Method and apparatus for converting coal to liquid hydrocarbons

A method of forming liquid hydrocarbons from solid coal comprising the steps of:

• pulverizing the coal to provide a particulate coal feed;
• extruding said coal feed to provide a hollow tube of compressed coal supported inside of a support tube;
• extruding a clay feed to provide a hollow tube of compressed clay supported inside of said coal tube;
• burning a combustible fuel inside of said clay tube, the temperature of said combustion being sufficient to fire said extruded clay and pyrolyze said extruded coal to produce hydrocarbon gases and coal char, said support tube having holes for releasing said hydrocarbon gases, and said hydrocarbon gases containing suspended particles formed during said combustion;
• removing said suspended particles from said hydrocarbon gases to provide clean gases;
• passing said clean gases through an ionizing chamber to ionize at least a portion of said clean gases;
• passing said ionized gases through a magnetic field to separate said ionized gases from each other according to their molecular weight;
• mixing selected portions of at least some of said separated gases;
• and
• cooling said mixed gases to provide at least one liquid hydrocarbon product of predetermined composition.