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We have many times referred to the German scientists Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch.
They developed an indirect process for the conversion of Coal into liquid hydrocarbons which was so successful that it, along with the Bergius process, which, as we've documented, won the Nobel Prize for it's inventor in 1931, fueled the Axis armies during Word War II with Coal-derived liquids to such an extent that, as we have also documented, the multiple Coal-to-Liquid factories in both Germany and Japanese-occupied Asia became high-priority targets of Allied strategic bombing.
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We have many times documented the achievements of Chunsan Song and Craig Grimes, at Penn State University, in the science of Carbon Dioxide recycling.
We insist their "Tri-reforming" technology, wherein Carbon Dioxide is reacted with Methane, which can itself be manufactured from CO2, via the Sabatier process, or from Coal, via hydro-gasification, all as we have documented, to synthesize higher hydrocarbons, is something that deserves much broader discussion and much more assertive development.
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We've many times documented China's coal conversion achievements, even to pointing out, a long time ago now, that they seem to have filed for International Patent rights to a coal liquefaction technology we interpret, based on our limited knowledge, as being almost exactly the same as WVU's "West Virginia Process" for the direct liquefaction of Coal using the hydrogen-donor solvent, tetralin.
In any case, China has now, as we have suggested, and documented from other sources, to be possible, developed a technology wherein, as we interpret it, Methane-rich gases generated by the controlled pyrolysis of Coal, are reformed with added Carbon Dioxide to generate "tar", and other products.
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First, keep in mind that we have previously cited references attesting to the fact that primary Coal tars can be themselves hydrogenated to serve in the liquefaction of additional raw Coal. Anthracene is one major component of Coal tar that used to be produced, as we understand the literature, in commercial quantities by Coke ovens, via distillation from raw, whole tar.
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They had a special segment there devoted to fuels, and, within that segment, an even more special symposium on: Coal Conversion to Clean Liquid and Gaseous Fuels .
West Virginia University, the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University, among an impressive array of others, were all represented there, and we herein present a selection of their offerings.
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