solid fuel

Information about solid fuel

Solid fuel refers to various types of solid material that are used as fuel to produce energy and provide heating, usually released through combustion. Common solid fuels include wood (see wood fuel), charcoal, peat, coal, and pellets made from wood (see wood pellets), corn, wheat, rye and other grains. Solid-fuel rocket technology also uses solid fuel (see solid propellants).

Solid fuels have long been used by humanity to create fire. Coal was the fuel source which enabled the industrial revolution, from firing furnaces, to running steam engines. Wood was also extensively used to run steam locomotives. Both peat and coal are still used in electricity generation today.

The use of some solid fuels (eg. coal) is restricted or prohibited in some urban areas, due to unsafe levels of toxic emissions. The use of other solid fuels such as wood is increasing as heating technology and the availability of good quality fuel improves. In some areas, smokeless coal is often the only solid fuel used. In Ireland, peat briquettes are used as smokeless fuel. They are also used to start a coal fire.

See also

A solid object is in the states of matter characterized by resistance to deformation and changes of volume. At the microscopic scale, a solid has these properties :
  • The atoms or molecules that comprise the solid are packed closely together.

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Fuel is any material that is burnt or altered in order to obtain energy.[1] Fuel releases its energy either through chemical means, such as combustion, or nuclear means, such as nuclear fission or nuclear fusion.
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energy (from the Greek ενεργός, energos, "active, working")[1] is a scalar physical quantity that is a property of objects and systems of objects which is conserved by nature.
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Heating may refer to:
  • HVAC: Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning
Heating devices, or systems:
  • Block heater, or headbolt heater, an electric heater that heats the engine of a car to ease starting in cold weather
  • Boiler

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Combustion or burning is a complex sequence of exothermic chemical reactions between a fuel and an oxidant accompanied by the production of heat or both heat and light in the form of either a glow or flames.
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The WOOD callsign may refer to:
  • WOOD-TV – an NBC-affiliated television station in Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • WOOD (AM) – an AM radio station in Grand Rapids, Michigan
  • WOOD-FM - an FM radio station in Grand Rapids, Michigan



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Wood fuel is wood used as fuel. The burning of wood is currently the largest use of energy derived from a solid fuel biomass. Wood fuel can be used for cooking and heating, and occasionally for fueling steam engines and steam turbines that generate electricity.
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Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by heating wood, sugar, bone char, or others substances in the absence of oxygen (see char).
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Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter. Peat forms in wetlands or peatlands, variously called bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests.
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Coal (IPA: /ˈkəʊl/) is a fossil fuel formed in swamp ecosystems where plant remains were saved by water and mud from oxidization and biodegradation.
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Wood pellets are a type of wood fuel, generally made from compacted sawdust. They are usually produced as a byproduct of sawmilling and other wood transformation activities.
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Z. mays

Binomial name
Zea mays
L.

Maize (IPA: /ˈmeɪz/) (Zea mays L. ssp.
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S. cereale

Binomial name
Secale cereale
M.Bieb.

Rye (Secale cereale) is a grass grown extensively as a grain and forage crop.
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Cereal crops or grains are mostly grasses cultivated for their edible grains or seeds (i.e., botanically a type of fruit called a caryopsis). Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities and provide more energy worldwide than any other type of crop; they are therefore
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solid rocket or a solid-fuel rocket is a rocket with a motor that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid fueled, powered by gunpowder, used by the Chinese in warfare as early as the 13th century.
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making fire exist. Smoldering plants and trees, or any source of hot coals from natural fires is the oldest way to make a fire. Other ancient techniques involve a fire drill or fire stick that is rotated or rubbed on a base.
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Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation had a profound effect on socioeconomic and cultural conditions in Britain and subsequently spread throughout the world, a process that
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furnace is a device used for heating.

In American English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace (known either as a boiler or a heater in British English), and sometimes as a synonym for kiln,
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steam engine is an external combustion heat engine that makes use of the heat energy that exists in steam, converting it to mechanical work.

Steam engines were used as the prime mover in pumping stations, locomotives, steam ships, traction engines, steam lorries and other
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steam locomotive is a locomotive powered by steam. The term usually refers to its use on railways, but can also refer to a "road locomotive" such as a traction engine or steamroller.
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Electricity generation is the first process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. The other processes are electric power transmission and electricity distribution which are normally carried out by the electrical power industry.
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An urban area is an area with an increased density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. This term is at one end of the spectrum of suburban and rural areas. An urban area is more frequently called a city or town.
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Anthracite (Greek Ανθρακίτης, literally "a form of coal", from Anthrax [Άνθραξ], coal) is a hard, compact variety of mineral coal that has a high luster.
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A briquette (or briquet) is a block of flammable matter which is used as fuel to start fire.

Constituents

Some briquettes are compressed and dried brown coal extruded into hard blocks. This is a common technique for low rank coals.
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Bagasse (sometimes spelled bagass) is the biomass remaining after sugarcane stalks are crushed to extract their juice.

A sugar factory produces nearly 30% of bagasse out of its total crushing.
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Renewable energy
  • Biofuels
  • Biomass
  • Geothermal power
  • Hydro power
  • Solar power
  • Tidal power
  • Wave power
  • Wind power
Biofuel (also called agrofuel[1]
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For the use of the term in ecology, see .
Biomass refers to living and recently dead biological material which can be used as fuel or for industrial production.
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Fossil fuels or mineral fuels are hydrocarbons found within the top layer of the earth’s crust. They range from very volatile materials with low carbon:hydrogen ratios like methane, to liquid petroleum to nonvolatile materials composed of almost pure carbon, like
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