Coal Liquefaction and Some Straight Talk. (September 6, 2007)

    Elliot Kennel, a chemical engineer at West Virginia University in Morgantown has told Nature's Katharine Sanderson as reported in today's issue that quite apart from the economic issues involved in transforming coal into liquid hydrocarbons: "The thing on everybody's mind is CO₂. The community is trying to figure out how to capture it."

Penn State's Caroline Burgess Clifford, Research Associate, Energy Institute,  Coal Utilization Laboratory said that concerns about CO₂ emissions are preventing major commercial investment in coal liquefaction, and that public money is needed if new plants are to be built.

Ms Sanderson concludes her report: "Sasol claims that the CO₂ from its plants is purer than that produced by coal-fired power stations, and it should therefore be easier to liquefy and sequester. But that will be easier said than done. And most people outside the coal industry are sceptical about the economic feasibility of coal liquefaction — even before the large and unknown costs of sequestration and storage are factored in.
    "High oil prices certainly make technologies such as coal liquefaction more viable, says Robert Wine, a spokesman for the oil company BP in London. 'They are expensive projects,' he says. 'They can only compete either when oil prices are high, or when they can attract government support.'"