TWO-STAGE CONVERSION OF COAL TO LIQUID HYDROCARBONS
Earlier, we dispatched report of: "United States Patent 3,514,394 - Cyclic Process for Converting Coal into Liquid Products; May, 1970; Assignee: Esso Research and Engineering Company", which is now posted on the WV Coal Association's R&D site.
Herein, we see that 1970 was something of a banner year for the Esso predecessor of ExxonMobil, in terms of developing Coal conversion technologies, and thereby demonstrating that our domestic Coal can, efficiently and economically, be converted into the liquid fuels we need.
Comment follows excerpts from:
"United States Patent 3,488,279 - Two-Stage Conversion of Coal to Liquid Hydrocarbons
Date: January, 1970
Inventor: Bernard Schulman, NJ
Assignee: Esso Research and Engineering Company
Abstract: Coal is hydrogenated to produce liquid products in two stages. The first stage is an initial mild conversion by hydrogen-donor extraction followed by a second stage of catalytic hydrogenation using a cobalt molybdate catalyst and added molecular hydrogen.
Background: The present invention relates to the conversion of coal into liquid hydrocarbon products, by reacting hydrogen with chemical constituents of coal ... .
Summary: By this process, a higher overall conversion of coal is attained ... . The present invention is directed to the conversion of a solid carbonaceous material such as coal ... into gasoline."
