Introduction to Coal
Imagine a barbecue party without the coal or a bonfire without coal. It doesn’t sound well, right? Coal is an important fuel that helps us to cook, produce electricity, produce steel, etc. What is the science behind coal? How is it obtained? What are the uses of coal? Let us find out more about it.
The word “coal” is taken from Old English word “col” which means glowing ember. Coal is a black sedimentary rock. It usually occurs in coal beds found in coal mines. Coal comprises of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur, etc. When dead plants and animals decay and convert into peat which in turn is converted into lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal, and lastly anthracite. Hence, coal is a fossil fuel. It takes places due to geological process and takes millions of years to form. Coal is extracted by mining. China is the world’s top coal producer.
Formation of Coal
It takes millions of years for coal to form. Millions of years ago, there were places on the earth with dense forests in wetlands, due to natural calamities such as flooding, tsunami, landslide, etc these forests got buried under the soil. Over the years, more and more soil compiled over these forests. Oxidation protected these trees from biodegradation, usually by mud or acidic water. This traps the carbon that was buried in the sediments. Carbonization takes place, carbonization is a process where vegetation turns into carbon. It is a slow process.
Uses of coal
Coal has various purposes, the following are the uses of coal :
- Thermal coal is used to produce electricity.
- Coking coal is used in the production of steel.
- Coal is also used to make silicon metal which is used to produce silicones and silanes, which are in turn used to make lubricants, water repellents, resins, cosmetics, hair shampoos, and toothpaste.
- Activated charcoal is used to make face packs and cosmetics.
- Carbon fibre is made from coal. Carbon fibre is an extremely strong but lightweight reinforcement material used in construction, mountain bikes, and tennis rackets.
- Activated carbon is used in filters for water and air purification and in kidney dialysis machines. Coal is used to make activated carbon.
- Paper manufacturers use coal to make paper.
- Coal helps to create alumina refineries.
- Thousands of different products have coal or coal by-products as components: soap, aspirins, solvents, dyes, plastics, and fibres, such as rayon and nylon.
Solved Examples For You
Q1. What is carbonization?
- The process of decomposition of animals and plants
- It is the process of burning coal
- The process of extracting coal
- It is the process of conversion of vegetation into carbon
Sol: Carbonization is a process where the vegetation turns into carbon.
Q2. How is coal procured?
- Mining
- Decomposing
- Condensing
- Cloning
Sol: Coal is found in coal beds or coal seams. These coal beds or coal seams are found in coal mines. Coal is extracted with the help of the process of mining.
Coal Tar and Coal Gas
By now, we already know about coal but coal is further filtered into Coal Tar, Coal Gas and Coke. But what is a coal gas? And what is coal tar? Let’s find out more about them below.
Coal Tar
Coal tar is a thick black liquid which is a by-product of the production of coal gas and coke. It contains benzene, naphthalene, phenols, aniline, and many other organic chemicals. Coal tar is used for medical and industrial purposes. However, coal is also known as cutar, balnetar, liquor carbonis detergens, liquor picis carbonis, etc.
Uses of Coal tar
The following are the uses of coal tar :
- Coal tar is used as the medication to heal itching, scaling, and flaking due skin conditions.
- It is also used in making medicated shampoo to treat dandruff and to kill lice.
- Soaps are made from coal tar.
- Various phenolic coal tars have the properties of a painkiller.
- Coal tar is used to protect and beautify the underlying pavement.
- Coal is also used to make parking lot seal – coat products.
- Roads are made with the use of coal tar.
- Coal tar is flammable in nature. Hence, it is used for heating.
- Binders used in graphite industry to make green blocks have coal tar in them.
- Manufacture paints, synthetic dyes, and photographic materials contain coal tar.
Properties of Coal Tar
The following are the properties of coal tar :
- Coal tar is black in color.
- It’s a semi-solid and semi-liquid in nature and is less permeable.
- Its density is very thick and It has a peculiar smell.
