We recently made report of an article that had been written for the "Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology", which presented a rather comprehensive overview of Coal conversion science, including it's history and descriptions of several variations.
As seen in: WVU Explains Coal Conversion Technology | Research & Development, that article was composed by WVU Professor of Chemical Engineering, Dr. Dady B. Dadyburjor, in collaboration with a representative from China's official "State Key Laboratory of Coal Conversion", one Zhenyu Liu.