Is oil from coal a viable alternative .?

Question

Since the early 70's South Africa has produced its own gasoline from oil extracted from coal,is this a viable alternative with the huge deposits of coal everywhere.

Answer 1

No

but, only an alternative  source of energy.

thnks

Answer 2

I would rather begin using alternatives or at very least begin extracting oil from oil shale.  Since we don't use that for power generation.

Answer 3

YES !!! As I do not trust the Arabs to supply fuel for us.

Answer 4

"The oil companies fund the environmentalists. They're both on the same side of wanting to restrict supply,"

"When the oil companies are able to make hundreds of billions of dollars in profit, they're not going to come along and tell the American people that oil is abundant, that we are never going to run out of it, that we're finding increasing resources."

Answer 5

Needs huge amounts of energy and creates huge amounts of pollution. The Chinese are using it, I believe, as did the n***s in WWII but for us it would really be a last resort.

Answer 6

Absolutely not.

"Although its proponents claim that liquid coal is a cure-all to our nation's energy problems, the truth is that liquid coal is plagued with economical and environmental downsides from the time coal is mined until long after the liquid is burned. Liquid coal releases almost double the global warming emissions per gallon as regular gasoline, making a hybrid filled with liquid coal as dirty as a Hummer H3 running on regular gas.

Liquid coal also requires huge amounts of water, and would lead to an over 40% increase in coal mining just to replace a mere 10% of our nation's transportation fuels. Proponents of liquid coal also want the government to funnel billions in subsidies and tax breaks to artificially create an entirely new industry. Liquid coal is arguably the dirtiest, most expensive energy gamble we could take."

Answer 7

The short answer is no. It takes too much energy to release the energy from coal in the form we are currently using it. The ONLY commercially, environmentally and politically viable alternatives are biofuels. The fastest and most efficient way to convert Energy Source X into a renewable, fluid energy source to power the machines of humanity is to grow algae species that are comprised mostly of oils. Personally, I know how to use a square mile of land to produce 600 tons of algae DAILY. From that quantity of algae, aprox. 100 tons of biodiesel can be generated PER DAY. Coal couldn't keep up with the demand even if it went directly (chunky-style black rocks) into the fuel tanks of the billions of vehicles on Earth. These conclusions are drawn from chemistry, physics, geology and basic logic.

Answer 8

In the early 80's we had enough coal to last for 250 years.   We are using almost triple the amount we were using then and we are exporting hundreds of millions of tons of it to Asia now.     We would run out of coal before oil is supposedly going to run out if we made alll our transportation fuel out of coal.

Answer 9

the U.S. air force is encouraging it & is offering 200 acres on one of its bases in N Dakota for a pilot plant.

they announced they intend to meet 1/2 their  fuel needs by 2025 with liquid fuel made from coal.

I think its N dakota, could be Montana, its been 3 or 4 weeks since I read the news about it.

we've got enough coal to supply all our fuel needs for several hundred years but the conversion process uses lots of water

& energy.

Answer 10

Coal-to-liquid is a proven technology but it is more expensive than refining the same product from crude oil.  The key is price- all energy technologies are viable if the user is willing to pay enough.  Just as the Alberta oilsands were not worth exploiting when oil was less than $10/bbl but are now a goldmine when oil is above $100, at a certain price point oil from coal will be viable.

Answer 11

It could be, if they can reduce the cost of extraction to a feasible level. Have a great day.

Answer 12

No, because greenhouse gases are still a factor.

Answer 13

the prosess is called the /Fischer-Tropsch_process

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tro...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karrick_pro...

http://www.fischer-tropsch.org/

http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/fuels/em...

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Fisc...

http://fyi.gmblogs.com/2008/02/more_on_c...

it has been around since the 1920s

it can make oil, gasoline or diesel

it is self powering

Synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, is reacted in the presence of an iron or cobalt catalyst; ""much heat is evolved"", and such products as methane, synthetic gasoline and waxes, and alcohols are made, with water or carbon dioxide produced as a byproduct.  

and make them from not only coal but any organic like wood. grass cuttings, trash, sewage, Ag waste, cow paddys. ect

this would mean no more land fills, no more trying to find places to dispose of sewage

plus no more  toxics leaching from land fills and from sewage plants.

then you might think about using coal when those run out.