We've previously cited the University of Pittsburgh's Wender, and others, on the subject of carbon conversion technology.
Herein is presented more information from them on the topic of "C-1" technologies that can convert basic sources of carbon, such as coal, into more versatile hydrocarbons, such as the liquid fuels we've all come to know and love.
As with so much US research we've been able to mine for you, this piece is more than two decades old.
The excerpt:
"Title: Synthesis gas as a source of fuels and chemicals: C-1 chemistry
Author: I. Wender; Dept. of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Univ. of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Date: January, 1986; OSTI: 6991112; Journal: Annual Review of Energy; Volume 11; Pages: 295-314
Abstract:
This chapter is concerned with the present and future uses of synthesis gas as a source of fuels and chemicals. Synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide in various ratios, is important both as a fuel and as a feedstock for chemical synthesis. Fully developed processes are available for producing it from natural gas, petroleum, petroleum derivatives, and coal. Synthesis gas, in fact, can be made from almost any organic material, including biomass and organic wastes, and increasingly diverse raw materials may find use in the future. The composition of the raw synthesis gas produced can vary widely, depending on the process technology and the quality of the raw materials (especially their hydrogen-to-carbon ratios and their reactivities)."
We will close by repeating a few of Dr. Wender's words: "Synthesis gas ... is important both as a fuel and as a feedstock for chemical synthesis. Fully developed processes are available for producing it from ... coal" or "any organic material, including" carbon-recycling "biomass and organic wastes".
And, once we have the syngas, as everyone should by now know, it can be converted, via a selection of technologies, into liquid petroleum substitutes.
The University of Pittsburgh knew all of that more than twenty years ago.
How come the rest of us in the US Coal Country environs around Pittsburgh don't seem to know it, yet?
And, why aren't we using any of those "Fully developed processes" to convert our abundant domestic, local, coal into the liquid fuels and chemical manufacturing materials we all, as a nation, need?