Coal, being a very high percentage of nearly pure carbon, is one of the most compact oxygen-combustion fuels around. When coal is subjected to being baked in a retort, driving off virtually all the volatiles the exist in coal in nature, it then becomes coke, and when coke is heated to about 1,000 degrees or so, and misted with water, the water breaks down into hydrogen, and the oxygen in the water forms carbon monoxide, both excellent fuels in the gaseous state, commonly called “syngas”. Both generate much more heat than simply burning the carbon, and the outcomes are restoration of the original water molecules used in the generation of syngas, and the production of carbon dioxide, a most excellent and highly important plant food, not a pollutant at all.
Thanks for this educational article to serve as a reminder.