Yes, Coal Gassification was tried here, in the ‘70’s. It is costly, has a great deal of toxic waste to deal with, generates huge amounts of sulfur and Carbon Dioxide. They scapped the plan long ago.
And of course, it would have to be subsidized by the taxpayers, very much like Ethanol.
There was a guy out in Utah a couple of years ago that was producing diesel from coal. The process produced almost no carbon emmissions and was very eco friendly. Sadly he was encroaching on 2 of my fiancee’s gassification patents and several others. Now he is in jail for patent fraud. The gassification can be done cleanly.
Yep. If this were such a game-changer, he'd be able to raise his capital in the private market. That he needs several hundred million from the government says all we need to know.