The Synthetic Liquid Fuels Program was a program run by the

United States Bureau of Mines For most of the 20th century, the United States Bureau of Mines (USBM) was the primary United States government agency conducting scientific research and disseminating information on the extraction, processing, use, and conservation of mineral ...

to create the technology to produce

synthetic fuel Synthetic fuel or synfuel is a liquid fuel, or sometimes gaseous fuel, obtained from syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, in which the syngas was derived from gasification of solid feedstocks such as coal or biomass or by refo ...

from

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

and

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitut ...

. It was initiated in 1944 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act approved on April 5, 1944 authorized the use of US$30 million over a five-year period for

History

The Bureau of Mines first studied the extraction of

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

from oil shale between 1925 and 1928. Between 1928 and 1944, the Bureau experimented with

coal liquefaction Coal liquefaction is a process of converting coal into liquid hydrocarbons: liquid fuels and petrochemicals. This process is often known as "Coal to X" or "Carbon to X", where X can be many different hydrocarbon-based products. However, the most c ...

hydrogenation Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum. The process is commonly employed to reduce or saturate organic ...

using the

Bergius process The Bergius process is a method of production of liquid hydrocarbons for use as synthetic fuel by hydrogenation of high-volatile bituminous coal at high temperature and pressure. It was first developed by Friedrich Bergius in 1913. In 1931 Bergius ...

. A small-scale test unit constructed in 1937 had a 100-pound per day continuous coal feed. Between 1945 and 1948, new laboratories were constructed near

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

. A synthetic

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous ...

plant

Louisiana, Missouri Louisiana is a city in Pike County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,364 at the 2010 census. Louisiana is located in northeast Missouri, on the Mississippi River, south of Hannibal. Louisiana is located at the junction of State Rout ...

( Missouri Ordnance Works) was transferred from the Army to the program in 1945. The plant was converted into a coal hydrogenation test facility. By 1949 the plant could produce of oil a day using the Bergius process. Part of the personnel were

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

scientists, who had been extracted from Germany by

Operation Paperclip Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World War ...

. In 1948, the program was extended to eight years and funding increased to US$60 million. A second facility was constructed at the Louisiana plant, this time using the Fischer–Tropsch process. Completed in 1951, the plant only produced of fuel. In 1953 the new Republican-led

House Appropriations Committee The United States House Committee on Appropriations is a committee of the United States House of Representatives that is responsible for passing appropriation bills along with its Senate counterpart. The bills passed by the Appropriations Commi ...

ended funding for the research and the Missouri plant was returned to the

Department of the Army The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the U.S. The Department of the Army is the federal government agency within which the United States Army (U.S.) is org ...

. After the

1973 oil crisis The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had su ...

the need for domestic syncrude production (as well as substitute natural gas) was recognized and ERDA (subsequently DOE) embarked on a demonstration plants program, which included plants for the SRC-I and SRC-2 processes. In 1979, after the second oil crisis, the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...

approved the

Energy Security Act The Energy Security Act was signed into law by U.S. President Jimmy Carter on June 30, 1980. Thursday, 19 January 2017 It consisted of six major acts: * U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corporation Act * Biomass Energy and Alcohol Fuels Act * Renewable Ener ...

forming the

Synthetic Fuels Corporation The Synthetic Fuels Corporation (SFC or Synfuels Corporation) was a U.S. government-funded corporation established in 1980 by the Energy Security Act (ESA) to create a financial bridge for the development and construction of commercial synthetic ...

and authorized up to $88 million for synthetic fuels projects. This program focused on implementation of commercially available processes such as Lurgi gasification of lignite and Texaco gasification of coal to feed a gas turbine/combined cycle electric generating system. In 1986, following the 1985 oil glut, President Reagan signed into law the

Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) is a law passed by the U.S. Congress on a reconciliation basis and signed by President Ronald Reagan that, among other things, mandates an insurance program which gives some em ...

which among other things abolished the Synthetic Fuels Corporation. It is estimated that over 40 years the cost of the various efforts at creating synthetic fuels may have totaled as much as $8 billion. {{citation needed, date=January 2014

References

The Early Days of Coal Research
at the U.S. Department of Energy site.
You Don’t Need Oil To Make Fuel

Review on Oil shale data

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060528211758/http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1167738,00.html A magic way to make billions(TIME Magazine, February 2006)
CRS Report for Congress Oil Shale: History, Incentives, and Policy
United States federal energy legislation Synthetic fuels United States Bureau of Mines

History

See also

References