# Synthetic petroleum--what's the story?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-petroleum-whats-the-story/449976>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 20, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-petroleum-whats-the-story/449976 "2008-05-20T15:34:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-petroleum-whats-the-story/449976/1 "2008-05-20T15:34:22Z")

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I remember reading that in WW2, the German military effort would have failed much earlier if they had not developed a method of synthesizing petroleum. The alternate fuels research of the 70’s tried to develop similar methods but apparently weren’t successful. Were the German methods lost or just weren’t cost effective? Has there been any further research into this field, and has it made any progress?

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-petroleum-whats-the-story/449976/2 "2008-05-20T15:48:01Z")

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Didn’t the South Africans synthesise oil from coal?

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**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\
**Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/synthetic-petroleum-whats-the-story/449976/3 "2008-05-20T15:48:32Z")

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Read all about it here:

> **[Fischer–Tropsch process](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tropsch)**
>
> The Fischer–Tropsch process (FT) is a collection of chemical reactions that converts a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, known as syngas, into liquid hydrocarbons. These reactions occur in the presence of metal catalysts, typically at temperatures of 150–300 °C (302–572 °F) and pressures of one to several tens of atmospheres. The Fischer–Tropsch process is an important reaction in both coal liquefaction and gas to liquids technology for producing liquid hydrocarbons. 
> In the usual impleme...