The key difference between charcoal and coal is that coal is a naturally occurring fossil fuel, whereas charcoal is produced by slow-burning of carbonaceous materials.
Charcoal consists of the element carbon. Carbonic compounds are abundant in plants, animals and other living organisms. Therefore, as they die, these carbonic compounds are ultimately converted to other carbonic compounds. Charcoal and coal are two such products.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Charcoal
3. What is Coal
4. Side by Side Comparison – Charcoal vs Coal in Tabular Form
5. Summary
What is Charcoal?
When water and other volatile substances are removed from carbonic compounds, the resulting product is charcoal. Charcoal is in solid form, and it has a dark grey colour. It contains ash; therefore, charcoal doesn’t have carbon in its pure form. Charcoal is mainly produced by pyrolysis. This is a method where organic materials are decomposed at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen. Therefore, the chemical compositions and the physical phase of the matter will change very fast. For example, by heating wood, we can obtain charcoal. There are a few types of charcoal as lump charcoal, extruded charcoal, Japanese charcoal, and briquettes.
There are many uses of charcoal. It has a long history- from very old time charcoal has been used as a fuel. Today, it is used as an important fuel in homes and industries. Charcoal can produce high heat energy since charcoal burns at high temperatures. Charcoal is also added to soil to improve soil quality. In medicine, charcoal is used to treat gastric problems. Though it has many uses, charcoal production has negative impacts on the environment. This is a threat to forests as the rate of deforestation is becoming higher in areas where charcoal is produced.
What is Coal?
Coal is a fossil fuel similar to natural gas and oil, which is in a solid rock form. Coal is formed by collecting plant debris in swamps. The process takes thousands of years. When plant materials get accumulated on swamps, they degrade very slowly. Normally, swamp water doesn’t have a higher oxygen concentration; therefore, microorganism density is low there, resulting in minimum degradation by microorganisms. Slow decaying of plant debris allows them to accumulate more in the swamps. When these are buried under sand or mud, the pressure and inside temperature convert the plant debris to coal slowly. To accumulate a large number of plant debris and for the decaying process, it takes a long time. Further, there should be suitable water levels and conditions to make this favourable. Thus, coal is considered a non-renewable natural resource. When coal is mined out and used, they cannot be regenerated again easily.
There are different types of coal. They are ranked based on their properties and composition. Such coal types include peat, lignite, sub-bituminous, bituminous and anthracite. Peat is the lowest type of coal in the ranking list. It is formed from recently accumulated plant debris, and with further time, can be converted to coal.
Main economic usage of coal is to produce electricity. By burning coal, heat is obtained and then this heat energy is used to produce steam. Finally, electricity is produced by running a steam generator. Other than generating electricity, coal is used for generating power on many other occasions. From very earlier times, coal was used in factories, to run trains, as a household energy source, etc. Moreover, coal is used to produce coke, synthetic rubber, insecticides, paint products, solvents, and, medicine.
What is the Difference Between Charcoal and Coal?
Coal is a naturally occurring fossil fuel, whereas charcoal is produced by slow-burning of carbonaceous materials. Thus, this is the key difference between coal and charcoal. Moreover, coal is a mineral, but charcoal is not. Also, it takes over millions of years to produce coal, whereas charcoal can be produced easily. Importantly, charcoal produces more heat, and it is cleaner than coal.
Below info-graphic summarizes the differences between coal and charcoal.
Summary – Charcoal vs Coal
The main difference between coal and charcoal is that coal is a naturally occurring fossil fuel, whereas charcoal is produced by slow-burning of carbonaceous materials. Moreover, coal is a mineral, and charcoal is not.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Charcoal-barbecue-lighters” By Kreuzschnabel – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “1418553” (CC0) via Pxhere