Not knowing much about the process a wiki search gives me a bit of info regarding cost effectiveness.
Given that this is wiki, I was hoping more knowledgeable people could give me a heads up about this process.Coal liquefaction is one of the backstop technologies that could potentially limit escalation of oil prices and mitigate the effects of transportation energy shortage that some authors have suggested could occur under peak oil. This is contingent on liquefaction production capacity becoming large enough to satiate the very large and growing demand for petroleum. Estimates of the cost of producing liquid fuels from coal suggest that domestic U.S. production of fuel from coal becomes cost-competitive with oil priced at around 35 USD per barrel,[11] (break-even cost). This price, while above historical averages, is well below current oil prices. This makes coal a viable financial alternative to oil for the time being, although current production is small.[12]
Among commercially mature technologies, advantage for indirect coal liquefaction over direct coal liquefaction are reported by Williams and Larson (2003). Estimates are reported for sites in China where break-even cost for coal liquefaction may be in the range between 25 to 35 USD/barrel of oil.[citation needed]'
If its as good as the letter made it sound, why aren't we pushing to adopt this technology. Obviously there must be difficulties (political, logistical, economic etc), but I really don't know much about the "debate" (is there even a debate into using coal to liquid fuel conversions).