Yet more evidence that we've known how to convert our coal into liquid fuels, and how beneficial that would be, for a long time.
It's saddening to realize the truth of that has to have been, for whatever reason, and by whoever, deliberately suppressed. We can think of no other reason we don't already have a flourishing CoalTL industry in the United States. As we've documented, we can make liquid fuels from coal, we can make plastics and other useful chemicals from coal, and we can support a renewable bio-based energy industry with the by-products from coal.
The excerpt:
| "Title: | Coal gasification and its alternatives | |
| Authors: | Huffman, R. L. | |
| Affiliation: | AA(Cities Service Gas Co., Oklahoma City, Okla.) | |
| Publication: | In: Annual Conference on Energy, 4th, Rolla, Mo., October 11-13, 1977, Proceedings. (A79-14676 03-44) Rolla, Mo., University of Missouri-Rolla, 1978, p. 46-55. | |
| Publication Date: | 00/1978 | |
| Category: | Energy Production and Conversion | |
| Origin: | STI | |
| NASA/STI Keywords: | ALTERNATIVES, COAL GASIFICATION, COST ESTIMATES, ENERGY POLICY, ECONOMIC ANALYSIS, ENERGY TECHNOLOGY, SYNTHETIC FUELS | |
| Bibliographic Code: | 1978umor.conf...46H |
Abstract
The paper discusses six groups planning Lurgi coal gasification plants with capacities of about 250 MMCFD of synthetic gas. The present efficiencies and costs of natural gas and electricity are given in terms of production efficiency, transmission and distribution, and delivered energy efficiency. Estimates of the cost of space heating and cooling equipment are presented for a typical home having 1,800 square feet of living space. In contrast to nuclear energy, it is shown that coal has direct applications to industry, for the generation of electric power, and for the production of synthetic fuels. It is demonstrated that synthetic gas from coal is less costly and more efficient than electricity made from the same coal from the point of view of the residential consumer."So, coal conversion, in this case to a "synthetic" replacement for natural gas, is a better technology than nuclear energy alternatives. And, perhaps even more interestingly, according to the author, converting coal into synthetic fuels is more efficient and less costly, in terms of delivering energy to the end consumer, than burning it in power plants to generate electricity - which we seem to do a lot of.
And, who were the six groups working on Lurgi-type coal conversion, and what has become of their projects? The full paper, which we will be unable to acquire, would likely reveal the details should anyone have interest in finding out.
Finally, although this paper concerns the manufacture of a natural gas substitute from coal, once that substitute - syngas - is manufactured, only a pass over one of a variety of catalysts is required to convert that gas into liquid fuels compatible with our current transportation fleet and infrastructure.