3569.     VOGEL, J. C.  Oil From Coal in South Africa.  South African Min. and Eng. Jour., vol. 51, 1940, pp. 107-109; Coke Smokeless-Fuel Age, vol. 3, 1940, p. 48.

        Describes the essential features of the 3 types of processes -- carbonization, hydrogenation, and synthesis -- with special reference to South African conditions.  There is no low-temperature-carbonization plant and little promise of an adequate market for the semicoke.  Coal carbonization cannot be regarded as a major source of indigenous oil fuel.  The establishment of a coal-hydrogenation industry in South Africa is mainly a question of economics.  As regards synthesis, bituminous coal would have to be the fuel used.  Separate carbonization of the coal and gasification of the coke probably would be too expensive and some form of direct gasification would have to be used.  Coals of the Vereeniging and Breyten areas, seams 1 and 4 of the Witbank area, and the semianthracites of Natal all appear to meet the requirements.  From the standpoint of raw material, the synthetic process has much wider scope than the others in the Union, and the investment required may be much less than for a hydrogenation plant.