We see herein that our own United States Government, as embodied in the USDOE's Pittsburgh,PA, former US Bureau of Mines, facilities, three decades ago, devoted itself to establishing technology that efficiently manufactures a gaseous mixture of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen, in apparently variable proportions, by reacting Steam with hot Coal.
An advance excerpt from the full Disclosure cuts to the chase:
"In accordance with the present invention, a process for gasifying solid carbonaceous material by its reaction with H2O and O2 is provided ... to form CO and H2."
Nowhere does our Government say why they, or anyone, would want such a product. Nor, do they name it.
But, anyone who has followed our posts should recognize it immediately to be synthesis gas, "syngas".
And, a variable blend of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen synthesis gas is precisely what would be needed for catalytic condensation, via the Fischer-Tropsch process, for instance, into a selection, a range, of liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
Comment, with one very important fact emphasized, follows excepts from:
"United States Patent 4,244,706 - Process for Gasifying Carbonaceous Material
Date: January, 1981
Inventors: Albert Forney and William Haynes, Pittsburgh
Assignee: The United States of America
Abstract: Coal or other carbonaceous material is gasified by reaction with steam ... .
Claims: A process for (the) reaction of carbon with steam to form CO and H2 ... .
Through use of the present process, the organic materials including phenols and other aromatics carried over into the condensate can be recycled along with the feed coal into the gasifier where they are decomposed to more volatile and less noxious materials at the high gasifier temperatures. Likewise, fine particles of char and water-insoluble tars are recycled so that these materials need not constitute a waste disposal problem in effluent liquids."