- Tar is insoluble in nature which means that it can’t dissolve in water.
- It has a boiling point of two hundred to two hundred and fifty-degree celsius.
- Its a fuel resistant and has more temperature susceptible than asphalt cement.
Coal Gas
Coal gas is a mixture of gases i.e. hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide and volatile hydrocarbons procured by the destructive distillation of coal. It is a flammable gas and is made from coal which supplied via a piped system and is obtained from coal in the absence of air and contains nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
Uses of coal gas
The following are the uses of coal gas:
- Coal gas is used in lighting.
- The gas is also used for heating.
- Most often than not many people use this gas for cooking.
- It is used as a fuel
- Coal gas is also used as an illuminant.
Formation of Coal Gas
Coal gas is procured from the distillation of soft coal and is a by-product of coke. It does not have any fixed composition. Most of the coal gas consists of hydrogen and methane with small amounts of other hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide (a poisonous gas), carbon dioxide, and nitrogen.
Solved Example For You
Q. Which of the following disease is cured by coal tar?
- It is used to treat itching or scaling of the skin.
- It is used to cure diarrhoea.
- Coal Tar can heal deep wounds.
- Fever and cold are treated with the help of coal tar.
Sol: Coal tar is used to treat itching or scaling of the skin. It is also used to get rid of hair problems such as dandruff and lice.
Coal and Coke
What is coke? All of us have had ‘coke’ i.e coca cola at some point or the other in our lives. But is it the same? Well no, it is actually a type of non- renewable fuel. Let’s us find out more about it.
Introduction to Coal
Coal is a black sedimentary rock occurring in coal beds and coal mines. Coal is mined from these coal beds and mines. It takes millions of years for its formation. It occurs naturally. When plants and dead animals decay and get buried under the mud, carbon gets trapped in the sediments and carbonizations take places.
Various types of coal are used for various types of purposes. For e.g. thermal coal is used for the production of electricity or power. Steel production uses coking steel. Activated carbon is used in filters and water purification. Activated charcoal is used to make face packs and toothpaste. Coal is also used for manufacturing and in cooking, for example, barbecue. It helps to create alumina refineries. Products such as resins, lubricants, certain hair shampoos, etc also contain coal in it.
What is Coke?
Coal has very few impurities in it known as coke and also has a high carbon content. It has a solid state of matter. Its components are the destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulphur bituminous coal which derives from carbonaceous material and can be found in nature; usually a grey, porous and hard substance. It is also known as pet coke or petroleum coke.
It is almost the pure form of carbo and it consists of carbon similar to coal. Its calorific value (energy produced when 1 Kg of a fuel is burnt) is about 56,000 kilojoules/kilogram and is more expensive than coal. It is made in an airless furnace or oven temperatures as high as two thousand degree Celsius but usually around one thousand to one thousand one hundred degrees Celsius. This process eliminates the volatile parts of the coal, such as tar, water, and gas.
Uses of Coke
The following are the uses of coke :
- It is used to reduce iron oxide to produce iron.
- It can be used in households as a clean fuel, relatively free of smoke and impurities.
- In the past, it was often used in kitchen stoves.
- Coke is also used to produce water gas.
- It is used as a reducing agent in smelting iron ore.
- Even blacksmiths use it as a fuel in blacksmithing.
- In the sixties and seventies, it was used for house heating.
- It was used for domestic heating following the creation of smokeless zones.
- Some people roast malted barley for use in their Scotch Whisky burning a mixture of coke and peat.
- NASA used it as of the materials used in the heat shielding of Apollo Command Module.
- It is also used as a synthetic gas.
Solved Example For You
Q. What is the calorific value (energy produced when 1 Kg of a fuel is burnt) of Coke?
- 65000 kilograms
- 56000 kilograms
- 560000 kilograms
- 650000 kilograms
Sol: The calorific value of coke is 65000 kilograms or kilojoules.
Source: Toppr
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