http://www.inl.gov/technicalpublications/Documents/3867731.pdf

We've presented a number of reports based on documents attesting to the development of a Carbon Dioxide recycling technology, seemingly labeled "Syntrolysis", by our United States Department of Energy's Idaho National Laboratory, in partnership with a private Utah-based company, Ceramatec, Inc., of Salt Lake City.

Those reports have included, for example, as accessible on the West Virginia Coal Association's web site:

United States Patent: 4159195

As we have previously, though sporadically, documented over the course of our reportage, a number of different elements, all metals of one sort or another, and compounds of those metals, can serve as catalysts in processes wherein Coal is converted, directly or indirectly, into gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons.

In fact, in more-recently developed indirect Coal conversion technologies, wherein Coal is first gasified, that is, converted into a blend of Hydrogen and Carbon Monoxide synthesis gas, and, which "syngas" is then chemically condensed, as via the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, into hydrocarbons, it's been demonstrated that catalysts can serve in at least two processes within such systems.

United States Patent: 6517631

In an earlier dispatch, now accessible on the West Virginia Coal Association's web site via the link:

Wyoming Converts Coal Ash to Construction Aggregates | Research & Development; concerning: United States Patent 6,334,895 - Producing Manufactured Materials from Coal Combustion Ash; 2002; Inventor: Alan Bland, Wyoming; Assignee: The University of Wyoming Research Corporation; Abstract: This invention discloses a system for cold bond processing of combustion ash which enhances various characteristics of the resulting cured consolidated combustion ash materials. Specifically, the invention relates to processing techniques which enhances both density and strength of the of the consolidated combustion ash materials. The invention also relates to processing techniques which control various chemical reactions which assure that certain types of minerals are formed in the proper amounts which results in a cured consolidated combustion ash material which has greater dimensional stability and enhanced resistance to degradation. Embodiments for both normal weight and light weight combustion ash aggregates are disclosed which meet various ASTM and AASHTO specifications";

United States Patent: 7331179

Since free, elemental Hydrogen is required somewhere along the line by some processes for the direct conversion of Coal into liquid hydrocarbon fuels, such as West Virginia University's "West Virginia Process", some information concerning which can be gleaned via:

WVU Hydrogenates Coal Tar | Research & Development; concerning: "Hydrogenation of Naphthalene and Coal Tar Distillate over Ni/Mo/Al2O3 Catalyst; Abhijit Bhagavatula; Thesis submitted to the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Chemical Engineering; Abstract: The hydrogenation of naphthalene and coal-tar distillates has been carried out in a Trickle Bed Reactor, in which the liquid is allowed to flow through the catalyst bed in the presence of hydrogen. A ... trickle bed reactor can be used to hydrogenate coal-derived solvents. The process of converting solid coal to liquid is called liquefaction. Coal is liquefied by reacting with hydrogen. ... Therefore, the process of producing liquid fuels from solid coal necessitates increasing the ratio of hydrogen to carbon. This can be done either by removing carbon or by adding hydrogen";