Lewis Karrick
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Tags: Business, Science & Technology, Humanitarian & Public Safety, coal, into, oil, inventor, genius By: Richard |
It appears that America imports approximately 12.5 million barrels (bbls) of oil daily. 12.5 million bbls at $100.00 a bbl means that this year America will spend over $456 billion on foreign oil. Coupled with the fact that we are fighting a war in Iraq which has cost the lives of nearly 4000 US servicemen; and further understanding that terrorism has been in great part funded by oil profits, someone must logically ask the question, “Why do we continue to pursue this course of dependence on foreign crude when America contains nearly 30% of the worlds known coal reserves.” America is to coal what Saudi Arabia is to oil. American coal reserves can help achieve energy independence. Coal in its raw form is environmentally unacceptable; but, producing oil from coal is another matter.
There is a process entitled Low-Temperature Carbonization (LTC) of Coal. The process has been around for over 150 years. In fact, in America before 1860, more than 50 plants were extracting oil and gas from coal, Boston, Mass. Had five LTC plants that produced oil and gas for heat, light, etc. But, by 1873, Rockefellers ‘then-cheap’ oil forced the last coal to oil plants out of business.
LTC had been around for many years when a young oil shale technologist from the U.S. Bureau of Mines, in the 1920’s, perfected the process. The young man’s name was Lewis Cass Karrick. The Karrick process was able to convert one ton of coal into approximately one barrel of oil. In 1926, Karrick applied for and received 16 patents on his process.
Lewis Karrick built a pilot plant in Rifle, Colorado and proved oil could be produced from coal cheaper than oil wells could pump it! The result was the government stopped his work and dismantled the plant.
In the 1930’s Lewis Karrick worked at the University of Utah. There, under his supervision, students built a small plant that profitably produced oil from coal. The students further built their own small refinery and from the refinery supplied gasoline to their automobiles. In 1947, Mr. Karrick completed commercial-scale runs on Appalachian coal. He said, “…..many successful plants have existed in the state of Ohio and other states. Recent studies have shown that oil from the coals of Ohio can be manufactured by distillation, at less than the average price of petroleum.”
Lewis Cass Karrick passed away in 1962. Mr. Karrick was a visionary! He had a gift from God. He could see things others could not. He foresaw the position America is in today. During his career he argued coal into oil was cheaper than oil pumped from the ground. Yet, men like John D. Rockefeller suppressed his ideas. Those ideas were suppressed so that the Standard Oil monopoly could be built! I wonder what Mr. Karrick would say today as he watches billions of US dollars purchasing foreign crude (which was discovered in 1933 in Saudi Arabia). I believe we all know what he would say…..”oil can be produced from coal cheaper than you can pump it from a well”. He said that when domestic oil was selling for 2.53 a barrel and Persian crude was $.34 a barrel!
America needs to use the natural resource God supplied America with! Coal was once called ‘King Coal’ for a reason. We need to adopt an energy plan that develops the Karrick Process on a broad scale. We must establish energy dependence. It is all possible because of a man named Lewis Cass Karrick. He was an Unsung Hero who kept telling the world……”You can produce oil cheaper from coal than you can pump it from a well…….especially when oil is $100.00 a barrel!”
[ref]See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karrick_process
[/ref]
There is a process entitled Low-Temperature Carbonization (LTC) of Coal. The process has been around for over 150 years. In fact, in America before 1860, more than 50 plants were extracting oil and gas from coal, Boston, Mass. Had five LTC plants that produced oil and gas for heat, light, etc. But, by 1873, Rockefellers ‘then-cheap’ oil forced the last coal to oil plants out of business.
LTC had been around for many years when a young oil shale technologist from the U.S. Bureau of Mines, in the 1920’s, perfected the process. The young man’s name was Lewis Cass Karrick. The Karrick process was able to convert one ton of coal into approximately one barrel of oil. In 1926, Karrick applied for and received 16 patents on his process.
Lewis Karrick built a pilot plant in Rifle, Colorado and proved oil could be produced from coal cheaper than oil wells could pump it! The result was the government stopped his work and dismantled the plant.
In the 1930’s Lewis Karrick worked at the University of Utah. There, under his supervision, students built a small plant that profitably produced oil from coal. The students further built their own small refinery and from the refinery supplied gasoline to their automobiles. In 1947, Mr. Karrick completed commercial-scale runs on Appalachian coal. He said, “…..many successful plants have existed in the state of Ohio and other states. Recent studies have shown that oil from the coals of Ohio can be manufactured by distillation, at less than the average price of petroleum.”
Lewis Cass Karrick passed away in 1962. Mr. Karrick was a visionary! He had a gift from God. He could see things others could not. He foresaw the position America is in today. During his career he argued coal into oil was cheaper than oil pumped from the ground. Yet, men like John D. Rockefeller suppressed his ideas. Those ideas were suppressed so that the Standard Oil monopoly could be built! I wonder what Mr. Karrick would say today as he watches billions of US dollars purchasing foreign crude (which was discovered in 1933 in Saudi Arabia). I believe we all know what he would say…..”oil can be produced from coal cheaper than you can pump it from a well”. He said that when domestic oil was selling for 2.53 a barrel and Persian crude was $.34 a barrel!
America needs to use the natural resource God supplied America with! Coal was once called ‘King Coal’ for a reason. We need to adopt an energy plan that develops the Karrick Process on a broad scale. We must establish energy dependence. It is all possible because of a man named Lewis Cass Karrick. He was an Unsung Hero who kept telling the world……”You can produce oil cheaper from coal than you can pump it from a well…….especially when oil is $100.00 a barrel!”
[ref]See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karrick_process
[/ref]
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