A 30 tons per day high rate, dry feed, entrained coal gasification process development unit was designed, constructed and operated to demonstrate the scale-up ability from an existing one-half ton per day design and to provide data for further scale-up system components. The unit was operated for a total of 2177 hours, the longest continuous operation being 129 hours. Controlled continuous dry-feeding of pulverized coal into the gasifier at pressures between 100 to 260 psia was achieved. A highly redundant and rapid response control and safety system was developed through extensive analytical studies and operational tests. Operational problems with equipment are described and discussed. Gasifier performance data were obtained with six different feedstocks, two Utah bituminous coals, an Eastern bituminous coal from Pittsburgh Seam, a Wyoming subbituminous coal, a North Dakota lignite, and a green petroleum coke. Reactor throughputs of up to 754 lbs/hr/ft/sup 2/ or 317 lbs/hr/ft/sup 3/, gas yields of 32 SCF/lb coal and gas heating values of 294 Btu/SCF were achieved. Data from steady state test periods with Utah coal from the SUFCO mine were correlated with a computer model. Preliminary design and economic studies were completed for three different sizes of scaled-up plants in which coal would be gasified and the gas used to synthesize methanol. Production costs were shown to be competitive with the cost of producing methanol from natural gas. A new sulfur-tolerant, combined shift and methanation catalyst developed by Haldor Topsoe was successfully tested for a total of 1080 hours with gas from the gasifier. 16 refs., 100 figs., 82 tabs.