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History

The first serious work in high temperature, high pressure chemistry with respect to fuels started in the early 20th Century.  Friedrich Bergius was the first to describe the hydrothermal carbonization of biomass in 1913.  Bergius later won the Nobel Prize for work in this field.

Bergius developed techniques to convert coal to liquid fuels just after the World War I.  The process languished until World War II, when it was employed to produce large amounts of liquid fuels.  Sasol, a South African company, has been commercially producing liquid fuels from coal for the coal rich, petroleum poor country for over 50 years.  Today South Africa produces 30% of its diesel and gasoline by converting coal into liquid fuel using technology based on the work of Bergius.



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