Electrochemical oxidation of coal slurries has recently been suggested as a means of gasifying coal at low tempeatures by Coughlin et al. Subsequent studies by other investigators indicated that electrolytic currents observed from the coal slurry in 1M sulfuric acid were attributed to the oxidation of iron(II) leached out from the coal. We and Lalvani et al. have more recently shown through various experiments that coal slurries are catalytically oxidized by iron(III,9717 ); the reduced ion, iron(II), produced in the electron-transfer process is then oxidized back to Fe(III) at the anode, completing a catalytic cycle. The oxidation products for this reaction were carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and oxygen atoms in the product, CO/sub 2/, were shown to be derived from water. Thus, the overall reaction resembles that of the coal gasification reaction. This electrochemical reaction, however, has the advantages that hydrogen is produced as a pure gas product suitable for use in fuel cells or synthetic processes and that high temperature operations are not necessary to produce hydrogen from the coal. Peat has also been shown to oxidize to produce a good yield of regenerated humic acids in alkaline media and these authors have suggested the possibility that other organic matrices and wastes might be oxidized by this process to produce hydrogen as a useful product.