Of interest to us here is the combination of coal, coal waste and biomass.
An excerpt:
"SES (Synthesis Energy Systems - JtM) is the company with the three projects in China. The Chinese project’s range of outputs get up to making 1 million tons of methanol or 660,000 tons of DME. SES is working with CONSOL Energy Inc., the largest producer of bituminous coal in the U.S. to investigate the development of coal-based gasification facilities to replace domestic production of various industrial chemicals that have been shut down due to the high cost of natural gas. CONSOL produces over 20 million tons per year of coal preparation plant tailings that can be used to make valuable liquid and gas products instead of landfilling the coal trapped in this material."
We've noted all these efforts and all these companies' involvement in Coal-To-Liquid enterprises previously. Of special interest, again, is both the note made of the potential to utilize coal tailings (waste) as a raw material for liquid fuel, and chemical, manufacture; and, the inclusion of CO2-reducing biomass as a co-feed/raw material.
Coal can lead us into both energy independence and environmentally-responsible sustainability.