The Fischer-Tropsch process has fascinated me from childhood. It fascinates me for two reasons. One reason is that it suggests a cosmological/geological mechanism for how petroleum came to be in the first place - for those who doubt the fossil genesis of oil. The second reason is that it seems to be a way of making something valuable out of nothing. Combined with an appropriate gasification method to form a complete process, the Fischer-Tropsch process can take anything with carbon in it and converts into petroleum - old rubber tires, wood, coal, coke etc.
       These slides were part of a talk for attendees of the Civic Forum Lecture Series, a nearly 70 year old tradition sponsored by the Jewish community of Bradford, PA to encourage joy in study.
        The author acknowledges and thanks: The Syntroleum Corporation, BioSNG/ Energy Research Center of the Netherlands, Zero/ Habiol of Oslo Norway, The Fischer-Tropsch Archive of the University of Texas, The US Department of Energy, The Max Planck Society of Munich Germany, PEGE of Germany and the Fire Department of Braintree Massachusetts for the visual materials used in this presentation.
       THE TEXT UNDER THESE SLIDES IS A MUCH - SHORTENED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL LECTURE.