OIL FROM COAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22319, 17 January 1936, Page 14

OIL FROM COAL

NEW SOUTH WALES FIELDS SUGGESTION FOR INDUSTRY The cost of installing a modern hydrogenation plant for the extraction of oil from coal on the northern coalfields of New South Wales, it was officially stated recently, would be approximiitely £6,000,000. The plant would bo capable of producing 45,000,000 gallons of oil fuel a year from the coal in that district, and, in the process, would bo responsible for the consumption of 600,000 tons of coal. Thb Premier, Mr. Stevens, will investigate the hydrogenation process of obtaining oil from coal during his forthcoming visit to Great Britain, Europe and the United States of America. The State Government, in co-opera-tion with the Commonwealth Government, has carried out extensive research, with the object nf alleviating unemployment nn the coalfields and encouraging the production of oil from coal and shale. The State Government appointed a fuel research committee to investigate processes for the treatment of coal for oil and by-products. It also inquired into the utilisation of coal, and its derivatives, and generally conducted research work on the use of coal. That committee, which is still carrying out research work, in a preliminary report to the Minister tor Mines, contended that the restoration of industry to its pre-depression level would not restore the coal market to its former high level; and, therefore, fresh outlets must be sought for the, use of coal if the coal mining industry was again to prosper. Jt is the considered opinion of the committee that the. most promising avenue of exploration is the use of coal for the production of fuels for internal combustion engine.s, either by carbonisation or hydrogenation, or a combination of both of those processes. The Minister in Charge of Development recently expressed the opinion that the hydrogenation process of obtaining oil from coal was the best for Australia, and said it would be folly for the Commonwealth Government to embark upon a huge expenditure until the process had been thoroughly tried in Great Britain and elsewhere.