[Terrapreta] Max Planck Institute: Making Coal

[Allan Balliett]

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2071791,00.html

Markus Antonietti from the Max-Planck Institute has developed a 
simple but ingenious way of producing coal using biomass - such as 
waste from the garden or leaves from the local forest.

The process is environmentally friendly, as the only by-product is 
water - not carbon dioxide which would contribute to global warming. 
Antonietti has successfully managed to develop this method so that it 
could be used for commercial coal production. Such coal could just be 
used for heating purposes, but it could be used far more effectively 
in electricity and gasoline production. The 70 million tonnes of 
biomass that Germany produces every year would be sufficient to cover 
the country's energy needs.
We take a closer look at this potentially revolutionary discovery.

<longer story and pictures at the link>