We believe, but cannot yet provide authoritative documentation of the fact, that the inventor named in this United States Patent, for the liquefaction of Coal, was an employee of the US Bureau of Mines.
Regardless, rights to the Patent, which demonstrates and documents yet again that Coal can be efficiently and effectively converted into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, were assigned directly, more than one half of a century ago, to the United States of America.
Brief comment follows excerpts from the enclosed link to, and attached file of:
"United States Patent 2,860,101 - Balanced Hydrogenation of Coal
Date: November, 1958
Inventor: Michael Pelipetz, PA
Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Interior
Abstract: This invention relates to a process for the hydrogenation of a carbonaceous material to convert it into a useful product with a higher hydrogen to carbon ratio, basically a synthetic liquid or gaseous fuel.
The invention further relates to an improved process for the hydrogenation of coal to form oil ... .
An object of this invention is to provide an improved process for the hydrogenation of solid carbonaceous fuels to produce liquid fuels.
A further object is to simplify conversion of coal into liquid or gaseous products and thereby reduce the cost of coal liquefaction.
A still further object is to provide a process for the almost complete conversion of coal to a non-asphaltic oil and gaseous hydrocarbons by a one-pass hydrogenation ... (using) CH4 (i.e., Methane) as the source of H2 gas required for the process ... (and to, thus) provide a process for the hydrogenation of ... coal ... to produce synthetic liquid fuels.
The applicant ... has ... invented a process which in one hydrogenation step produces a premium grade, stable gasoline from coal ... ."
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We forgo reproduction of the fuller technical details.
In brief: Raw Coal is suspended in a Coal oil derived from the process, and then hydrogenated into "premium grade, stable gasoline" by reaction with Methane, some of which is also generated as a by-product of the process itself.
We remind you that, should more Methane be needed, we can manufacture it from Carbon Dioxide, via the Nobel-winning Sabatier process now being further refined, as we've thoroughly documented, by NASA.
Finally, this half-century-old United States Patent is titled as the "Balanced Hydrogenation of Coal".
