NOVELTY - Extracting (P1) and recovering alkali metal from char involves providing char at 50-600 degrees C; quenching char in aqueous medium to fracture char and form quenched char slurry; contacting quenched char slurry with alkali metal hydroxide to produce first leached slurry; contacting first leached slurry with carbon dioxide to produce second leached slurry; degassing second leached slurry; separating degassed second leached slurry into a first liquid stream and residual insoluble matter stream; recovering first liquid stream; and washing residual insoluble matter stream with aqueous medium.    USE - For extracting and recovering alkali metal useful for catalytically converting a carbonaceous composition comprising coal, petroleum coke, asphaltene, liquid petroleum residue or biomass to methane (claimed), where alkali metals are alkali metal carbonates, bicarbonates, formates, oxalates, amides, hydroxides, acetates, halides, nitrates, sulfides and polysulfides selected from sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate, rubidium carbonate, lithium carbonate, cesium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, rubidium hydroxide or cesium hydroxide.    ADVANTAGE - The process can be run continuously, and the recovered alkali metal can be recycled back into the process, thus minimizing the amount of makeup catalyst required. The process is a simple and efficient process for extracting and recovering all of the soluble and insoluble alkali metal from char, and requires few consumable raw materials.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Extracting (P1) and recovering alkali metal from a char comprising soluble alkali metal compounds and insoluble matter comprising insoluble alkali metal compounds involves providing the char at an elevated temperature of 50-600 degrees C; quenching the char in an aqueous medium to fracture the char and form a quenched char slurry; contacting the quenched char slurry with an alkali metal hydroxide under suitable pressure and temperature to convert at least a portion of the insoluble alkali metal compounds to soluble alkali metal compounds, and produce a first leached slurry comprising the soluble alkali metal compounds and a partially extracted insoluble matter; contacting the first leached slurry with carbon dioxide under suitable pressure and temperature to convert at least a portion of the insoluble alkali metal compounds to soluble alkali metal compounds, and produce a second leached slurry comprising the soluble alkali metal compounds and a residual insoluble matter; degassing the second leached slurry under suitable pressure and temperature to remove a substantial portion of the excess carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, if present, and produce a degassed second leached slurry; separating the degassed second leached slurry into a first liquid stream and a residual insoluble matter stream, where the first liquid stream comprises a predominant portion of the soluble alkali metal compounds from the degassed second leached slurry, and the residual insoluble matter stream comprises residual soluble alkali metal compounds and residual insoluble alkali metal compounds; recovering the first liquid stream; and washing the residual insoluble matter stream with an aqueous medium to produce a first wash stream comprising all of the residual soluble alkali metal compounds from the residual insoluble matter stream, where the quenching and contacting is performed in the absence of gaseous oxygen. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for catalytically (P2) converting a carbonaceous composition, in the presence of an alkali metal gasification catalyst, into several gaseous products involving supplying a carbonaceous composition to a gasification reactor, where the carbonaceous composition comprises ash; reacting the carbonaceous composition in the gasification reactor in the presence of steam and an alkali metal gasification catalyst under suitable temperature and pressure to form (i) a char comprising alkali metal from the alkali metal gasification catalyst in the form of soluble alkali metal compounds and insoluble alkali metal compounds, and (ii) several gaseous products comprising methane and hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and other higher hydrocarbons; removing a portion of the char from the gasification reactor; extracting and recovering portion of the alkali metal from the char according to (P1); and at least partially separating the gaseous products to produce a stream comprising a predominant amount of the gaseous products.