Fuel made from coal?

Question

I recently heard a rumor that there was somone who was making diesel fuel from coal and it was costing him .35 a gallon to make. He is wanting to build a refinery to build it. But the government will not allow him to do this. Does anyone have anymore information on this?

Answer 1

Honey... most fuel is from coal.

Answer 2

Yes the technology has been there for years.  Hitler did this in the waning days of the n**i regime - after oil supplies had been cut off.  

South Africa did this for years to ensure oil independence when other countries were boycottiing all trade with them.

Answer 3

Yes it is possible, just not feasible. Their has been research done in the past on coal conversion in various forms but like corn ethanol it takes more energy than it makes.

Answer 4

Yes, the south africans did that before they got majority rule in 1990 or so . Because of their racial policies they could not import any conventional oil.They made gasoline from coal - and probably diesel too. It was called Sasol.High pollution I believe.

Answer 5

You can get CO or coal.  Then liquefy the CO and store into the tanks just like gasoline.  The heat content is less than gasoline, but it will burn just like gasoline would.

Many poor countries used to use that method before they have the money to buy oil.  But the process still generate CO2 and there are many by product of generating CO from coal, like other pollutants.

Answer 6

For those of you that say it costs more money, then what is happening to ALL the coal we have in this country? Why are we not heating our homes with coal as we did in the past? Can't science come up with a way to filter emissions like they did with catalytic converters on a car?? Just wondering.. Thank ya'll.

Answer 7

I know why they would want to do it is because of global warming and coal has higher emissions the Gasoline