1/2? Germany's fuel synthetic.

www.mnstarfire.com/ww2/hoi/tweaks/resources.html -

 

With fuel going to $2.25 per gallon I wonder if it would be viable to start synthetic fuel production again. I am guessing they are not talking about gasahol production when they say synthetic fuel but I am not sure. Do you know the materials it is made of and does anyone in the world still know how to produce it?

 

Germany's 'synthetic' oil in WWII ( such as that produced at the infamous Leuna plant ) was in fact procesed from coal via gasification/hydrogenation. Sounds expensive and potentially environmentally-unfriendly to me.......

 

Coal gasification is very polluting. It requires (at least the early methods) lots of steam (ie water), and energy (either coal or electric in Germany's case) to produce "coal gas." Now, also note that most of the fuel produced is short chain hydrocarbons like methane and are not suitable for use as vehicle fuels directly.
The other problem is what to do with waste products like carbon dioxide, sulfides, and slag / fly ash.
The US (among others) is still experimenting with methods to cleanly commercialize this process. But, it is still only marginally viable compared to oil drilling and production.

 

the japanesse with the co-operation with the Victorian Goverment built a pilot plant trying victorias brown coal in the late 70s early 80s no one has heard about the results as yet

 

I know that in the 80's, Texas A&M University replicated the formula successfully. Government was not interested. I believe some kind of representative of the oil companies purchased in exchange for a very generous grant. Last I heard. I read it somewhere, cannot remember where.

 

What are we worried about synthetic fuel for? Don't we have all the gas we need from taking over Iraq?

Did Germany experiement with bio diesel or was the coal gas their only thing? Didn't the technology exist for grain based fuels?

Apparently, Brazil has a very good ethenol program - anyone want to shead some light on that?

 

The German synthetic fuel was done at least by two processes:

Fischer-Tropsch process
Bergius hydrogenation

The Fischer-Tropsch liquefaction technology, originally developed in the 1920s by German researchers Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, was used during World War II in Germany and Japan to produce alternative fuels. By 1944, 25 plants were producing a total of 124,000 barrels per day.



Coal-to-liquids - DKRW Energy

Bergius.

The Integration of the German Oil, Chemical, Rubber and Explosives Industries

 

Just chores of this website, would this article be moved to Weapons & Technology in WWII ?

http://www.ww2f.com/forum/9-weapons-technology-in-wwii/