TITLE: Converting Coal to Liquid Fuels.

INST.  AUTHOR: Department of Energy, Washington, DC. Office of Fossil Energy.

SPONSOR: Department of Energy, Washington, DC.

LANGUAGE: English

PUB.  TYPE: Technical Report

PUB.  COUNTRY: United States

SOURCE: Department of Energy [DE],  Jul 83,  11p.

ABSTRACT:

Liquid fuels play a vital role in the US economy. Oil represents about 40 percent of the energy consumed each year in this country. In many cases, it fills needs for which other energy forms cannot substitute efficiently or economically - in transportation, for example. Despite a current world-wide surplus of oil, conventional petroleum is a depletable resource. It inevitably will become harder and more expensive to extract.  Already in the US, most of the cheap, easily reached oil has been found and extracted. Even under optimistic projections of new discoveries, domestic oil production, particularly in the lower 48 states, will most likely continue to drop. A future alternative to conventional petroleum could be liquid fuels made from coal. The technique is called coal liquefaction. From 1 to 3 barrels of oil can be made from each ton of coal. The basic technology is known; the major obstacles in the US have been the high costs of the synthetic oil and the risks of building large, multi-billion dollar first-of-a-kind plants. Yet, as natural petroleum becomes less plentiful and more expensive, oil made from abundant coal could someday become an increasingly important energy option. To prepare for that day, the US government is working with private industries and universities to establish a sound base of technical knowledge in coal liquefaction. (ERA citation 09:004283)

REPORT  NUMBER: DOE/FE-0028