Question

What is the difference between Coal and Coke?

Answer 1

Hint: Coke and coal are the two different forms of fossil fuel. In fact coke is a byproduct of coal and both of these forms are used for a variety of industrial applications and as fuels. These are the conventional sources of energy.

Complete answer:
The five ways in which coke and coal can be distinguished are as follows:
1.Coal is a fossil fuel which appears to be a stone and is extracted directly from coal mines. Thus, coal is naturally available (though exhaustible in nature) and does not require any chemical or physical treatment. Coke on the other hand is obtained with the help of a rigorous treatment of coal that involves distillation of bituminous coal.
2.Coal contains a lot of impurities however coke is obtained as a residue and is far more refined. Impurities like carbureted hydrogen, naptha and ammonia are removed from coal in the gaseous form and therefore coke is mainly a pure form of carbon.
3.Coal is raw and can be obtained in large amounts but the industrial process and refining of coal reduces its volume and almost one-third of the volume of coal is obtained as coke.
4.Since coke is devoid of all the gaseous impurities and contaminants, it is a cleaner fuel as compared to coal which produces a lot of soot on combustion.
5.Coal is a solid mass with high density and specific gravity however coke is found to be more porous and has relatively low specific gravity.

Note:
Coke and coal don’t just differ in their physical attributes, methods of extraction and carbon contents but also have varying industrial applications. Coal is directly used as a fuel to generate heat or electricity but coke is used in steel industries.