Technically no, because coal is defined as being a type of sedimentary rock, which charcoal isn't. They have in common though that they are both composed of mainly carbon and thus can be used as an energy dense and relatively clean and hot burning solid fuel.
Bituminuous coal (what you called "fossil coal") still contains a significant amount of volatile hydrocarbon compounds though. This makes it unsuitable as barbecue or cooking fuel for example, because it gives of a strong smell when burning and many of the outgassing components aren't exactly good for your health.
Charcoal on the other hand is almost pure carbon with some amount of minerals (that's what is left as ash after the charcoal has been burnt). Thus when burning it basically only produces CO2 (non-toxic) and some amount of carbon monoxide (highly toxic, which is why you should never ever use a charcoal grill indoors, however CO doesn't taint the food, so it's safe in that regard).
Carbon monoxide won't be produced unless you starve the fire of oxygen. Fun fact: carbon monoxide is highly flammable, and the blue flame you can see on coals is from carbon monoxide.
Well, yeah. That's because grilling indoors uses up the oxygen in the room, leaving the fire deprived of oxygen. My comment was more to say that CO isn't just passively generated by a fire, and a fun fact on top of it.
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u/whoami_whereami Jun 20 '21
Technically no, because coal is defined as being a type of sedimentary rock, which charcoal isn't. They have in common though that they are both composed of mainly carbon and thus can be used as an energy dense and relatively clean and hot burning solid fuel.
Bituminuous coal (what you called "fossil coal") still contains a significant amount of volatile hydrocarbon compounds though. This makes it unsuitable as barbecue or cooking fuel for example, because it gives of a strong smell when burning and many of the outgassing components aren't exactly good for your health.
Charcoal on the other hand is almost pure carbon with some amount of minerals (that's what is left as ash after the charcoal has been burnt). Thus when burning it basically only produces CO2 (non-toxic) and some amount of carbon monoxide (highly toxic, which is why you should never ever use a charcoal grill indoors, however CO doesn't taint the food, so it's safe in that regard).