ALTERNATE ROUTES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FUELS FROM COAL AND NATURAL GAS.

Almost all transportation worldwide is powered by high energy-density liquid hydrocarbon fuels produced from crude oil. Transportation fuels currently use over 50 percent of total world petroleum demand of 66 million barrels per day. Prior MITRE studies indicate that crude oil supply will become severely limited after the year 2030 as increasing world energy demand, driven by population growth and economic development, depletes oil resources. If conventional liquid hydrocarbon fuels that can use existing production and distribution infrastructures are still needed for transportation in the future, then alternate sources of these fuels will have to be utilized. Two such sources are natural gas and coal. Natural gas reserves worldwide are expected to last well into the 21st century, and coal resources are enormous. This paper examines the technologies for producing environmentally superior liquid transportation fuels from coal and natural gas using modern conversion technologies. Estimates of the costs of fuels from these sources are given, and the potential environmental impacts of these fuels are examined.