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
An important feature of present disclosure which is aimed at accomplishing those goals is CADS. Prior to framing the many benefits of this driver, it is instructive to understand CADS genesis within the context of diesel engine exhaust, as well as the nature of CADS collected from DECAT Systems and ultimately recycled via eco-friendly thermo-chemical conversion (“TCC”) processes such as pyrolysis and/or gasification.
When exiting the engine manifold, raw exhaust gases contain a variety of elements (some noxious), that, together, form diesel PM. Those elements traditionally fall into 3 main fractions: solid fraction, soluble organic fraction (“SOF”) and sulfate particulates (“SP”). Solid fraction is comprised primarily of elemental (black) carbon, the substance most responsible for visibly offensive smoke emissions, as well as non-carbon ash formed by combustion chamber burning of additives contained in lubricating oil and metal oxide impurities caused by engine wear.
Soluble organic fraction is comprised of hydrocarbons (“HC”), often in nuclei mode, adsorbed onto the surface of black carbon particles or otherwise present as fine droplets. SOF dwell in exhaust gases as lubricating oil-derived HC, higher boiling-end diesel fuel HC and polycyclic aromatic HC (“PAH”) with multiple benzene rings joined in cluster forms that are mutagenic and, in some cases, so carcinogenic that they attract serious attention from governmental bodies responsible for the oversight of toxic air regulations.
Sulfate particulates (“SP”) are comprised mostly of hydrated sulfuric acid. SP often take a liquid form and dwell in exhaust gases as nuclei mode particles. SP formation depends on vapor pressures, as well as such factors as fuel sulfur level, conversion of fuel sulfur to SO3, air/fuel ratio, temperature and relative humidity.
When DECAT systems taught by U.S. application Ser. No. 61/531,126 (“Attendant DECAT Systems”) are installed, PM-laden exhaust gases pass through one or more cooling embodiments prior to entering the system's pivotal diesel particulate converter (“DPC”). Exhaust cooling enhances condensation of heavy and frequently toxic volatile organic compounds (“VOCs”) in PM into nano-size particles that are captured at high frequencies and eliminated before exhaust leaves the tailpipe.
Adsorption of cooled condensed nuclei mode ultrafine and nano-particles onto larger (black carbon) PM species is optimized as all tend to bond while migrating through the DPC's agglomerative wire mesh filters prior to soot capture and collection. As a result, exhaust (VOC) toxicity gets eliminated while CADS feedstock is effectively being produced for TCC process recycling.
Absent Attendant DECAT System remediation, VOCs and other harmful elements of PM escape freely into the atmosphere. Once inhaled, toxic ultrafine and nano-particles may penetrate deeply into lung tissues, where they pose serious health threats. Globally, hundreds of thousands of PM toxicity-related excess deaths occur annually. An even greater number of hospital admissions for cardiovascular, respiratory and central nervous system disorders are estimated to cost hundreds of billions of dollars on an annual basis.
Aside from the serious health hazards posed by raw diesel emissions, considerable attention is paid to the adverse environmental effects of black carbon soot, in particular within the context of their role as GW forces causing CC. Black carbon soot is widely recognized as a potent GW coefficient with local and regional impacts, especially in developing countries and icy/snowy regions. This is due to the fact that, while drifting in the atmosphere or falling/settling on the ground, black carbon soot efficiently absorbs sunlight, warms up and radiates heat. Soot accumulating on ice and snow (especially in crucial Arctic and Himalayan regions) reduces albedo (i.e., the ability to reflect light), causing a local melt that reduces reflectivity even further. The result is a positive feedback loop of warming.
Global organizations have lately focused their attention on black carbon soot in light of published research findings by aerosol scientists and climate experts citing its elimination as the most expedient means capable of reversing CC caused by GW forces in the short term. This is due to the fact that the atmospheric life span of black carbon soot is only a few weeks versus many decades for CO2 and other GHG. A consensus appears to be forming that expedited short-term initiatives to reduce black carbon soot emissions should be undertaken in developing countries, not just for health reasons but to buy vital extra time needed for longer-term GHG mitigation measures, viewed more as the prime responsibility of developed (OECD) countries. Such is the goal of the global pollution control system of the present teachings.
However, complexities with the multifaceted aspects of black carbon soot in diesel exhaust cause a dilemma. As it turns out, such PM typically provides not only potent GW forces (in the form of elemental black carbon) but substantial offsetting cooling forces (in the form of sulfates).
