Commercialization strategy report for coal liquefaction

It was concluded that: Coal liquids will address a major segment of the energy economy, namely, petroleum and petroleum derived products; Methanol and Fischer--Tropsch processes are technically ready but economically uncompetitive, at present; Scale up of direct hydrogenation processes to verify commercial feasibility requires major government funding; Federal assistance will probably be required for all first-of-a-kind commercial facilities; Coal liquids will be economically competitive with imported petroleum by late 1980's or early 1990's.