Can Coal Provide a Safe and Eco-friendly Fuel to Run Our Cars?

Whenever we talk of coal the thing that strikes the mind is a black and dirty piece that can give nothing except some heat when burnt and huge amount of dirty gases.

But coal can also be used to power our cars…? No I am not kidding and the technology is also not new, it dates back to 1920’s.

Some fuel experts are thinking of powering cars with coal…! No, not the dirty black piece of rock but a much cleaner and safer ‘Liquid Coal’.

This technology is nothing new and was first developed by German Scientists in the 1920s and helped power the Nazi war machine. But the technology was abandoned as it proved to be more expensive than the other sources of energy such as gasoline and crude oil.

But after many years of using gasoline to power the cars the reserves are about to go extinct and the researchers are starting to look for some new alternatives. And the thing that has struck their mind is the use of a technique called CTL or coal-to-liquid.

In total the liquid coal production is expected to rise from 150,000 barrels a day today to 600,000 barrels in 2020 and 1.8 million barrels in 2030.

Many countries are blindly investing in the trade with China topping the list by investing $25 Billion in the liquid-coal pipeline.

Sasol, a renowned company in South Africa is also building two new CTL Plants each with a price tag of $6 Billion. Americans are also considering the future of such plants and are offering loan guarantee and tax incentives for CTL Plants.

These plants can be a success as the countries needing the most energy such as India, China and United States have the biggest coal reserves in their nations. With the biggest coal reserves, United States can power their country for more than a century with liquid coal and that figure is closely followed up by other countries like India and China.

Moreover powering a car with liquid coal will be more than 30% cleaner and cheaper than using gasoline.

So we can say that our old King Coal is coming back in a few years with some liquefied makeup…!
Via: msnbc