A convincing body of scientific research vouches for the vital role sulfates played as the most effective cooling agents known to offset GW forces and resultant CC in the past few decades. In particular, benefits in Northern Hemisphere regions are attributed to cooling effects of SO2/SOx emitting OGVs passing between Asian and U.S. ports. Similarly crucial impacts were felt in Himalayan glacier areas serving as water reservoirs for over one-sixth of the Earth's population.
DECAT+Recycling Solutions disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 61/531,126 are designed not only to eliminate PM, thus providing considerable health benefits, but to, inter alia, solve the dilemma caused by black carbon soot's dual/offsetting CC forces, especially in cases involving OGVs. This is achieved by serving up the only known “double whammy” punch aimed at expediting the reversal of CC, comprised of: (i) agglomerating and capturing black carbon soot in DPCs, thus preventing their release into the atmosphere, where they would provide potent GW forces and (ii) selectively allowing SO2/SOx gases to pass through the DPC, into the atmosphere, so they can provide substantial cooling forces offsetting the effects of GHG and other GW forces residing there.
Multi-faceted benefits created by aforementioned DECAT+Recycling Solutions, which in effect yield the intrinsic value of CADS Hybrids, include but are not limited to the following:
Health benefits derived by eliminating PM (VOC) toxicity, which are achieved by exhaust cooling and DPC agglomeration, as well as eco-friendly methods of recycling via TCC processing.
Environmental benefits derived by preventing black carbon soot from entering the atmosphere or falling to the ground where their chemical makeup and toxicity can damage humans, animals, plants, bodies of water, etc., achieved by collecting and employing CADS as recycling feedstock.
Climate change benefits derived by preventing black carbon soot from providing potent GW force either in the atmosphere or after falling onto snow/ice, whilst selectively allowing SO2/SOx to pass through the DPC and assume beneficial roles as substantial cooling forces in the atmosphere, thus offsetting the effects of GHG and other GW forces.
CADS Recycling values, which are generated after TCC processes (pyrolysis and/or gasification) decompose CADS, inter alia, into the following byproducts:
Char, Carbon Black (CB) or CB Feedstock, Sulfur and Sulfuric Acid, which are salable as commodities.
Fullerenes, which are precursors for the synthesis of single walled carbon nanotubes.
Non-carbon ash, which is used as construction aggregate.
Oils and vapors, which are cooled and condensed into liquid fuels that are burnable directly in boilers and internal combustion engines or can be refined for higher quality uses such as motor oils, chemicals and adhesives.
Gases, which can be burned in a boiler for heat or in an internal combustion engine for electricity generation or combined heat and power, including recirculatable heat and power integral to the TCC process employed, as well as gases that can be scrubbed to remove impurities and converted via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, hydrotreating, hydrocracking, Claus or other conversion processes into cleaner grades of reusable fuels and chemicals.
Although not imputed directly into the value of CADS Hybrids, supplemental benefits will accrue to countries adopting the solutions taught herein, reflecting the favorable economic impact of new job creation attributed to the following:
Assembling Attendant DECAT System components, in particular the system's pivotal DPCs.
Installing Attendant DECAT Systems onto land based (trucks, buses, construction and mining equipment, power generators, etc.) and marine applications, in particular OGVs with economies of scale sufficient to accommodate integrated onboard DECAT+Recycling.
Ongoing CADS collection from above applications, which are transported to recycling facilities.
CADS Recycling into valuable by-products at dedicated (in this case, newly constructed) TCC processing facilities or contracted sites established with compatible infrastructure. It should be noted that TCC processing is a globally emerging industry with promising long-term prospects, especially in the case of waste-to-energy applications. The chemical composition and kinetic properties of CADS provide synergy for TCC co-processing with other feed stocks.
Administrative, technical and clerical positions ancillary to establishing and maintaining all functions noted above, including but not limited to those at government bodies in charge.
Due to the nascent state of pollution control system development in most countries outside the OECD, few if any developing countries are able to pursue purely market based or command and control environmental policies. Instead of positing micro solutions favoring one environmental policy type or the other on a state-by-state basis, the present disclosure calls for a global system, employing a hybrid approach, which may appeal to many, if not all, countries in need of expediency and economies of scale. An overall diagram shown in
With regard to the method of establishing CADS Hybrids market prices, the present teachings call for a computerized global trading exchange to be placed in charge of the following functions, in much the same way as this inventor's teachings per the System for Market Hedging and Related Method contained in U.S. application Ser. No. 13,558,974:
Specifying tradable certificates, as well as indexes, futures, options, forwards, swaps, spreads and other derivatives associated with the buying, selling and delivery of CADS Hybrids.
