Aspects of Catalyzed Coal Liquefaction

Among the many coal conversion processes are those that produce liquid fuels from solid coal. It is not easy to do this, and one underlying problem is apparent even from a casual inspection of the mass or elemental formulas of coal and some other common fuels. A typical value for the carbon/hydrogen mass ratio of a bituminous coal is about 15; for gasoline, the value is about 6, and for natural gas, 3. In terms of an elemental formula, coal might be CH_0.8, gasoline CH₂, and natural gas CH₄. To make liquid fuel from coal requires either addition of hydrogen or loss of carbon.