The objective of the process was charcoal production from which a by-product oil was derived by condensation of the vapours in the offgases. A continuous, 50 kg/h demonstration plant process was available in Switzerland and several commercial plants have been sold up to 2 t/h capacity. The oil from one of these units in Spain was successfully utilised in a local hospital boiler. This also supplied oil for testing across Europe at the same time that the Alten plant was operating and served to both encourage interest in direct production of liquid fuels as well as to cause concern about the quality of the oil and the problems in handling and use from high viscosity and water separation. The product was a secondary oil from the long vapour residence times and high formation temperatures and thus had a high viscosity and low water tolerance leading to phase separation in some samples.