http://www.fischer-tropsch.
All the way back in 1980, synthetic liquid petroleum made from Coal was less expensive than OPEC oil.
And, that is as was officially reported, those full three decades ago, by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
In fact, the final statement by the US EPA, in the report we submit to you herein, is:
"Sasol's success indicates that producing synthetic fuels from coal can be technically and economically feasible. The technology is available and the Sasol process - coal gasification plus Fischer-Tropsch synthesis - is the only commercially proven process that wtll produce synthetic fuels quickly, on schedule, and at predictable costs."
"Sasol" being, as some published reports would have it, though other expositions of the acronym are published and promoted, "South Africa Synthetic Oil Limited", who have, as documented herein and as also seen in:
Sasol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; wherein we're told, that "Sasol's primary business is based on CTL (coal-to-liquid) ... technology and this differentiates it from other petrochemical companies. Coal-To-Liquid plants convert coal ... into liquid fuels. Sasol's early experience was in South Africa. Sasol's original CTL plant ... was commissioned in 1955";
been profitably converting Coal into liquid hydrocarbon petroleum substitutes for better than half a century.
Again, though, our own United States Environmental Protection Agency devoted considerable effort to studying the Sasol Coal liquefaction industry back in the late 1970's, primarily, we suppose, because they were able to surmise, and as they finally, after some decades, concluded, as seen in our report of:
West Virginia Coal Association | US EPA Recommends Coal Liquefaction as a Clean Alternative | Research & Development; concerning:
"Clean Alternative Fuels: Fischer-Tropsch; United States Environmental Protection Agency; Transportation and Air Quality Transportation and Regional Programs Division; EPA420-F-00-036; March 2002; A Success Story (!) For the past 50 years, Fischer-Tropsch fuels have powered all of South Africa’s vehicles, from buses to trucks to taxicabs. Sasol’s South African facility produces more than 150,000 barrels of high quality fuel from domestic low-grade coal daily. The resultant fuel is colorless, odorless, and low in toxicity (and has)important emissions benefits compared with diesel, reducing nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter";
that:
Liquid hydrocarbon fuels made from Coal are better for the environment than those made conventionally from natural crude petroleum.
Not only that, but, the US EPA also concluded that liquid hydrocarbon fuels made from Coal can be cheaper than those made conventionally from natural crude petroleum.
As seen in additional excerpts from our initial link in this dispatch, to a document, that, insofar as we have been able to determine, is available to the public, from our government, only in the form of a hard copy that must be purchased from the National Technical Information Service, NTIS, a bureau within the United States Department of Commerce:
"Sasol: South Africa's Oil From Coal Story - - Background For Environmental Assessment
EPA-600/8-80-002
TRW Environmental Engineering Division; California; January, 1980
J. L. Anastai; TRW, Inc
Contract No. 68-02-2635; EPA Project Officer: William J. Rhodes; Industrial Environmental Research Laboratory; Office of Environmental Engineering and Technology; Research Triangle Park, N.C. 27711
Prepared for: U. S. Environmental Protection Agency; Office of Research and Development; Washington, D.C. 20460
Abstract: The report describes the world's only oil-from-coal plant, known as SASOL, operated by South Africa since 1955. When almost 7 billion worth of expansion is completed in the early 1980s, three SASOL plants will produce a total of 112,000 barrels of oil per day, or about half of South Africa's needs. Production
costs average $17 per barrel, well below the 1979 OPEC price of more than $20 per barrel. South African motorists pay about $2.40/gallon (¢0.63/liter) of gasoline at the pump. SASOL converts coal to liquid fuels in two steps: (I) the coal is gasified with oxygen and steam under pressure to yield a mixture of reactive gases, and (2) after being cleaned of impurities, the mixture is passed over an iron-based catalyst in Fischer-Tropsch. synthesis units to produce liquid fuels. SASOL's operation is helped by South Africa's abundance of cheap labor and low cost coal. The U.S., like South Africa, has vast coal reserves. Although comparisons are difficult, it has been estimated that oil could not be produced from coal in the U.S. for less than 27 per barrel and perhaps as much as 45. The South African system is the only commercially proven process for the production of synthetic liquid fuels. The report provides some of the background on a process that will receive high priority for environmental assessment.
(First of all, if you wonder how "$17 per barrel" oil translates into "$2.40/gallon ... gasoline", they have, in South Africa, a lot more taxes on their fuel than we do. Consider that, today, here in the United States, OPEC oil at $80+ per barrel translates into $3.30+ per gallon gasoline.)
Sasol converts coal to liquid fuels in two steps. First, the coal is burned with oxygen and steam under pressure to yield a gaseous mixture which is principally hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane.
This gas is cleaned of impurities using processes that produce valuable chemical by-products.
