We sent you an earlier report of US Government-sponsored coal liquefaction research which referenced yet more such research being conducted for the Fed by FMC Corporation.
Herein are two reports of FMC's work on the somewhat ambiguously-titled "Char Oil Development".
They didn't, we conjecture, want the word "Coal" appearing in the titles of any documents related to the production of liquid petroleum products, i.e., "oil".
First up is the Final Report, Volume I. Which immediately begs the question: Where are the other volumes?
We haven't yet been able to find them. Following the excerpt from the link above are a second link and brief excerpt detailing an earlier progress report on the project.
Make note of the dates. Work went on for quite awhile. Where are all the data, and all of the substantive reportage?
What are the conclusions and recommendations? And, why, for the last three decades, have we, apparently, done nothing further to develop the technology, given an increasingly hostile and imperious OPEC, and dwindling supplies of much more expensive foreign petroleum?
As follows:
"Title: Char oil energy development. Volume I. final report, August 18, 1971--June 30, 1975
Author: Jones, J.F.; Brunsvold, N.J.; Terzian, H.D.; et. al.
Research Organization: FMC Corporation
Publication Date: September 01, 1975; Report Number: FE-1212-T-9
DOE Contract Number: E(49-18)-1212
Abstract:
Project COED has been under development by FMC Corporation since 1962. The COED process converts coal to synthetic crude oil, char and gas. The synthetic crude oil is low in sulfur and can be used as feedstock to a refinery or directly as a source of naphtha and fuel oil through simple distillation. The gas can be sold as fuel gas or converted by application of additional technology to pipeline gas or hydrogen. The residual char can be used as a power-plant fuel, or gasified to clean fuel gas for power generation through the application of further technology. Several years of bench-scale development work led to the successful operation of a 100 lb. per hour process development unit followed by the design, construction and operation of a pilot plant designed to process 36 tons of coal per day and to hydrotreat 30 barrels of coal-derived liquid per day. Design capacities have been achieved on all parts of the pilot plant. Significant accomplishments have been demonstrated in solids circulation between multiple fluidized-bed reactors, in the filtration of coal oil and in the upgrading of the coal oil to synthetic crude oil through fixed bed hydrotreating. The COED plant has processed from seven different geographic sources, ranging in ASTM rank from lignite to high-volatile A bituminous coal."
And, following, the only Progress Report we have so far been able to find:
Title: Char Oil Energy Development
Affiliation: FMC Corporation; Princeton, NJ
Publication: Monthly Reports, April 1968-October 1969; FMC Corp.; Princeton, NJ, Chemical Research and Development Center
Publication Date: July, 1974 (Yes, US Government work on coal conversion done in 1968 and 1969 wasn't reported, or "published", until 1974. And, this research, apparently, predates the research included in the Final Report, referenced above, of research performed from 1971 through 1975. - JtM)
Abstract:
These monthly reports (Apr 68-Oct 69) trace the progress of the development of the COED (charoil-energy-development) process--from bench scale to pilot plant operations at Princeton, New Jersey--by the FMC Corporation under contract (14-01-0001-498) to the Office of Coal Research. Under development since 1962, the COED process converts coal to low-sulfur synthetic crude oil, gas, and char by the fluidized-bed pyrolysis of coal, followed by the hydrotreating of the coal oil to synthetic crude oil. The char can be gasified to give a clean fuel gas for power generation, thus reopening the potential of using high sulfur coals for power generation. Successful operation of a 100 pound-per-hour process development unit led to the design, construction, and operation of a pilot plant at Princeton. The pilot plant can process 36 tons of coal per day and hydrotreat 30 barrels of coal-derived oil daily."
Well, 36 tons of coal to 30 barrels of oil doesn't sound all that good, since later technologies we've documented for you can make more than 3 barrels of oil per ton of coal.
Still, this was just a "pilot" plant, this is a report of early research and development, and results were encouraging enough that someone kept it operating for another 5 or 6 years, at least; and, it had, at the time of this report, already been operating for 7 years, as in "Under development since 1962, the COED process converts coal to low-sulfur synthetic crude oil".
"Coal to low-sulfur synthetic crude oil".
Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? Why haven't we ever heard this particular coal conversion song being played on the stations in West Virginia?
And, where are all the other monthly reports, and all the other Volumes of the Final Report? The USDOE sponsored this research, which means we paid for it. It belongs to every US citizen, and especially every US citizen in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and every other state in US Coal Country.