Sensory differentiation of coking coal types

To work with these coal types, it takes at least 10 or 8 years of experience before you can become proficient in it! :) This skill, generally speaking, can only be understood, not put into words! I once met an experienced worker who had dealt with coal his entire life. Whether it’s bituminous coal, lignite, or anthracite, by looking at its color, picking up a sample, and squeezing it, one can determine the levels of moisture and ash content. Moisture is somewhat manageable. His experience with ash is to pick up a handful and feel its weight and the sensation it gives when in contact with the hand (his theory being whether it stings). Judge by how prickly it is! Amazingly, the error in the results of its judgments generally does not exceed 5%. You said how you understand the feeling of being prickly. One can only practice by oneself. Find your own feeling. . . . :P

Our coal supply comes mainly from places such as Shanxi, Hebei, and Shandong. Based on my experience with the origins of different types of coal, I generally distinguish between them based on the following factors: 1. Fineness: Thin coal and coking coal have a higher ash content and are more finely ground. 2. Cohesiveness: Coal with higher cohesion appears more compact and dense, while coal with lower cohesion is quite loose. 3. Smoothness: Young gas coal is shiny, while the opposite is true for duller coal. 4. Texture: Bituminous coal and coking coal are more flexible, lean coal feels stiffer to the touch, while gas coal is lighter. The above are merely personal opinions; the appearance of the same coal variety from different sources can vary.

I don’t really believe in people like the ones you’re talking about – they claim to be able to determine the moisture content, but even analytical tests can give incorrect results. However, there’s an old man here who, given a pile of coal, can estimate its amount with exceptional accuracy. Someone once conducted an experiment: several trucks of coal that had just been weighed were shown to him for estimation, and his guesses were accurate down to the individual digit. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it

Thank you all for the information! Actually, what I mainly want to do now is to distinguish between fat coal and 1/3 coking coal based on sensory cues. Regarding gas coal, coking coal, and lean coal, I once heard a worker from a coking plant say that gas coal feels rough to the touch, while typical coking coal feels like flour to the touch; as for lean coal, it is mainly determined visually – after being left for some time, its surface appears to have a layer of dust on it. I usually use this method to distinguish them, and the results are almost always accurate. But it’s impossible to make a judgment on fat coal and 1/3 coke! :)