Listing certificates, indexes, futures, options, forwards, swaps, spreads and other derivatives that are extended to COI including but not limited to the following: members of the computerized global computerized trading exchange (clearing and non-clearing), commissioned merchants, introducing brokers, trading counter-parties in the form of commercials and speculators (also known as exchange customers), clearinghouses and reporting services, all of which are geographically scattered throughout the world.
Providing a transparent global computerized trading exchange able to authorize, transmit, receive, match, confirm, report, clear, settle and otherwise execute buy and sell orders for all listed certificates, indexes, futures, options, forwards, swaps, spreads and other derivatives with the capability of originating said orders virtually anywhere in the world over a secure web-based Cloud network.
Establishing all global computerized trading exchange policies and rules and overseeing the compliance therewith.
Arranging for all trades to be cleared and settled by qualified clearinghouses.
Obtaining all requisite licenses and other approvals granted by applicable government regulatory bodies.
Implementing all operating and reporting systems and processes conducive to the overall conduct of Exchange business.
The global computerized trading exchange customers noted above may include sovereign and global regulatory bodies placed in charge of maintaining pollution control systems in their respective country, region or sphere, as well as emissions banks qualified for trading by the regulatory bodies and the global computerized trading exchange.
Tradable certificates may be designed, in part, to provide holders with certain carbon credit rights. The carbon credit rights may be tied to the underlying mass of CADS expressed in terms of their equivalence to one tonne of CO2, rights which can be traded as part of a mutual listing agreement with one or more of the so-called “green exchanges.” The “green” exchanges may include, without limitation, the Green Exchange (“GreenX”) located in New York and London.
The favorable economic impacts of adopting solutions such as Attendant DECAT and CADS Hybrid systems exceed those associated with DECAT solutions being exploited in the OECD. For starters, the aggregate costs of OECD-genre DECAT systems and complementary ultra-low-sulfur diesel (“ULSD”) fuel campaigns dwarf the costs of Attendant DECAT Systems capable of tolerating ULSD, as well as diesel fuels with high (500+ppm) sulfur content. Thus, OECD-genre DECAT Systems are for all intents and purposes prohibitively expensive for developing countries. Further, any comprehensive analysis of OECD-genre DECAT Systems reveals inordinately high costs concentrated in platinum coated catalysts and filters and complex active components needed for diesel particulate filter “regeneration.” Diesel particulate filter regeneration is also known as “soot burning.” Published research findings posit soot burning as being responsible for increases in the emission of CO2, as well as harmful ultrafine PM. Accordingly, OECD-genre DECAT Systems cannot be said to provide “uplifting” labor and other costs related to engaging an adopting country's underutilized work force. Lastly, since OECD-spawned DECAT Systems produce no CADS, they are unable to generate any recycling or other ancillary economic benefits such as those noted earlier in connection with the presently disclosed global pollution control system.
Referring to
The global computerized trading exchange 112 provides a transparent, electronic data exchange platform which operates to authorize, transmit, receive, match, confirm, report, clear, settle and otherwise execute buy and sell orders for the interest (i.e., seller 134 or buyer 136) in the hybrid incentive trade instrument. Each party may provide details needed or desired for the specific transaction seeking to be made, and each seller and each buyer each may have a data storage hardware device. The data storage device may include software operative to facilitate transformational data protection via encryption. The plurality of participants may also operate over a web-based Cloud network.
While specific examples have been described in the specification and illustrated in the drawings, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalence may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the present teachings as defined in the claims. Furthermore, many modifications may be made to adopt a particular situation or material to the present teachings without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it may be intended that the present teachings not be limited to the particular examples illustrated by the drawings and described in the specification as the best mode or presently contemplated for carrying out the present teachings.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
The present application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/648,893, filed May 18, 2012. The present application is also related to, and claims priority from, co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 13/782,313, “System For Market Hedging And Related Method”, filed Mar. 1, 2013, which claims priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 13,558,974, filed Jul. 26, 2012. The disclosures of all of the above applications are hereby incorporated by reference into the present application.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US2013/041120 | 5/15/2013 | WO | 00 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61648893 | May 2012 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13782313 | Mar 2013 | US |
| Child | 14401389 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13558974 | Jul 2012 | US |
| Child | 13782313 | US |
