THE FUTURE
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into liquid fuels through the agency of the Fischer Tropsch reaction
(Speight, 2008).
Although considered too expensive to compete with the production of liquid fuels from petroleum, the liquid fuels produced from
coal by gasification and the conversion of the synthesis gas have
environmentally friendly insofar as they have no sulfur and, therefore, are more in keeping with the recent laws regarding ultra-low
sulfur fuels.
In fact, the technologies required to produce large-scale supplies
of clean liquid fuels from coal are not on the drawing boards or in
laboratories. They are in use around the world today, from countries including South Africa, which has long relied on coal liquefaction to provide a substantial percentage of its transportation fuels,
to China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The obvious drawback to direct and indirect processes that produce liquids from coal relates to environmental issues. The process
of converting coal into liquid and using it for transportation releases
nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as burning diesel made from
crude oil does. In a world conscious of climate change, that excess
carbon is a major issue. One way around this problem might be to
take the carbon dioxide and bury it underground. Another would
be to replace fossil-fuel feedstock with biomass (Speight, 2008).
Economics is another issue since the processes (especially the
Fischer-Tropsch technology) has always been relatively expensive. However, the need may have to justify the expense insofar as
energy independence is the matter at hand.
9.3 Oil Shale
Oil shale is a complex mixture of organic and inorganic materials
that vary widely in composition and properties. In general terms,
oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that is rich inorganic
matter and yields oil when heated. Some oil shale is genuine shale
but others have been incorrectly classified and are actually siltstones, impure limestone, or even impure coal.
The oil shale deposits in the western United States contain approximately 15 percent organic material, by weight. In the United States,
the deposits are concentrated in the Green River Formation in the
states of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, account for nearly threequarters of this potential. The amount of kerogen in the shale varies
255
into liquid fuels through the agency of the Fischer Tropsch reaction
(Speight, 2008).
Although considered too expensive to compete with the production of liquid fuels from petroleum, the liquid fuels produced from
coal by gasification and the conversion of the synthesis gas have
environmentally friendly insofar as they have no sulfur and, therefore, are more in keeping with the recent laws regarding ultra-low
sulfur fuels.
In fact, the technologies required to produce large-scale supplies
of clean liquid fuels from coal are not on the drawing boards or in
laboratories. They are in use around the world today, from countries including South Africa, which has long relied on coal liquefaction to provide a substantial percentage of its transportation fuels,
to China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
The obvious drawback to direct and indirect processes that produce liquids from coal relates to environmental issues. The process
of converting coal into liquid and using it for transportation releases
nearly twice as much carbon dioxide as burning diesel made from
crude oil does. In a world conscious of climate change, that excess
carbon is a major issue. One way around this problem might be to
take the carbon dioxide and bury it underground. Another would
be to replace fossil-fuel feedstock with biomass (Speight, 2008).
Economics is another issue since the processes (especially the
Fischer-Tropsch technology) has always been relatively expensive. However, the need may have to justify the expense insofar as
energy independence is the matter at hand.
9.3 Oil Shale
Oil shale is a complex mixture of organic and inorganic materials
that vary widely in composition and properties. In general terms,
oil shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that is rich inorganic
matter and yields oil when heated. Some oil shale is genuine shale
but others have been incorrectly classified and are actually siltstones, impure limestone, or even impure coal.
The oil shale deposits in the western United States contain approximately 15 percent organic material, by weight. In the United States,
the deposits are concentrated in the Green River Formation in the
states of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, account for nearly threequarters of this potential. The amount of kerogen in the shale varies