"DAKSY" <rsmith13@nycap.rr.com> wrote:
: Hey, DML!
: <snip>. just because we have a lot of it within our boarders (sic) doesn't
: make it a good fuel<snip>
: Au contraire! I read a N. Y. Times article recently (yes, I DO know how to
: read!), which indicated that the governor of Montana is actively seeking
: government assistance to develop refineries which will make petroleum
: products out of coal...Evidently, during the WWII, the Nazis had developed
: such a refining process, as an alternative to imported gasoline, but it was
: deemed too expensive because crude oil was less than $30/bbl...
: Now, with prices hovering between $60 - $70/bbl, the cost of this refining
: process doesn't seem so outrageous.
: With an estimated 500-year supply of coal under Montana & a couple other
: Rocky Mountain states, such refineries could appreciably reduce our
: dependence on foreign crude until the prototype Mr. Fusion comes along!
: Just thought I throw this into the fire!
Yep, the Nazis used this process because embargos and such
were choking off their supply of crude oil, so they were basically
forced to find an alternative source for gasoline. It wasn't an
economic decision so much as a matter of desperation. The process
of distilling oil from coal goes back much further than WWII though.
Whale oil used to be popular for lamp fuel and lubricants, but started
to get expensive as the whale population declined. In the mid 1800s,
a method for distilling oil from coal was discovered, and this was also
used to light these lamps. The process basically fell by the wayside
though about a decade later when oil wells started to sprout up in
large numbers following the Drake oil well in western Pennsylvania.
(The process of refining these oils from crude was much more cost
effective than distilling them from coal.) I'm not sure if anyone
in the mid 1800s actually went as far as distilling the coal into
what we would call gasoline today, but even if not, the process is
the same.
I have no idea what the current costs would be to distill coal
into gasoline, but seeing as how nobody seems to be doing it, I can
only assume that despite the rising price of crude, it is still
relatively too expensive. It certainly is an option to keep in
mind though if prices rise enough to make it economically viable.
--
-Jon-
.- Jon Steiger --- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
| 67 Dodge Coronet, 70 Plymouth Barracuda, 76 Peugeot TSA |
| 78 Dodge B100, 90 Dodge Dakota Convertible, 92 Dodge Ram 4x4 |
| 96 Dodge Dakota, 96 Suzuki Intruder 1400, 96 Kolb FireFly |
| 99 Jeep Cherokee 4x4, 01 Dodge Ram 3500 CTD |
`--------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
.
.
.------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Make your plans NOW to attend the National DML Meet in Colorado! |
| Date: July 15-23, 2006 - More info: http://meet.dakota-truck.net |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon May 01 2006 - 09:38:04 EDT