Evening star., 1949-03-27
Coal-to-Oil
Plants Start
Missouri Dedication
on Anniversary of
Fall of Germany
BY Henry A. Lyon

! y Henry A. Lyon
What with the cold war and
the ever-present possibility of an
open clash between the East and
West in Europe, the dedication on
May 8 Of new processing plants
for the manufacture Of oil and
gasoline from coal is a significant
development, and at the same
time an anniversary present to
the conquerors of the Rhineland.
During World War II we were
able to provide oil for gasoline on
. vast scale. But even so, many
homes were forced to go half
heated so that planes could con-
tinue to deal death to the enemy
half the world around. Any in
creased capacity to make oil and
gasoline out of coal is a step to
be fostered and enlarged as fap-
idly as possible as another means
of making our defensive strength
our greatest guarantee against
attack.
So it is that on the fourth an
niversary Of We day will be un-
veiled two new coal-to-oil dem
onstration plants at Louisiana,
Mo-. less than 100 miles above
st. Louis on the Mississippi River.
Developeds by the Bureau of
Mines, it is hoped that these pilot
plants will spur the country to
develop a new basic industry.
Plants to Prove Theory y
The new plants will employ diff
ferent processes to convert coal
and Ignite into high-quality syn
thetic liquid fuels that ultimately
will free us from dependence on
foreign oil sources, according to
Interior Secretary Krug. They
are being erected at a cost Of
5000, 900 to serve as a proving
ground for American Goals. equip
ment and processing methods.
Actual dedication will be at the
plant sites on Sunday afternoon
with prominent speakers at both
the dinner and dedication pro-
grams. A special train will take
the guests to and from the sites
Sunday morning and evening.
Authorized by the Synthetic
Fuels Act of 1914, the coal-to- oil
demonstration plants of the
bureau will fashion a pattern of
engineering and economic knowl-
edge for the new industry, Mr..
Krug said. "Our dependence upon
oil having increased sharply" he
said, I'VE must have guaranteed
supplies not for just few years
but for an indefinite period.
Synthetic liquid fuels from coal
and oil shale offer just such an
assured supply"
Use Army Facilities
The plants, centrally located
with respect to the countrys
major coal fields, we're estab-
lished after survey in which
FOG proposed locations were
considered. A factor in the
selection Of Louisiana. Mo-, was
the availability Of the facilities
Of the Army's Missouri Ordnance
Works, a wartime synthetic am
monia plant that could be readily
converted to synthetic fuel pro-
duction. This plant was loaned
to the bureau by the Office Of the
Quarternaster General In 1947.
incorporating numerous in
novations, the synthetic fuel
plants will demonstrate the re-
spective merits of two basic pro-
cesses for converting American
Goals to oil: The direct hydro
genation or Bergius-I. G. Farben
process and the gas synthesis or
indirect Fischer -Tropsch process.
These processes are compile
mentary rather than competitive
and the liquid products that each
produces range all the way from
heavy fuel oils for ships and in
dustry to jet fuels for aviation
and gasoline.
Improved Techniques
The hydrogenation plant is
ready for operation. 1t has a
production capacity of 200 to 300
barrels daily, depending upon the
coal and catalyst used. 1t cost
$10,000,0O0. Chemically, crude
petroleum contains more than
twice as much hydrogen than
does coal. Thus to convert coal
to finished gasoline. hydrogen is
added to the coal catalytically
under pressures up to 10000
pounds per square inch and at
high temperatures.
improvements over the Ger
man techniques include use Of
automatic control instead Of hand
control to increase capacity and
reduce personnel. new and cheap
er sources Of hydrogen and more
efficient utilization of heat to
lower product cost. The produc-
ton Of about one barrel of oil
requires only one-half ton Of
bituminous coal, whereas the re-
quirement for sub-bituminous
coal Is two-thirds Of q ton and
for Ignite q full ton.
INCORPORATION will produce,
separately or simultaneously.
liquid fuels ranging from high
octane aviation gasoline to bunk
er c" fuel oils with little or no
change In the plant. Only the
operating conditions need be al
tered to fill the demand Of the
moment, which makes such plants
Of high strategic value from the
military viewpoint. By-products
will include phenols for plastics,
"creosote" for wood preservation,
solvents for paints and hydro
carbon gases for heating fuel.
Based on conditions prevailing
in 1948. bureau engineers esti-
mated that a commercial coal
hydrogenation plant with a ca
oacitv of an nm barrels n dav