Charcoal

Do you know that there are different types of charcoal? Below are some of them.









Extruded Charcoal Briquets







 Bamboo Charcoal

Today lump charcoal is made mostly from the scraps from the lumber making process. Bark, limbs, odd chunks, twigs and ends from the mill are carbonised by smoldering them in a kiln (a steel or stone building with very little oxygen allowed in). The result is irregular chunks that leave little ash since there are no binders as in briquets.

The big disadvantage is that lump charcoal is harder to find, more expensive than briquets, burns out more quickly, varies in heat output per bag, varies in wood type and properties from bag to bag and often contain a lot of useless carbon dust from improper filtering in the factory and rough handling in the stores.






 

Test Your Science

1. What is the advantage of using lump charcoal in cooking compared to briquets?

Discover the uses of charcoal in the Young Scientists Issue 113 Level 3.