science · 25 June 1921 · 103 years ago
In 1921, German chemist, Friedrich Karl Bergius invented a way to convert coal dust and hydrogen directly into gasoline and lubricating oils without isolating intermediate products, In Stuttgart, Bergius succeeded in distillating coal while forcing hydrogen under high pressure to combine chemically with the coal, transforming more carbon from the coal into oils than is possible with conventional distillation. To solve heat distribution and temperature regulation problems, Bergius invented treating a mixture of pulverized coal in oil with the gas under high pressure. For his work in developing the chemical high pressure hydrogenation method necessary for this process he shared the 1931 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with German, Carl Bosch.
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