Via the link and the attached file, you can access a US Patent from early in the last century explaining technology for the conversion of Methane and, by explicit extension, Coal, into liquid hydrocarbon fuel.
Comment follows excerpts from:
"United States Patent 1,922,918 - Production of Liquid, in Particular Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Date: August 15, 1933
Inventors: Fritz Winkler, Hans Haeuber and Paul Feiler
Assignee: I. G. Farbenindustrie
Description (highly abbreviated):
The present invention relates to improvements in the production of liquid, in particular aromatic hydrocarbons.
We have found that liquid ... aromatic hydrocarbons ... are obtained in a particularly advantageous manner by the thermal treatment ... of methane or gaseous hydrocarbons comprising more than 80% of methane.
The said methane or gas rich in methane may be from any source, as for example, from the reduction of oxides of carbon with hydrogen or obtained by partial liquefaction and fractionalization of coke oven gas or coal gas.
The favorable effect ... (is) ... that no carbon is deposited on the catalyst.
The process is usually carried out at atmospheric pressure.
The resulting hydrocarbons may be employed as motor fuels."
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As in "the reduction of oxides of carbon", i.e. the Sabatier-type, or related, recycling of Carbon Dioxide, and the "fractionalization of coke oven gas or coal gas"; we can obtain Methane from either Carbon Dioxide or Coal, and then convert that Methane into "hydrocarbons" which "may be employed as motor fuels".
United States Patent: 4727207
We earlier reported on US Patent 4704496, a "Process for Converting Light Hydrocarbon to More Readily Transportable Materials"; in essence, a Methane conversion technology.
That patent was assigned to the Standard Oil Company in Cleveland, OH; and, so is the similar-sounding, almost to the point of being redundant, one we enclose in this dispatch, a disclosure of the:
"Process for converting methane and/or natural gas to more readily transportable materials
United States Patent 4727207
Inventors: Christos Paparizos, Wilfrid Shaw
Date: February 23, 1988
Assignee: Standard Oil Company; Cleveland, OH
We've been reporting lately the many virtues of Methane, and wanted to document, yet again, that, in addition to being able to, through Sabatier processes, synthesize Methane from Carbon Dioxide, we can also produce it through technologies of Coal gasification.
Some excerpts from the link, with comment appended:
"Title: Present Status of the Synthane Coal-to-Gas Process
Authors: Forney, A.J., Haynes, W.P., Corey, R.C.
Affiliation: US Bureau of Mines
Source: Fall Meeting; Society of Petroleum Engineers; October, 1971; New Orleans, LA
Patent US2963348
Linked above and attached, you will find US Patent Number 2,963, 348; for a "Hydrocarbon Conversion Process", that was issued and assigned to "Texaco Development Corporation" on December 6, 1960.
Some informative excerpts:
"This invention relates to a method and apparatus for the conversion of hydrocarbons ... it is directed to the conversion of sulfur-containing carbonaceous fuels to high Btu gas and elemental sulfur to generate a synthesis gas ... .
As we prosecute our research, a wealth of information is coming to light revealing the broad, international knowledge base that exists, or at least existed for a time early in the last century, for the conversion of widely-available raw materials into hydrocarbons useful in the production of liquid fuels.
The extent and depth of the knowledge is actually more than a little shocking.
Just as surprising is that much of the knowledge is concentrated and housed in at least one branch of the US Government - the Patent Office.
We are working to devise a palatable system, or pattern, of presenting the information, and thought we would start with this single submission.