The US Department of Energy projects domestic consumption of synthetic fuel made from coal and natural gas will rise to 3.7 million barrels per day by 2030.

synthetic fuels
Synthetic fuels (‘synfuels’) are liquid fuels normally produced from coal, natural gas and biomass. The first step involves transforming the initial feedstock into ‘syngas,’ a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen (which can be used as an industrial fuel). A number of secondary processes (Fischer-Trophe, Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle “IGCC”) can then be used to produce liquid fuels such as diesel, gasoline, dimethyl ether, methanol and hydrogen.

waste
Synthetic fuel processes entail a large increase in primary energy use and total carbon emissions. Total CO2 from coal-based fuels are approximately double those of their petroleum counterparts. However, the gasification process allows for large-scale CO2 capture of up to 80 – 90% of the CO2 produced. With biomass as a feedstock, synthetic fuels could have negative GHG emissions.

carbon storage
We could conceivably require permanent storage capacity for over 6,000 gigatonnes of Carbon, if we convert to significant IGCC production with carbon capture, and low-ghg synthetic fuels for transportation. The three major sinks that have been identified for carbon sequestration are deep saline aquifers, old oil wells, and other geological media. Though this is an evolving field, the resounding engineering perspective is positive.