[jmcenanly]

Our whole synthetic materials industry began with coal tar derivatives. There is a lot that you can do with hydrocarbons besides burning them.

[Olog-hai]

But to generate the energy to do that, you have to burn them and heat a working fluid.

Steel is mainly an alloy of iron and carbon. No burning off coal’s impurities to make coke, no steel.

[outofsalt]

"I just want to say one thing to you. Are you listening?"

"Plastics"

[taildragger]

"Our whole synthetic materials industry began with coal tar derivatives."

As a teenager working delivery for a family owned pharmacy I got to see some interesting things. One being the pharmacist "compounding" a ointment for a Female D.O. for her patient. One ingredient? Coal Tar!

[BerryDingle]

I went to crypto school in the Army and during my basic electronics course (COBET), an instructor told us about a large radar set that was installed with a “bug” problem. After about an hour it started working properly. The “bug” was the end of a broom handle in the power supply had been lightly sanded off and painted with a resistor color code. Paper clips were inserted into both ends and soldered into the circuitry. The broom handle had become so hot, it became charcoal and transferred the correct OHMS. The student in the test had ignored the burnt paint.

[The Antiyuppie]

“Our whole synthetic materials industry began with coal tar derivatives. There is a lot that you can do with hydrocarbons besides burning them.”

Probably in the early next century, our descendants will not believe how crazy and wasteful it was to burn hydrocarbons for heat, given the value that they have as a building block for materials, plastics, and chemicals.