Domestic Synthetic Fuels
P.O. Box 292, Point Pleasant, West Virginia, United States

DS Fuels is a West Virginia-owned and operated facility that utilizes West Virginias two most abundant resources, coal and natural gas, to produce multiple salable products. DS Fuels is looking to forge a new path forward to energy independence and directly contribute to economic development.

Technology to turn coal to liquid has been known for more than 100 years. Coal to liquids, or CTL, has been utilized for fuel production throughout history.  A well-known CTL process is Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, developed by Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch in 1920s Germany. Fischer-Tropsch is an indirect process, which first turns coal into a synthetic gas which must be further refined to produce liquid fuels. The coal must first be burned to generate the gas.  Around the same time, another German scientist, Friedrich Bergius, imagined a more direct process that could turn coal directly into liquid fuels that would be more efficient and cleaner than burning coal. He invented a process to mix dry coal with oil. In the presence of a catalyst, the mixture is exposed to heat and pressure. Hydrogen is added, creating synthetic fuel and other liquids. By 1944, half of Germanys fuel was being produced from coal.  Inspired by this, scientists in the United States continued work to improve CTL technology throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. One group of researchers founded a small business in New Jersey, called Hydrocarbon Research Inc. (HRI). They invented and patented a new system that made the Bergius invention even more versatile and more efficient.  HRI began operation of a small-scale test facility near Trenton, New Jersey, in the 1950s. They found that in the very same test unit they could refine either crude oil (called H-Oil®) or liquefy coal (called H-Coal®) into gasoline and diesel. The H-Coal process was scaled up from the small test facility in New Jersey to a large demonstration plant in Catlettsburg, Kentucky. That plant operated from 1980 to 1983, proving that H-Coal technology was a clean and efficient way of turning coal into high-quality fuels on a large scale.  In 2002, China began development of a massive coal to liquids synthetic fuel plant in Inner Mongolia to take advantage of the countrys huge coal reserves. Chinese officials turned to American coal technology developed by the scientists and engineers at HRI in planning the large Shenhua plant. The Shenhua CTL plant became operational in 2008, reportedly producing 20,000 barrels a day of diesel oil, liquefied petroleum gas and naphtha. The plant relies on the H-Coal process developments started in the 1950s, to mix pulverized coal with recycled liquids, hydrogen and a catalyst in a bubbling reactor to create synthetic fuels and other liquids.  Now, the H-Coal process is coming home, bringing it full circle. The Domestic Synthetic Fuels plant to be built near Point Pleasant in Mason County, West Virginia (just 50 miles from H-Coal in Catlettsburg), will utilize H-Coal technology to turn locally abundant coal and natural gas into high-quality fuels and other products, putting West Virginians to work and helping the local and regional economies.

What We Do

DS Fuels utilizes direct coal to liquids technology to convert coal and natural gas under great heat and pressure into ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel, jet fuel, gasoline and other by-products. Coal to liquids technology has been around over 100 years, however DS Fuels will be using an advanced H-Coal technology that, through proven science, is cleaner and more efficient.

Why Were Here

DS Fuels cares about West Virginia. By bringing technological advancement to the state, the facility can provide much-needed jobs and security that will benefit generations to come. An education initiative is currently in the planning process. This initiative will join industry with local schools, colleges and universities to provide educational programs and job training opportunities for the local community and the region.

Where Were At

Domestic Synthetic Fuels will be located in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Dedicated to being a good neighbor within Mason County, the facility is committed to keeping the community up-to-date with progress of the project. On January 14, 2019, DS Fuels applied for a minor source air quality permit through the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection. The draft construction permit was granted on June 17, 2019. With construction to begin in the Fall of this year, developers expect the facility to be operational by late 2022 or early 2023.