Coal Cakes

FlyingMoose · Post by **FlyingMoose** » Mon. Nov. 27, 2006 1:35 am

I watched a program about China, and they had a stove that burned these coal cakes. They were pressed, about 7" in dia. and 4" high, and had holes going through them.

The stove had a round hole to place the cake into as the one below it burned down. It seemed like a really good system.

Are these cakes and the stove to burn them available in the US?

Gary in Pennsylvania · Post by **Gary in Pennsylvania** » Mon. Nov. 27, 2006 8:09 am

I look forward to seeing more about this.

Lemme see what I can find.

Gary in Pennsylvania · Post by **Gary in Pennsylvania** » Mon. Nov. 27, 2006 8:20 am

OK...Here goes:
they compress a slurry of ground coal & water into a mold and then squeeze most of the water out.

I also found this...

Indoor air pollution in residences originates primarily from fuel combustion during cooking and migration of outdoor pollutants. Indoor air pollution characteristics in China are quite different from those in developed countries. Because of the general layout of the kitchen in the floor plan, the chief source of air pollution in rooms are cooking related. Coal and coal "cakes" or "balls" are still widely used for cooking. In Shanghai, about 50% of the households are using coal cake stoves (CCS) without chimneys and unvented, resulting in high concentrations of suspended particulars and gases. This is a health problem affecting about 1 million families in the city. Switching to electricity or gas for cooking is not feasible in the near future. Use of ventilators to exhaust the polluted air might be useful in ameliorating indoor air pollution. This project will reduce the respiratory disease burden of Shanghai residents using coal-cake stoves through better understanding of the health impacts of indoor air pollution and through the use of ventilation devices to improve the air quality indoors.

And then there's BINGO!
Caution to dial-uppers....this is a 1 meg .pdf, but it is pretty detailed!

Gary in Pennsylvania · Post by **Gary in Pennsylvania** » Mon. Nov. 27, 2006 8:59 am

**Broken Link(s) Removed**A pic of it burning....

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Mon. Nov. 27, 2006 11:36 am

Another cool thing...

on the Travel channel the other day had a Pizzeria in NJ that uses Coal Fired Pizza Ovens....WOW, they said the pizza cooks REALLY fast, the ovens are like 850 Degrees!!!!

Post by **Richard S.** » Mon. Nov. 27, 2006 7:16 pm

Coal fire pizza ovens are not completely uncommon. Many of "the" pizza places in NY City use them. I've even gotten a call from a place in Florida looking for coal. Oddly I'm not aware of any in the Wyoming Valley that still has a coal fired pizza oven.

Gary in Pennsylvania · Post by **Gary in Pennsylvania** » Tue. Nov. 28, 2006 8:27 am

Richard S. wrote:I've even gotten a call from a place in Florida looking for coal. Oddly I'm not aware of any in the Wyoming Valley that still has a coal fired pizza oven.

Hmmmph....

Go figure!

mikeandgerry · Post by **mikeandgerry** » Mon. Dec. 04, 2006 12:02 am

I actually witnessed the use of those coal cakes in the city of Changsha, CN in 2001. At the time, all of the men in our group surmised that it was either coke or lignite but I had my doubts. It was too black for lignite while coke is too high grade to burn in their tiny homes for cooking and heat. I hadn't thought much more on it for years since I read the post about it here.

One thing is for sure, it was filthy and sooty! It had to be bituminous. The smog problems of China are horrendous and sooty coal is to blame.

Thank God for Pennsylvania and anthracite coal.

Gary in Pennsylvania · Post by **Gary in Pennsylvania** » Mon. Dec. 04, 2006 6:52 am

mikeandgerry wrote:
Thank God for Pennsylvania and anthracite coal.

AMEN!!!

Post by **coaledsweat** » Mon. Dec. 04, 2006 11:05 am

The best pizza comes from coal fired ovens, you would be suprised how many good joints use coal to cook pizza.

rouxzy · Post by **rouxzy** » Sat. Dec. 09, 2006 10:55 am

There use to be a steak house here in New Hampshire that cooked their steaks over an open pit fired with coal. Hot fire and great steaks.
Tom