Why is charcoal useful as a fuel compared to wood? Don't we lose energy by making it?
As I understand it, charcoal --mostly carbon, plus some amount of inorganic ash-- burns cleaner - and hotter - than wood, and has more energy content per unit of weight than wood. The process of making charcoal involves heating the wood in the absence of air or with limited contact with air - driving off water and low molecular weight oils and odor components that produce a lot of the smoke from burning wood, and converting cellulose (a major component of wood) into carbon plus water.