We have lately been reporting on the Coal liquefaction achievements of Pittsburgh's former Gulf Oil Corporation, noting in the course of our submissions that Gulf was, in 1984, acquired by Chevron, who has Coal conversion achievements of their own which we will further document.
We have also recorded, in one or two dispatches, that the old Texaco, aka "The Texas Company", had, as well, begun to develop Coal liquefaction technologies, subsequent to WWII; and, we herein submit further documentation of the Coal liquefaction science they, as an independent company, had worked to develop prior to, in 2001, themselves being merged into Chevron.
Comment follows excerpts from:
"United States Patent 2,658,861 - Process for the Hydrogenation of Coal
Date: November, 1953
Inventor: Ernest Pevere, et. al., NY
Assignee: The Texas Company, NY
This invention relates to a process for the hydrogenation of coal. The process of this invention is particularly applicable to the treatment of bituminous coal.
An important element of cost in conventional coal liquefaction processes is in the preparation of the coal for hydrogenation.
In the process of the present invention it is not necessary to pulverize the coal feed or to prepare a paste in conventional manner. Elimination of the pulverizing and conventional pasting steps results in a substantial savings in operating costs.
Some hydrocarbon oils, especially hydroaromatics such as tetralin, decalin and heavy oils obtained by hydrogenation of coal, act as solvents and aid in the liquefaction of coal."
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First, we herein again see the specification of primary Coal oils, and derivatives of those oils, including the Coal hydrogenation solvent "tetralin", which we believe to be specified by WVU in their "West Virginia Process" for direct Coal liquefaction, as being the preferred agents to use in liquefying and hydrogenating Coal.
Second, note that, in 1953, an oil company was able to refer to "conventional coal liquefaction processes", and to describe the invention they disclose as an improvement on such seemingly established Coal conversion technologies.
More than half a century ago, the concept of Coal liquefaction to manufacture substitute petroleum was already being thought of as "conventional".
So, why is the concept of Coal liquefaction now being ignored and shunned as if it were , instead, somehow, unpleasantly revolutionary?
