Carbonization is the term for the conversion of an organic substance into carbon or a carbon-containing residue. It is often used in organic chemistry with reference to the generation of coal gas and coal tar from raw coal. Fossil fuels in general are the products of the carbonization of vegetable matter. Organic has several meanings and related topics. ... General Name, Symbol, Number carbon, C, 6 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 14, 2, p Appearance black (graphite) colorless (diamond) Atomic mass 12. ... Organic chemistry is the scientific study of the structure, properties, composition, reactions, and synthesis of organic compounds that by definition contain carbon. ... Syngas (from synthesis gas) is the name given to gasses of varying composition that are generated in coal gasification and some types of waste-to-energy facilities. ... Coal tar is the liquid by-product of the distillation of coal to make coke. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (strip mining). ...

When biomaterial is exposed to sudden searing heat (as in the case of an atomic bomb explosion or pyroclastic flow from a volcano, for instance), it can be carbonized extremely quickly, turning it into solid carbon. In the destruction of Herculaneum by a volcano, many organic objects such as furniture were carbonized by the intense heat. In surgery, a biomaterial is a synthetic material used to replace part of a living system or to function in intimate contact with living tissue. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the epicenter. ... Pyroclastic flows sweep down the flanks of Mayon Volcano, Philippines, in 1984 Pyroclastic flows are a common and devastating result of some volcanic eruptions. ... Eruption redirects here. ... Herculaneum (in modern Italian formerly Resina, but since 1969 Ercolano) was an ancient Roman town of the Italian region of Campania. ...

In one study ^[1] a new catalyst was developed for the generation of biodiesel from ethanol and fatty acids such as oleic acid or stearic acid by carbonization of simple sugars such as glucose and sucrose. The sugars were processed for 15 hours at 400 °C under a nitrogen flow to a black carbon residue consisting of a complex mixture of polycyclic aromatic carbon sheets. This material was then treated with sulfuric acid which functionalized the sheets with sulfonite, carboxyl and hydroxyl catalytic sites. A catalyst (Greek: καταλύτης, catalytÄ“s) is a substance that accelerates the rate (speed) of a chemical reaction (see also catalysis). ... Biodiesel sample Biodiesel is fuel made from renewable materials such as vegetable oils or animal fats. ... This article has been identified as possibly containing errors. ... In chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid (or organic acid), often with a long aliphatic tail (long chains), either saturated or unsaturated. ... Oleic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid found in various animal and vegetable sources. ... Stearic acid also called octadecanoic acid is one of the many useful types of saturated fatty acids that comes from many animal and vegetable fats and oils. ... Magnified view of refined sugar crystals. ... Glucose (Glc), a monosaccharide, is one of the most important carbohydrates. ... Sucrose (C12H22O11) is the common chemical name for table sugar. ... The degree Celsius (°C) is a unit of temperature named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius (1701–1744), who first proposed a similar system in 1742. ... Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are chemical compounds that consist of fused aromatic rings and do not contain heteroatoms or carry substituents. ... In chemistry, an aromatic molecule is one in which electrons are free to cycle around circular arrangements of atoms, which are alternately singly and doubly bonded to one another. ... Sulfuric acid (British English: sulphuric acid), H2SO4, is a strong mineral acid. ... Chemical structure of sulfonic acid. ... A carboxyl or carboxylic group is a functional group consisting of a carbon atom and an oxygen atom doubly bonded to each other. ... Hydroxide is a functional group consisting of oxygen and hydrogen: -O−H It has a charge of 1-. The term hydroxyl group is used when the functional group -OH is counted as a substituent of an organic compound. ...

External links

• carbonization processes at Herculaneum site

References

• ^  Green chemistry: Biodiesel made with sugar catalyst Masakazu Toda, Atsushi Takagaki, Mai Okamura, Junko N. Kondo, Shigenobu Hayashi, Kazunari Domen and Michikazu Hara Nature 438, 178 (10 November 2005) doi:10.1038/438178a Abstract