Coal hydrogenation synthetic petroleum

Goal liquefaction is a catalytic process that converts different varieties of coal into synthetic petroleum by reacting coal with hydrogen gas at high temperature and under high pressure. The resultant synoil product has the potential to contribute significantly to the U.S. petroleum supply and reduce the need for the United States and other coal-producing countries to rely on imported oil. 

Synthetic Petroleum from High-Pressure Coal Hydrogenation... 

The synthesis of petroleum has received much attention lately. Indeed, many scientists believe the synthetic petroleum obtained from coal hydrogenation will contribute significantly to the United States s natural petroleum supply. Coal hydrogenation is not a recent discovery it has a long and successful history dating from 1913. 

The cost of hydrogenating coal was high, 190 marks per ton, or the equivalent of 24 cents per gallon. (24) This was more than double the price of imported gasoline, but for Germany, with only a limited supply of natural petroleum, no alternative remained during the War other than the construction of synthetic petroleum plants. In this way Germany utilized her naturally abundant supplies of bituminous and brown coal. 

United States. Yet, even at such low consumption, domestic resources were inadequate Germany imported 85 percent of her petroleum. By 1939, fifteen synthetic petroleum plants were in operation. In 1944, twenty-two coal hydrogenation and Fischer-Tropsch plants converted coal into gasoline and other petroleum products. 

The combustion of fossil fuels in the United States will be complicated by an increased reliance on fuels with high nitrogen and low hydrogen content. The problem will be aggravated by the displacement of petroleum-based fuels by coal-derived synthetic fuels and shale oil. 

Anthony N. Stranges, Synthetic Petroleum form Coal Hydrogenation Its History and Prsent State of Development in the United Stoies. Journal of Chemical Education, 60 (1983) 617-625. 

Table 2 1927-1945 German coal hydrogenation plants. Source Compiled from information in Report on the petroleum and synthetic oil industry of Germany (London, 1947), and High-pressure hydrogenation at Ludwigshafen-Heideberg, FIAT, Final Report no. 1317.

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