Synfuel

Synthetic fuel or synfuel is a gaseous, liquid, or solid fuel that does not occur naturally. Synfuel can be obtained from coal, natural gas, or biomass. It can sometimes refer to fuels derived from other solids such as oil shale, tar sand, waste plastics, or from the fermentation of biomatter. It can also (less often) refer to gaseous fuels produced in a similar way.
The production of syngas is accomplished by the gasification of coal, biomass or municipal waste. In addition to using syngas to directly derive petroleum and petrochemical products, through various chemical processes and absorption methods, each individual component of syngas can be isolated and/or purified for other uses or disposal.

Advantages of Synfuel

Produce gasoline, diesel or kerosene directly without the need for additional steps
No need for new vehicles or convert engines to use a different fuel
Less damaging to the environment

Disadvantages of Synfuel

Very expensive process.
It contains only the one-third the energy content of solid coal.

Some Interesting Facts
Production of synfuels from Canada’s oil sands grows from the current 1 million barrels a day to 2 million a day by 2010, rising to 3 million by 2020 and later to as much as 5 million for decades to come.

See the following sections in non renewable energy