Instrumentation: Controlling the synfuel process: Sophisticated electronic instrumentation and safety controls for coal gasification and liquefaction systems are under development

New approaches to instrumentation are being tried to help control processes in an emerging industry in the United States: the production of synthetic fuels from coal. In converting coal to either gas or liquid, some of the processes create such hostile environments that off-the-shelf instruments operating in them would fail in a short time. Researchers are turning to ultrasonic and capacitive instrumentation and using neutron-induced gamma spectrometry to do the job.