In many of our posts, we have presented authoritative documentation that Methane can be produced, synthesized, variously, from both Coal and Carbon Dioxide, among other interesting things.
Most recently, we submitted "United States Patent 4,235,044" for a "Split Stream Methanation Process", awarded in 1980 to Union Carbide Corporation, detailing one such technology for making Methane from Coal.
And, we intend confirming that fact in yet another dispatch soon to follow.
Aside from it's utility both in helping both to convert more Coal, via supplementation of indirect liquefaction processes; and, to recycle Carbon Dioxide, via co-reaction in tri-reforming processes, into hydrocarbons, Methane can itself be converted directly into liquid fuels - transformed, essentially, into Gasoline.
That fact has been confirmed in several United States Patents, awarded in more recent years to some major oil companies, a few of which are recorded in the West Virginia Coal Association R&D Blog archives, along with a patent for similar Methane-to-Liquid technology that was awarded to German inventors in the 1930's.
But, we, in the US, actually weren't all that far behind Germany, as the 1941 US Patent we enclose herein, via the link and attached document, attests.
First, we note that the corporate assignee of the patent rights, "the MW Kellogg Company", then of New York, is now a part of the major oil industry services company, Kellogg, Brown & Root, "KBR", and it might be instructive to review a brief description of them and their operations taken directly from their web site, as follows:
"KBR is headquartered in Houston, Texas, also known as the energy capital of the world. The Company employs over 50,000 people worldwide in locations that include the U.S., Australia, Africa, the U.K., Asia and the Middle East. KBR delivers a wide range of services through its Downstream, Gas Monetization, Infrastructure and Minerals, International Government and Defense, North American Government and Defense, Oil and Gas, Power and Industrial, Services, Technology, and Ventures business segments, and differentiates itself as a technology-driven engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company.
KBR has built a proud history and a leading market position in the government and infrastructure sectors by being a low-cost, high-efficiency and absolutely reliable service provider. Not only is KBR the largest contractor for the United States Army and a top-ten contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense, it is currently the world's largest defense services provider.
KBR is also an industry leader in transforming hydrocarbon resources into value across all sectors of the energy and chemicals industries. By designing and constructing energy and petrochemical projects that offer the latest and best process and design technologies, we have established a solid position as a partner to oil and gas operators in meeting the ever-increasing demand for energy."
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In any case, this now Texas-based "leader in transforming hydrocarbon resources into value", in 1941, was, while headquartered in New York, transforming Methane into Gasoline, as the following, very brief, excerpt, with comment appended, attests:
"US Patent 2,243,869 - Method of Synthesizing Liquid Hydrocarbons
Date: June, 1941
Inventor: Percival Keith, et. al., NJ
Assignee: The M.W. Kellogg Company, NY
Abstract: Our invention relates to a method of synthesizing liquid hydrocarbons and more particularly to a method of converting methane and like light hydrocarbon gases into hydrocarbons suitable for use as a motor fuel."
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So, since 1941, we, in the US, have known, officially, that Methane can be converted into "liquid hydrocarbons ... suitable for use as a motor fuel".
Aside from the fact that, since the Nobel Prize awards in 1912, we've known that Methane can be made from Carbon Dioxide, it has elsewhere been clearly demonstrated that Methane can be readily synthesized from Coal, as well as other, renewable, resources.