Which form of coal burns the hottest

Different coal types are all minerals and rocks made largely of carbon. However, not all coal used is the same; it comes in different quantity levels of carbon—which dictates the quality of the coal. Higher quality coal produces less smoke , burns longer, and provides more energy than lower quality coal. The table below includes the carbon contents, and energy densities of coal. In addition, it states the moisture content before drying, and the amount of volatile content, after it's dried.

The following is an overview of the different grades of coal, ordered from lowest to highest quality. Please see their main pages to learn more about each type. Peat is a soft, crumbly, dark brown substance that is formed from generations of dead and partially decaying organic matter. Peat is the first step in the formation of coal , and slowly becomes lignite after pressure and temperature increase as sediment is piled on top of the partially decaying organic matter.

In order to be turned into coal, the peat must be buried from km deep by sediment. Lignite or brown coal is brown in colour and the lowest quality of coal. Sub-bituminous coal or black lignite is a grey-black or dark brown coal. It ranges from hard to soft as it represents an intermediate stage between low quality lignite and higher quality bituminous coal. Anthracite is a dark black form of coal and the highest quality coal. In addition, anthracite is usually the oldest type of coal, having formed from biomass that was buried million years ago.

More recently, in the past 50 years the coal mining industry has come under an extreme amount of federal regulations in labor laws and environmental protections. Today, every ton of coal has a tax assessment attached to it to pay for the past years of neglect to our environment. Over the last century, this was the chosen fossil fuel for burning due to its lower cost and it was more readily available.

Not as clean burning, it allows more contaminants in the air and is not as environmentally friendly as Anthracite coal. Now, the burning of Bituminous coal, including filtering the air and any residue emitted, have made it more costly for industry such as electric plants to continue this process, prompting a switch to alternative fuels. It is the price we have to pay for creating and maintaining a cleaner environment.

Anthracite coal is a highly-carbonated fossil fuel that will generate the highest heat of all the fossil fuels available, and the low sulfur content in Anthracite makes it an extremely clean-burning fuel.

New technology and engineering design changes to burners have made it even easier to use. Anthracite coal produces virtually no smoke or particulate emissions which is a major problem with cord wood and pellet burning stoves. All resources that are burned as fuels or used to generate heat are measured by the British Thermal Unit, also known as BTUs. They are compared to each other by the amount of energy required to generate 1,, units of heat.

Anthracite coal is the hottest burning fuel in comparison to the most common ones in use. Due to its low sulfur content, Anthracite coal produces virtually no smoke or particulate emissions.

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