Liquid coal touted as good fuel bet if ethanol fails

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Refining coal into liquids is the next logical step should it become clear that corn-based ethanol is not the solution to the transportation fuel problem, the developer of a coal-to-liquids plant said on Tuesday.

“Does it make sense to burn your food supply … to make what is in our estimation an inferior transportation fuel?” Robert Kelly, chairman of DKRW Advanced Fuels LLC, told a questioner at Cambridge Energy Research Associates’ 2008 conference.


“We’ve got a huge amount of coal here,” Kelly said after a breakfast presentation, noting U.S. coal reserves are among the world’s largest. “It is a huge fuel source for the next 50 years if we do it responsibly.”

“It’s new. We haven’t done one in the U.S. at major commercial scale. It’s a long development cycle,” Kelly said, responding to a questioner who asked why, if coal to liquids is such a good idea, there are not more plants already.

“When we’re successful, I think you’ll see a lot more,” Kelly predicted.

Reuters