Two projects managed by the Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) use a proprietary technology developed by Oklahoma-based Syntroleum to convert raw fossil fuels into either hydrogen or high hydrogen-content liquids, such as ultra-clean diesel.

Earlier this year the DOE awarded funding of about $US4.3 million for a $5.4 million project that would further develop Syntroleum's technology to produce either hydrogen or high hydrogen-content, ultra-clean liquid fuels from coal – dubbed coal-to-liquids (CTL).

The funding was part of a broader award of $62.4 million for 32 US clean coal research projects.

In the DOE-funded clean coal-to-liquids project a cobalt-based FT catalyst will be assessed for converting coal-derived synthesis gas to high hydrogen-content liquids, with an eye to producing research quantities of these liquids.

Researchers will evaluate commercially available coal gasification and synthesis gas clean-up technologies. They then will seek to integrate these technologies with Syntroleum's cobalt-catalyst-based FT process as a precursor to an eventual commercial-scale CTL plant.

In addition, engineering and economic analysis will be undertaken to assess the commercial feasibility of such a plant in a coal-producing state.

The 24-month CTL project will field-test research quantities of the liquids produced from coal-derived synthesis gas using the cobalt-catalyst FT process.

The research volumes of coal-derived liquids produced during the project will be further processed into a range of products for end-use studies.

These studies will include evaluation of these high hydrogen-content liquid fuels, such as ultra-clean diesel or feedstock for a reforming unit to produce hydrogen.

Such field tests are intended to enhance public awareness and market acceptance of the environmental and energy security benefits of CTL transportation fuels and the potential for using these fuels as an easily handled source of hydrogen in reformer/fuel cell systems.