Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

The process of converting coal to oil has been around since WWII, but hasn’t caught on because of the costs involved in the conversion process. Now that a barrel of oil out of the ground is over $70 a barrel, people are beginning to seriously consider this again.

Coal-to-oil fuel hits the road
His father did him one better, having slogans promoting the company’s proposed gasification and Fischer-Tropsch Liquefaction process put on the side of a diesel pickup and setting out with his teenage son to put the idea into action.

Rich Jr.’s company hopes to secure a federal loan guarantee for 70 to 80 percent of the construction costs for the facility in order to attract investors for the project.

The company claims the new plant would be the first to combine the gasification and Fischer-Tropsch Liquefaction processes to convert waste coal into a zero-sulfur, environmentally-friendly diesel fuel.

Why are these environmentalists are never happy?

Though environmentalists have expressed concern about carbon dioxide emissions during the production process, Rich has said those emissions are also present in petroleum refining processes and will be captured in his own proposed process to be sold as a byproduct of the plant.

Rich has also touted the process as a way to wean domestic users off of foreign oil and has said he has secured interest from both the Air Force and the state of Pennsylvania to use his product once the plant is in operation.

This is great! Between people and ideas like this, we need to get the foreign oil monkey off of our back for our own security and survival.