NOVELTY - A process for converting coal and other hydrocarbon solid fuel feedstocks into two product constituents of solid carbon and gaseous hydrogen, involves reacting the feedstock in a first stage exothermic hydropyrolysis reaction zone with a hydrogen-rich gas stream; dissociating the methane in a second endothermic reaction zone to produce solid carbon and hydrogen-rich gas; providing all heat to promote the desired extents of reaction in each reaction zone; recirculating the majority of gas; and recovering hydrogen gas to produce electrical energy.    USE - For converting coal and other hydrocarbon solid fuel feedstocks into two product constituents of solid carbon and gaseous hydrogen useful as an additive to structural materials such as rubber, plastics, metals, asphalt, concrete, electrodes or other similar materials to improve the physical or chemical properties of the materials; as electrodes; as a synthetic combustion fuel with ash, sulfur, nitrogen, oxygen, and trace metals (all claimed). Also useful in products e.g. structural, filtration and clean fuel products; as a clean fuel to produce electricity from fuel cells or specialized gas turbine/electrical generation sets; as high value chemical processing feedstock or as a portable fuel for mobile engines.    ADVANTAGE - The process introduces unique approaches to global energy and climate change solution options with a very significant increase in the utilization of coal to produce electrical power by emphasizing the exceptionally efficient conversion of the hydrogen in coal to electricity, thus eliminating carbon dioxide emissions altogether, and utilizing the carbon from coal mainly as a structural product, with the option of storing the carbon as a fuel which is much cleaner than coal and which can be used if and when the consequences of carbon dioxide emissions are lessened. The process produces energy without carbon dioxide emissions and at lower cost and also produces carbon products that can be used as superior structural building blocks at cost lower than other structural commodities or can be stored as a clean fuel for later use, practically replacing the coal from which it was derived. The carbon dioxide produced as emissions from the process electrical energy production is less than (preferably 50 - 99%) carbon dioxide emissions from combusting the same feedstock with oxygen. The solid carbon is used as a combustion fuel in concentrations at least 80% below that of the feedstock, where carbon fuel may be sequestered in bulk. The carbon materials generated by the process makes the use of high volume carbon fillers in plastics, cements, asphalt, and structural materials economically feasible.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - A process for converting coal and other hydrocarbon solid fuel feedstocks into two product constituents of solid carbon and gaseous hydrogen, involves reacting the feedstock in a first stage exothermic hydropyrolysis reaction zone with a hydrogen-rich gas stream to produce methane by devolitilization and to react feedstock carbon with hydrogen; dissociating the methane from the first reaction zone in a second endothermic reaction zone to produce solid carbon and hydrogen-rich gas using heat mainly from the first reaction zone; providing all heat to promote the desired extents of reaction in each reaction zone solely from the exothermicity of chemical reactions in the process; recirculating the majority of gas from the second reaction zone to provide the hydrogen-rich gas stream to the first reaction zone; and recovering hydrogen gas to produce electrical energy.