Recent Progress in the Direct Liquefaction of Coal -- LUMPKIN 239 (4842): 873 -- Science
Herein, from Amoco, we learn that, in 1988, the oil industry knew how to make a crude oil equivalent, from Coal, for $35 per barrel.
Comment follows excerpts from:
"Recent Progress in the Direct Liquefaction of Coal
Robert Lumpkin; Director, Coal Utilization Projects; Amoco Corporation; Chicago, IL
Abstract: Interest in direct coal liquefaction steadily decreased during the 1980s as the price of crude oil dropped; there is now only one integrated coal liquefaction pilot plant active full time in the United States. The economics derived early in the decade established the price of transportation fuels from coal at $80 per barrel or higher. However, there have been dramatic improvements in the technology since 1983 that have not been widely appreciated. Recent designs and cost estimates show that a 60 percent decrease in the cost of liquid fuels from coal to an equivalent of $35 per barrel for crude oil. Although this cost is not low enough to justify immediate commercialization, additional improvements have been identified that could make direct liquefaction an attractive way to produce gasoline and other conventional fuels."
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First, if you recall an earlier dispatch, you'll know that the cost of Coal hasn't, in real terms, increased in the last twenty years.
Everyone knows what the price of oil has done.
Even without the "additional improvements" in Coal liquefaction technology that had, in 1988, only just "been identified", doesn't "the cost of liquid fuels from coal" at "an equivalent of $35 per barrel" sound like a darned "attractive way to produce gasoline", now, in 2010?