IC 7594 The Synthesis Of Hydrocarbons (Report Of The Imperial Fuel Research Institute Of Japan, July 25, 1935) ? Introduction

The rapid development of transportation facilities in Japan focused the attention of this country on the possibility of converting the existing coal resources (of which there was an abundance) into liquid fuels, for which there was a constantly increasing demand. Previous work had indicated that this could be accomplished by utilizing one of two processes - the Bergius process, in which high temperatures and high pressures were employed to effect direct liquefaction of the coal, and the Fischer-Tropsch process, in which an indirect liquefaction of coal was accomplished by the production of liquid hydro-carbons from hydrogen-carbon monoxide mixtures. This report describes some investigations into the latter process, which was first developed by Fischer and his colleagues in the Coal Laboratory in Muhlheim, Germany, in 1923. By 1932, these investigators had achieved a 60-percent theoretical yield (152 ml. of liquid hydrocarbons per cubic meter of 2H2:ICO synthesis gas) by using a precipitated Co-Th02 catalyst.3/ At the same time (1932), Dr. Kita of Kyoto Imperial University and Messrs. Fujimura and Tsuneoka obtained 145 ml. of gasoline (C5+) per cubic meter of synthetic gas by using a Co-Cu-Th-U catalyst. 4/ This report is a description of the experimental results subsequently obtained at the Fuel Research Institute, Kawaguchi City, Saitama, up to 1935.