Petroleum from Coal

Contents

Preface

Permission Acknowledgements

List of Illustrations and Tables

Abbreviations

1 Overview of the Synthetic Fuel Industry

 1 Introductory

 2 Global Energy Situation 1910–90s: Energy Crises and Revivals

 3 Impact of Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) Revolution on Natural Petroleum and Synthetic Fuel Production

 4 Scientific and Engineering Advances in Synthetich Fuel Research and Development

 5 Economics and Politics of Synthetic Fuel Development

 6 Chapter Titles and Summaries

 7 A Note on Sources

2 Friedrich Bergius, Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch: The Rise of the German Synthetic Fuel Industry

 1 Introductory

 2 Hydrogenation Begins

 3 First Industrial Application of High-Pressure Hydrogenation

 4 Friedrich Bergius: Background to High-Pressure Coal Hydrogenation

 5 IG Farben Process and Its Industrialization in Germany

 6 Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis

 7 Conclusion

3 Germany’s Synthetic Fuel Industry 1927–45

 1 Introductory

 2 Germany’s Energy Plan

 3 BASF-IG Farben’s Coal Hydrogenation Program

 4 Industrial Development of the F-T Synthesis

 5 Summary of Synthetic Fuel Industrial Development in Germany 1927–45

 6 Labor Force in the Synthetic Fuel Plants

 7 Conclusion

4 From Birmingham to Billingham: High-Pressure Coal Hydrogenation in Great Britain

 1 Introductory

 2 Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis and the Beginning of Coal Hydrogenation in Britain: Birmingham

 3 Coal Hydrogenation at the Fuel Research Station

 4 Influence of Variables on the Conversion Process

 5 Development of a Small-Size Continuous Plant

 6 ICI and the Billingham Plant

 7 Politics and Economics

 8 Conclusion

5 Synthetic Fuel Production in Prewar and World War II Japan: A Study in Technological Failure

 1 Introductory

 2 Overview of Japan’s Coal Conversion Processes, Seven Year Energy Plan

 3 Development of Japan’s Oil Shale, Derived and Synthetic Liquid Fuel Sources to 1930

 4 Government Support of Japan’s Synthetic Fuel Industry

 5 Oil Shale and LTC Emerge as Major Sources of Liquid Fuel

 6 Research and Development of the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis: A Promising Beginning

 7 Coal Hydrogenation: High Hopes but Little Success

 8 Japan’s IG Farben Connection

 9 Conclusion

6 Canada’s Mines Branch and Its Synthetic Fuel Program for Energy Independence

 1 Introductory

 2 Early Concern for Fuel Supply

 3 Synthetic Fuel Research at the Mines Branch

 4 Wartime Developments on Synthetic Fuel

 5 Postwar Developments on Oil Sands Separation

 6 The Blair Report, Athabasca Conference, and the State of Canadian Fuel Research

 7 Canada’s Changing Energy Situation

 8 Conclusion

7 The United States Bureau of Mines’ Synthetic Fuel Program 1920s–50s: German Connections and American Advances

 1 Introductory

 2 Early Bureau of Mines, European, and Japanese Research and Development of Derived and Synthetic Liquid Fuel

 3 Liquid Fuel Developments in the United States

 4 Development of the F-T Synthesis

 5 Early Research on Coal Hydrogenation

 6 Coal Hydrogenation and F-T Synthesis at the Bureau of Mines, the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act of 1944

 7 The Demonstration Synthetic Fuel Plants in Louisiana, Missouri

 8 Industrial Development of F-T and Coal Hydrogenation

 9 Concluding the Bureau’s Synthetic Fuel Program

8 Epilogue: Post-World War II Synthetic Fuel Development and the Emergence of Environmental Concerns

 1 Introductory

 2 Pre-World War II Small-Scale Synthetic Fuel Developments: Italy and France 1920s–40s

 3 Post-World War II Synthetic Fuel Developments: Sasol 1950s–2000s

 4 Post-World War II Synthetic Fuel Developments: United States 1960s–80s

 5 Fossil Fuel, Synthetic Fuel, the Environment

 6 Oil Crises 1990s, Oil Shale Fracking Revolution and Its Consequences

 7 Conclusion

Bibliography

Index