Paperweight: Oil made from coal

Friedrich Bergius (1884-1949) patented a procedure for producing liquid or soluble organic compounds made from coal back in 1913 for which he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1931. The Bergius process gained increased importance for the first time during the National Socialist period in the production of synthetic gasoline. Twelve coal hydrogenation plants were built in Germany between 1927 and 1943. Coal hydrogenation was not continued in West Germany after the war due to unrivalled low crude oil prices. However, seven coal refinement pilot plants were built in the Federal Republic as a result of the first oil crisis in 1973 for which new methods were to be used. The pilot plant of Saarbergwerke AG was built at the Völklingen-Fürstenhausen technology centre and was put into operation on 24 September 1981. As a result of the drop in the price of oil, the pilot plants were shut down again from the mid 1980s.