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Coal Samples at Different Grades

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Hi everyone! Here, we have the four stages of coal: peat, lignite, bituminous and anthracite! We can observe the physical changes of these, peat resembling dirt, lignite being dull and soft, bituminous being hard with a slight metallic luster and anthracite being very shiny and hard. The type of coal depends on how deep it gets buried. Starting off, peat is the first stage of coalification, and it starts in a bog (wetlands with dead, accumulating plant matter). Over time, the accumulating layers of these partially-decomposed plants forms peat. Then comes lignite, which is semi-compressed peat. When peat is buried under more layers of peat/sediment, lignite is formed (it is essentially peat without any water). With the same process in mind, if we bury lignite deeper (around 1500 m), we get bituminous coal. Piled up lignite ends up getting heated up to the point that chemical reactions begin which is what forms the bituminous coal. When we get to anthracite coal, almost all of the hydrogen and oxygen have been removed because of the heat. The general idea is that the deeper you go, the more heath is produced removing oxygen and hydrogen which then leave a higher density of carbon. With this in mind, anthracite is the most powerful coal being around 86-97% carbon. 

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  1. Coal Geological Materials Selby Hearth