Microwave pyrolysis

With the price of oil as high as it is, alternative fossil fuels are becoming more attractive. For example it is possible to turn coal into automotive fuel, but mining and transporting coal is not an efficient process. This is way power plants and steel mills are generally built near coal deposits. However, converting minable coal into liquid fuel would increase energy prices since the fuel would be diverted from power plants, etc. There are deposits of coal and oil shale that are not economical to mine, so they are of little economic value. However, in situ pyrolysis allows these deposits to be liquefied while still underground, and pumped like oil.

The current process requires heaters to be put into the deposit to heat the material up to 800-950 F, this is an inefficient process that requires a huge amount of energy to be input. However, the advances in microwave chemistry and nano-catalysts could allow more effective conversion of coal and kerogen into an oil-like substance. The microwave process could work with coal best since it is a less dispersed in a matrix. However, with oil shales there are interesting possibilities that arise from the high Aluminum content of the matrix.