Bergius process patents

The first direct coal liquefaction process was developed and patented by Bergius from Germany in 1913 and, therefore, is often referred to as the Bergius process. The world s first industrial-scale direct coal liquefaction plant was built in Leuna, Germany, in 1927 with an annual fuel production of 10,0001. By 1939, Germany built 12 direct coal liquefaction plants with a combined annual fuel production of about 4.23 million metric tons, which supplied about 70% of the aviation fuel and 50% of the transportation fuel for German troops during World War II. 

Because of the outbreak of World War I and perhaps because of the delay in his receiving patents on coal hydrogenation, Bergius published nothing on his process until 1921. This is the first article along with American patents 1,342,790 June 8, 1929 (filed April 18, 1916) and 1,291,664, September 27, 1921 (filed April 18, 1916) in which Bergius discussed his continuous process. 

Matthias Pier (1882-1965), a German chemist, worked with Emil Fischer and Walter Nernst during his studies. After WWI, he joined BASF and worked on ammonia and methanol synthesis. After BASF had purchased the patent on coal liquefaction from Bergius in 1925, he developed this process further. He found better and sulfur-resistant catalysts and increased the yield of fuels by arranging the process in two steps, liquid-phase hydrogenation and gas-phase hydrotreating of the intermediate product. Thus, the process is therefore mostly known as the Bergius-Pier process. 

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