[ExI] Coal Gasification and CO2 (was Re: Whatever happened to peak oil by 2020?)

[Kelly Anderson]

> Ja, what I meant was use wind and ground based solar as an energy input to
> convert coal to Diesel and octane.  The plant you cite burns coal to make
> the power to convert coal to liquids.  This is a huge waste of coal.  When
> you have solar and wind power available, use that power to drive the coal
> conversion.
>

I'm not a great chemist, and the chemical composition of coal is very
complex, but my understanding of it is that to convert the carbon chains in
the coal to octane, you have to release carbon dioxide. This isn't from the
burning of the coal itself, but as a side effect of the conversion. I could
be wrong, but no matter the energy source, using the Fischer–Tropsch
process or similar, you would always release large amounts of CO2. I would
love to be wrong about this. Any chemistry gurus out there?

-Kelly
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