2236.     MELVILLE, H. W.  Utilization of Coal for Oil Production.  Catalytic Hydrogenation the Ideal Process.  Petrol. Times, vol. 50, 1946, p. 18, 43.

        Digest of the Romanes lecture at the University of Aberdeen.  Outstanding achievements in the treatment of coal to produce liquid fuels are high-pressure hydrogenation and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.  The first is undoubtedly the right way to obtain oil from coal; the degree of hydrogenation is easily controlled and final products can be worked up in the same way as petroleum.  Economically, the disadvantage is the necessary for expensive equipment, and the problem is to find a simpler method of adding H₂.  The Fischer-Tropsch synthesis needs the use of an excess of H₂, the expense of which weighs heavily against it and presents a fundamental difficulty that cannot be overcome.  Costs of producing gasoline by various methods are as follows:  High pressure hydrogenation 13 d. per imperial gal., Fischer-Tropsch from coal 11 d., Fischer-Tropsch from natural gas 5 d., high-pressure hydrogenation of petroleum 3.5 d., crude oil refined 3.5 d.