"L.L. Anderson, W. Tuntawiroon and W.B. Ding
Chemical & Fuels Eng. Department - University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 84112 USA
It has been shown that processing of coal to liquids can be done with high yields of liquids. Plastic materials. either pure as a commingled plastic waste containing different colors and impurities, can be processed with nearly 100% conversion to liquids and gases. Combinations of coal with plastic material can be processed to final products but with less conversion than expected from interpolation of the data from processing coal alone and plastic alone. Polymerization catalysts such as Titanium compounds can be utilized to depolymerize plastic materials containing HDPE at temperatures above 420 Bifunctional hydrogenation/hydrocracking catalysts can improve the conversion of coal/plastic mixtures but the highest conversions and oil yields were obtained when a two step procedure was used with liquefaction of plastic done in one step and coprocessing of plastic-derived liquids and coal in a second step."
Unlike some other references we've cited, which suggest that combining coal and some plastic wastes in liquefaction processes can increase the yield, this report indicates there could be some loss of efficiency.
However, it does seem that process modifications can overcome those inefficiencies, and coal and plastic wastes can be co-processed effectively into gases and liquids for further refining.
Coal-to-Liquid is a profitable, win-win, technology that can clean up the environment while it provides us with much-needed liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
Coal can do all of that.