The zinc chloride process for the hydrocracking of coal. F. E. Biasca. 2007; International Journal of Energy Research - Wiley.
 
We earlier reported on the Zinc Chloride Process of Coal Liquefaction - developed under a USDOE contract by coal scientists working for oil companies, and reported mainly in obscure, overseas foreign venues.
 
One report somehow slipped through their bars, and was delivered at the University of Pittsburgh, in 1979.
 
Brief comment follows the revealing excerpt:
 
"The Zinc Chloride Process for the Hydrocracking of Coal
 
F.E Biasca, C.R. Greene, W.E. Clark, R.T. Struck
 
Shell Development Company, Houston, TX 77001 USA
Conoco Coal Development Company, Library, PA 15129 USA
 
The substance of this paper was presented at the 6th Annual Conference on Coal Gasification, Liquefaction and Conversion to Electricity, University of Pittsburgh, 31 July-2 August, 1979

Funded by:
U.S. Department of Energy; Grant Number: DOE EX-76-C-01-1743
Abstract
The molten zinc chloride process is a unique hydrocracking system that converts coal to gasoline in a single step. an economically attractive process is currently under development at the one ton per day process development unit (PDU) scale. the design and economics of a plant to produce 53,000 bbl/day of gasoline with 90-92 unleaded research octane number from Western coal is discussed. the construction cost of the plant will be about 1.9 billion dollars (1979); the cost of manufacturing gasoline is about 76c/ gallon."
In 1979, a coal producer owned by a major petroleum company revealed, at a conference held by one of the founding members of, what was originally called, as we've elsewhere documented, The Consortium For Fossil Fuel Liquefaction Science, that gasoline could be made from coal - at a cost of 76 cents per gallon.
To repeat: Two oil companies - one of them through it's coal industry subsidiary - and the United States Department of Energy told us, thirty years ago, that we could make gasoline out of coal for 76 cents per gallon.

Scientists use the sun to convert CO2 into high-energy fuel
 
Herein is even more documentation that Carbon Dioxide, as is emitted into the atmosphere by coal-use industry in a small way compared to Hawaii's volcanoes, as we long-ago documented, can be economically recovered from the atmosphere itself in an energy-efficient way.
 
Carbon Dioxide recovery units could thus be placed in areas where environmental energy - wind, solar, etc. - could be harnessed to accomplish the capture and, then, through the Sabatier, Carnol or USDOD technologies we've documented for you, be transformed into additional liquid fuels or chemical manufacturing feed stocks.  
 
We have previously reported on the work of Penn State University's Craig Grimes in carbon transformation sciences, so it's not that remarkable we cite his achievements yet again.
 
There is something we do find remarkable about this submission, though, as we explain in the comment appended, following the excerpt:
 
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"Washington, Feb 28 (ANI): A team of scientists at Penn State University has come up with an ingenious method of turning captured CO2 into methane, a combustible fuel, using the energy of the sun.
The team, led by Craig Grimes, described a highly efficient photocatalyst that can yield significant amounts of methane, other hydrocarbons, and hydrogen in a simple, inexpensive process.
The team used arrays of nitrogen-doped titania nanotubes sputter-coated with an ultrathin layer of a platinum and/or copper co-catalyst(s).
The titania captures high energy ultraviolet wavelengths, while the copper shifts the bandgap into the visible wavelengths to better utilize the part of the solar spectrum where most of the energy lies.
In addition, the thin-walled nanotubes increase the transport ability of the charge carriers by reducing the chance for recombination of the electron with the hole.
The nanotube arrays were placed inside a stainless steel chamber filled with carbon dioxide infused with water vapor.
The chamber was then set outdoors in sunlight. After a few hours, the team measured the amount of CO2 converted into useful fuels.
The results showed 160 uL of methane per hour per gram of nanotubes, a conversion rate approximately 20 times higher than previous efforts done under laboratory conditions using pure UV light.
Copper oxide and titanium dioxide are common materials, Grimes said. We can tune the reaction using platinum nanoparticles or ideally other, less expensive catalysts, he added.
According to Grimes, the conversion process can readily be improved by several orders of magnitude, which could make the process economically feasible.
You could have a small scale solar condenser and a concentrated source of CO2 in a closed loop cycle to make a portable fuel. Its a good way of storing energy for when the sun goes down, he suggested.
Inexpensive solar concentrators could improve the process, as the photocatalytic CO2 conversion appears to scale with the intensity of sunlight.
Capturing CO2 at source points, such as fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, etc.), burning power plants, and turning it into a transportation fuel in a cheap, sunlight-driven process could dramatically improve the economics of CO2 capture.
Then maybe we could figure out how to capture and reuse the CO2 in our vehicles and none of it would go back into the atmosphere, Grimes proposed."