"Ethanol from coal? If it works, it could solve three major problems for the energy industry.
Researchers at Louisiana State University, along with colleagues from Clemson University and Oak Ridge National Laboratories, are trying to develop catalysts and processes that would allow energy companies to convert coal into a mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen (just our old friend, Syngas), and then convert those gases into ethanol.
The ethanol could then be used as a liquid fuel additive or, alternatively, shipped as a liquid and then be converted into hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cells, said LSU's James Spivey, who is heading up the project.
Right now, ethanol is primarily made out of corn or sugarcane. It's expensive and time-consuming to make, a problem. A gallon of ethanol derived from plant matter also only has around two-thirds of the energy content of a gallon of gas. A gallon of ethanol derived from coal-created synthetic gases could provide more energy.
(As we've noted, using food crops to make ethanol is not a good choice - environmentally or economically. However, producing ethanol directly from coal, instead of using coal to generate the power needed to distill it from food crops, might be an option.)
""You could avoid an energy penalty" with coal ethanol," Spivey said."
Spivey sums it up: Basically, if we do want ethanol - it does have a higher energy density than methanol, although methanol can be converted into gasoline through at least one, ExxonMobil's "MTG", process - then it's cheaper to make it directly from coal, rather than to distill it, using coal power, from corn.