NOVELTY - Catalyst-loaded coal composition (I) comprises a coal and a gasification catalyst, where: the coal comprises a matrix containing ion exchange sites comprising acidic functional groups; the composition has a moisture content of less than 6 wt.%; the gasification catalyst is an alkali metal cation or its mixtures; the gasification catalyst is present in an amount such that a ratio of catalyst atoms to carbon atoms is 0.01-0.1; and greater than 50% of the total amount of the catalyst loaded is associated with the coal matrix by ion exchange on the acidic functional groups of the coal.    USE - (I) is useful in steady-state integrated gasification process (claimed), and for the production of methane from coal.    ADVANTAGE - (I) has the catalyst highly dispersed throughout the coal matrix, and high gasification activity at lower catalyst loading. The method provides (I): with high degree of predictability and reproducibility by amount of catalyst loading and the degree of dispersion of the catalyst; which can be readily incorporated into coal-to-methane gasification processes, hence cost-effective, allows higher-yielding production of methane gas; and with high percent carbon conversion at lower catalyst loading than the other coal compositions. (I) comprising catalysts (e.g. metal cations) enhances coal gasification activity at moderate temperatures when used in a steady-state integrated gasification process.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for:    (1) a method of preparing (I) comprising: (a) grinding a raw coal; (b) soaking the ground coal in an excess of aqueous solution comprising a salt of a catalyst to form a slurry, where the slurry is at a density of 5-40 wt.% solids; (c) holding the slurry at a contact temperature and for a contact time to provide ample opportunity to achieve substantial and uniform catalyst loading; (d) dewatering the slurry to form a catalyst-loaded wet coal cake; and (e) thermally-treating the catalyst-loaded wet coal cake under a flow of inert dry gas at a temperature and for a time to reduce the moisture content to less than 6 wt%; and    (2) an integrated process for the steady-state gasification of an optimized reactor feed (I), comprising: providing a ground raw coal solid stream into a diffuse catalyst loading contactor; introducing an influent stream comprising a salt of a catalyst into the diffuse catalyst loading contactor to create a slurry, where the influent stream is comprised of a raffinate stream (12), a recycle stream (21) and a makeup stream; controlling the amount of catalyst in the influent stream; holding the slurry at a contact temperature and for a contact time so as to provide ample opportunity to achieve substantial and uniform catalyst loading; dewatering the slurry by filtration to form a catalyst-loaded wet coal cake and the raffinate solution; recycling the raffinate solution into the influent stream; thermally-treating the catalyst-loaded wet coal cake under a flow of inert dry gas to reduce the moisture content to less than 6 wt.%; gasifying the catalyst-loaded thermally-treated coal composition in a fluidized bed reactor in the presence of steam and a recycled gas at 450-750 degrees C and a pressure of 50-1000 psig, to produce a char and a raw gas stream comprising methane; withdrawing the raw gas stream from the fluidized bed reactor; withdrawing the char from the fluidized bed reactor; extracting catalyst from the char; and recycling extracted catalyst into the influent stream as the recycle stream.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows an integrated process for the preparation of catalyst-loaded coal compositions for the production of methane.    Catalyst containing soaking solution (9)    Raffinate stream (12)    Thermal layer (14)    Recycle stream (21)    Recovery unit. (22)