PNNL

Abstract

For years, coal drove the transportation business in this country and it may be poised for a comeback when it comes to moving people and things. A hundred years ago, steam engines burned tons of coal as they pulled trains across the country. Now researchers are looking at converting that coal to liquid fuel that would fill up our gas tanks and move our cars and trucks. The technology already exists to transform coal into a liquid fuel. In fact, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientists and engineers have researched forms of coal and hydrocarbon gasification on and off for more than 30 years. But oil has never sustained a high enough price to kick start a coal-to-liquid fuel industry. That may be changing now. In addition to high crude oil prices, experts agree worldwide petroleum resources won’t last forever, and hydrocarbon resources like coal may be the only resource available, at a large enough scale, to off-set oil consumption, in the near term.