Jet fuel from coal?

NY Times:

Some of the world’s largest airlines — including American, US Airways, Delta and Lufthansa — have signed a memorandum of understanding to buy 500,000 barrels per month of jet fuel made from coal and petroleum coke, a refinery waste product.

The development will be announced this morning by Rentech, the Los Angeles, Calif.-based company that plans to make the fuel at a plant in Mississippi.

Despite the use of coal, the process will result in jet fuel with lower carbon emissions than the stuff used in airlines today, the company says. That is because a waste stream of carbon dioxide from making the fuel will be piped to Texas, where it will be used to help squeeze oil out of the ground.

...

The Federal Aviation Administration has recently taken steps to make it easier to certify new fuels made from non-traditional materials, as efforts to reduce the carbon emissions from air travel grow. European airlines are also feeling even greater pressure to cut their carbon footprint.

Jet fuel from a source like coal could also insulate the airlines from the volatility of the oil market.

The Mississippi plant is being built to eventually use biomass — probably wood chips — in addition to coal. That should also lower the carbon footprint of the fuel, since the part that comes from biomass is supposed to be carbon-neutral — from trees.

The Natchez plant would also make naptha, a chemical that can be used as a raw material for a variety of processes.

...

There is more.

Naptha was called coal oil when I was a child. It was used to clean tools and engines as well as fuel for lanterns.

I think the Air Force has also looked at coal conversion for fuel. It appears to be cost effective at current oil prices which are artificially inflated in part because Democrats have been strangling domestic production of oil and gas.

The US has the largest untapped supply of oil and natural gas, but Democrats have kept it off limits in hopes that "magic" energy will take its place and create jobs. Of course they want to eliminate many of the jobs currently used to produce energy.