There is, yet again, little new in this dispatch.
In further confirmation of earlier of our reports, we see herein that Coal can, indeed, be converted, on a practical basis, into anything we now derive from petroleum.
That would include grease and oil, as we see in excerpts from the above link, with comment appended, to:
"United States Patent 4,594,172 - Process for the Preparation of Hydrocarbons
Date: June, 1986
Inventor: Swan Sie, Amsterdam
Assignee: Shell Oil Company, Houston
Abstract: Syngas is subjected to Fischer-Tropsch synthesis over a special Co/Zr/SiO2 catalyst and (a)fraction of the synthesized product is converted into ... lube oil by treating with an organic peroxide.
Claims: A process for the preparation of a high-viscosity-index lubricating oil, wherein a feed mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen is converted into a mixture of hydrocarbons substantially consisting of linear paraffins.
Field and Background: The invention relates to a process for the preparation of high-viscosity-index lubricating oils (which) are used on a large scale for the formulation of multi-purpose lubricating oils.
In the process according to the invention the starting material should be a H2 /CO mixture.
Suitable H2 /CO mixtures can be prepared by gasifying carbonaceous materials, such as coal."
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We've cited Shell's Netherlands Coal conversion scientist, Swan Sie, previously, with regards to work done in Amsterdam on Shell's "MDS"(r), middle distillate synthesis, process - which can condense liquid hydrocarbon fuels out of Coal-derived synthesis gas.
We've previously noted that Shell's MDS(r) system is, in fact, a variation on, and advancement of, the much older Fischer-Tropsch technology for converting the Carbon Monoxide and Hydrogen in synthesis gas derived from Coal into liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
The Fischer-Tropsch catalytic condensation of hydrocarbons, as we have previously documented, from Coal syngas, can also lead to the formation, the build up, of a waxy deposit on catalyst surfaces, which, as we've also earlier reported, can be reclaimed and further utilized in the production of lubricants.
We take this Shell invention to be a similar technology, one that produces useful lubricants as a by-product of the conversion of Coal-derived synthesis gas, via a Fischer-Tropsch derivative process, into liquid hydrocarbon fuels.
And, it is further testament to the fact, that, if there is anything at all we need in our modern lives that we now derive from conventional petroleum, we can make it, any and all of it, from Coal.