Once this is completed, the gas is passed over an iron based catalyst in the second step to produce liquid fuels.
Sasol produces a full range of hydrocarbons Including fuel gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), gasoline, diesel oil, parafin waxes, and chemicals such as alcohol and acetone.
(All from Coal, mind you.)
The yield of products obtained can be altered by changing such variables as the temperature, pressure, catalyst, or feed gas composition.
Even though Sasol's operation is helped by South Africa's abundance of cheap labor and low cost coal, Sasol's success indicates that producing synthetic fuels from coal is one solution to meeting the energy needs of a country without depending on natural gas or crude oil."
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We'll end our excerpts there, since there are a few things to explain.
First, the EPA objected that our costs would be higher, perhaps up to $45 per barrel of liquid hydrocarbons produced from Coal, because of our higher labor costs.
Well, excuse us for wanting to make a decent living, but:
The EPA and their TRW contractors, as far as we can determine, used actual, established South African Coal and Coal conversion costs in their analysis; but, only speculated on the actual costs of American Coal.
In sum, and we assert it without documentation, our as-mined costs for Coal, overall, due to general geologic conditions, are less than those in South Africa, despite whatever differential costs there might be in labor. That will change a bit as our shallower, more accessible seams of Coal deplete, and we have to go deeper, as they do in South Africa, to get it.
But, further, as can be learned via:
Coal TL vs. Hidden Oil Costs | Research & Development; concerning: "NDCF report: the hidden cost of imported oil; The National Defense Council Foundation, an Alexandria, Virginia-based research and educational institution has completed its year-long analysis of the "hidden cost" of imported oil. The NDCF project represents the most comprehensive investigation of the military and economic penalty our undue dependence on imported oil exacts from the U.S. economy";
the real "cost" of a gallon of imported gasoline, to us as individual US citizens, due to, among other things, public tax-funded military expenditures needed to protect OPEC sources of supply and shipping, and, lost United States employment with it's attendant costs, is at least twice as high as the price posted at the pump.
One other objection that could be raised against the information presented in the EPA's report is, that, although not reflected in our brief excerpts, they indicate that Sasol's specific process of converting Coal into liquid hydrocarbon fuels, and into valuable byproducts whose value and profit contributions were not, in the report, accounted for, like "liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ... parafin waxes, and chemicals such as alcohol and acetone" and "methane", does result in the emission of some significant amounts of Carbon Dioxide.
That is something that should be corrected, since it represents an inefficient, and expensive, loss of the Carbon contained in the Coal.
And, it can be corrected.
As seen, for only one example, in:
Exxon Coal + CO2 + H2O Combo Gasification & Conversion | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,318,712 - Catalytic Coal Gasification Process; 1982; Exxon Research and Engineering; Abstract: A carbonaceous feed material, a potassium compound ... are ... gasified in the presence of the added potassium and sodium or lithium constituents. A process for the catalytic steam gasification of coal .... (which process) may be employed in ... gasification operations ... to promote the reaction of steam, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, or a similar gasification agent with (carbon)";
Carbon Dioxide can be reclaimed and utilized as a co-reactant in the initial gasification of Coal.
Or, as seen, for two examples, in:
USDOE 1976 Atmospheric CO2 to Methanol | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 3,959,094 - Electrolytic Synthesis of Methanol from CO2; 1976; Assignee: The USA as represented by the USDOE; A method and system for synthesizing methanol from the CO2 in air using electric power"; and:
West Virginia Coal Association | USDOE Converts CO2 to Gasoline | Research & Development; concerning: "United States Patent 4,197,421 - Synthetic Carbonaceous Fuels and Feedstocks; 1980; Assignee: The United States of America; This invention relates to the use of a three compartment electrolytic cell in the production of synthetic carbonaceous fuels and chemical feedstocks such as gasoline, methane and methanol by electrolyzing an aqueous sodium carbonate/bicarbonate solution, obtained from scrubbing atmospheric carbon dioxide with an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution";
our United States Department of Energy could have told our United States Environmental Protection Agency, before their report, "Sasol: South Africa's Oil From Coal Story -- Background For Environmental Assessment; EPA-600/8-80-002", was even published, that, Carbon Dioxide, as recovered from whatever source, can be efficiently converted into both industrially valuable Methanol and, even, Gasoline itself.
And, the facts that Coal can be efficiently converted into Gasoline and Diesel at less cost than making those fuels from OPEC Oil, and, that Carbon Dioxide can, as well, be converted into Alcohol and Gasoline, were known, as seen herein, to multiple branches of our United States Government more than three decades ago.
The additional fact that none of that has been openly reported and made known to the general, tax-paying and OPEC-extorted, United States Public is not just inexcusable and inexplicable, it is despicable.