http://www.marssociety.org/portal/TMS_Library/Frankie_2001
We have several times reported on NASA's current use of the Sabatier reaction aboard the International Space Station, to recycle the astronauts' exhaled Carbon Dioxide; and, of their planned use for it on the planet Mars, to manufacture Methane, for further processing into rocket fuel, from the primarily Carbon Dioxide Martian atmosphere.
Herein, they are seen to be taking that technology one step further, by adding a "dry reforming" process, very similar to, or nearly the same as, the "Tri-reforming" process described by Penn State University, wherein the Methane, produced via the Sabatier reaction from Carbon Dioxide, is reacted with even more Carbon Dioxide to synthesize higher hydrocarbons with even greater fuel potential.
Our headline might be a little misleading, since Methane doesn't seem actually to be the end product of the indirect Coal conversion technology described by this United States patent, awarded to a German inventor.
Although the label isn't applied, synthesis gas, "syngas", to be catalyzed into higher hydrocarbons, is.
As we have reported, and as we will continue to report, Methane, as can be synthesized, via the Sabatier process, from Carbon Dioxide; or, via a number of hydro-gasification techniques, from Coal, can be catalytically condensed into higher hydrocarbons.
Herein, it's seen that the United States Environmental Protection Agency, not the DOE, funded research leading up to the development of one such technology for Methane conversion.
United States Patent: 4331529
An issue we'll continue to belabor is the fact that any Hydrogen needed to hydrogenate Coal, which is composed primarily of Carbon, to synthesize liquid hydrocarbons from which we can make Gasoline, can itself be generated as a function of the overall Coal conversion process.
Good ole' Exxon had that figured out three decades ago, as this enclosed and excerpted United States Patent attests.
United States Patent: 4076612
The landlocked British colony in Africa once known as Rhodesia, subsequent to gaining independence, renamed itself Zimbabwe in 1980 - two years after they patented, in the United States, their own technology for converting Coal into liquid fuels.
Since Rhodesia and their neighbor, South Africa, endured similar international sanctions during the colonial and apartheid eras, and shared a similar heritage, we'll presume them to have cooperated on some issues of defense, economy and technology.