Green processing of coal to liquid fuels: Pakistan's perspective

The role of energy supplies in economic prosperity and environmental quality is one of the most important challenges in pakistan. the continuing upward trend in crude oil prices in the world and heavy reliance on petroleum and its derivatives in daily life makes the economy vulnerable to critical stress. therefore,the energy security has gained increasing importance. in pakistan,only the transportation sector consumes one-third of petroleum derived fuels while other consumers include electric power generation and a number of petrochemical products. the use of oxygenates (fuel additives),olefins (petrochemicals),etc. are becoming popular. the recent discoveries of coal reserves and its pronounced scope in the energy sector in the wake of new technologies have led to its green processing and effective utilization. the challenge of efficient utilization and green processing of coal at manageable cost is of interest to researchers. it is through the coal to liquid (ctl) technology that coal is converted to valuable liquid hydrocarbons. the two step process,i.e.,gasification,followed by its conversion to liquid fuel by gas-to-liquid (gtl) technology is a proven strategy,commonly known as fischer-tropsch synthesis (fts) process. significant improvement of scope in this technology through improved catalysts and process conditions is of interest. underground coal gasification (ucg) is an attractive option for gtl technology for economic gains. preliminary studies have already been conducted in the country. the prospective use of ctl and gtl fuels technologies in pakistan has been reviewed in this paper. © pakistan academy of sciences.