Coal To Liquid

Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) is a process of converting coal to fuels such as diesel or gas. For diesel, the process involves first building a plant to convert coal to gas and then another plant to covert the gas to a liquid. The resultant liquid fuel is known as synthetic fuel or synfuel. Synfuels are used as an alternative to oil, and can be used to make petroleum and diesel, as well as synthetic waxes, lubricants, chemical feedstocks, and alternative liquid fuels such as methanol and dimethyl ether (DME).^[1] The process of producing synfuels can also be referred to as Gas-To-Liquids (GTL) or Biomass-To-Liquids (BTL), depending on the initial feedstock. The best known synthesis process is the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis which was used on a large scale in Germany during World War II, as Germany was cut off from oil imports.^[2]