During World War I, natural coal was the main source of fossil energy, even ahead of oil, which was not until shortly before World War II that it became the main source of energy. Currently, coal in the most developed countries does not have a strong relevance, since the use of oil or other energy sources predominates, but in developing countries, such as China, India or Brazil, coal has a great importance as a source of energy. In Spain there are still, and there have been many throughout history, coal deposits distributed in different parts of the country, such as Andalusia, Asturias, Castilla La Mancha, Castilla y León and Galicia.
If you are interested in learning more about natural charcoal, such as what its uses are, how it is obtained and the types of charcoal that exist, then we encourage you to continue reading this Green Ecologist article about how coal is formed and more curiosities about this.
What is coal
Coal is a rock made up of mainly carbon and other substances, it is used as power source and it can be of vegetable or mineral origin. Its origin is in the Carboniferous period of the Paleozoic era as a result of the death of the immense forests of ferns and horsetails that died and were buried in the swamps they inhabited, the lack of oxygen, pressure, water and mud prevented a degradation of plants. and there was more and more accumulation of these giving rise to coal. The next section explains how charcoal is produced naturally in more detail.
We recommend you learn more about this topic with this other article on What is the importance of carbon for living beings.
Carbon formation
Now that we have seen what it is, we will comment how coal is formed by its natural process. These are the most important points in the carbon formation process:
- Coal comes from dead plant remains which are deposited and accumulated in not very deep humid areas, being covered by water.
- As they are submerged, they are not in contact with air, which would cause their decomposition, and when there is this absence of air, they are anaerobic bacteria they begin a slow process of decomposition.
- After a long period of time, millions of years, certain elements, such as hydrogen, are lost and they become increasingly rich in carbon.
- As it is a process that lasts so long, a series of sediments are deposited on top of the plant challenges that will help to maintain anaerobic conditions and for the bacteria to continue doing their work until the natural carbon is formed.
How to get coal
Mineral coal is obtained through mining, either to open pit or underground mining. The opencast mining It occurs when the coal is not too deep, so this type of extraction could be carried out up to a maximum of 60 meters deep, and consists of removing all the earth that has the coal deposit on top of it until it is exposed and it can be extracted.
The other way to obtain coal is through the underground mining, this practice is used when the coal is deeply buried. To remove the coal from such deep areas, tunnels and galleries are built where the miners extract the coal and through which they transport it to the outside.
Here you can find out how mineral extraction affects the environment.
What is and how is charcoal obtained?
It is a type of coal that is obtained from charring of wood, the trees from which this charcoal are:
- Oak.
- Is.
- Willow.
- Eucalyptus.
- Black poplar.
- Pine tree.
Its production process consists of burning this wood in ovens at high temperatures above those 500 ºC and in the absence of oxygen, the result is a carbon rich carbon, approximately 80%. The characteristics of charcoal are that it is solid, but it is also brittle and porous.
Types of coal
As we have already mentioned, coal can be of mineral or vegetable origin. Charcoal of vegetable origin can be of various types depending on the vegetable it comes from and the pressure and temperature conditions to which it has been subjected. We can find:
- Anthracite: It is the best quality coal and therefore the most sought after. This carbon has between 90-97% carbon so it is the one that requires the longest formation time.
- Coal: It is made up of 70 - 90% carbon, it also has a good quality, it is hard and shiny.
- Lignite: It is between 25 - 30% carbon, has a matte black color and stains the skin when touched, produces a lot of ash when burned.
- Peat: It is the one with the shortest formation time, therefore a lower percentage of carbon. This type of carbon is porous, spongy and light. It has a high percentage of humidity and its combustion generates a lot of ashes.
What is coal for?
The main coal consuming countries are China, the US, Russia, India and Japan, they consume 77% of all the coal used worldwide. The applications or uses of coal are:
- The generation of electricity.
- Steel manufacturing.
- Manufacture of cement.
- Domestic use.
- Industrial processes that need heat.
If you want to read more articles similar to How coal is formed, we recommend that you enter our category of non-renewable energies.
