The vast majority of today’s cars, trucks, buses, trains and planes run on liquid fuels derived from oil. But did you know that gasoline, diesel and jet fuel can also be made from coal?
It’s not new technology. People have been using coal to make liquid transportation fuels since the 1940s. Today, South Africa makes about 30 percent of its transportation fuels from coal and China and other countries are actively scaling up their capabilities to do the same. The United States military is systematically qualifying coal-derived liquid fuels for use in its jets and other equipment.
As oil prices rise and oil supplies increasingly come from unstable parts of the world, it makes sense for America to use its most abundant, secure, domestic energy resource to supply at least part of the country’s liquid fuel needs.
Look here to see how liquid fuels derived from coal are:
