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Charcoal burning is probably the oldest chemical process known to man and has been practiced since 4,000 years BC, primarily for use in smelting metal. Without it the Bronze Age and Iron Age simply would not have happened. Ancient Egyptians used pyroligneous acid to embalm Egyptian Mummies. Romans used vast quantities of charcoal to make weapons. Huge amounts of furnace slag were used in building Roman roads. In Mediaeval times, charcoal burners were some times imprisoned for "Burning the King's Vert". That is, burning wood in the Royal Hunting Forests without permission. In Tudor times, charcoal was in such demand that it laid waste to many English Forests. With the imminent threat of the Spanish Armada, timber was urgently needed for naval ships. Regulations were made prohibiting the manufacture of charcoal from mature wood, resulting in an expansion of coppicing as a sustainable alternative. In the Seventeenth Century, fines from beech charcoal were mixed with herbs and tallow (animal fat) to make soap. In the Eighteenth Century, the charcoal industry went into serious decline after Abraham Darby I, succeeded in smelting iron with coke (burnt coal). By the late Victorian period portable metal kilns had replaced earth kilns. These in turn, were replaced by giant retorts, especially adapted to extract charcoal by-products. The by-products had effectively become more valuable than the charcoal itself.  |