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lignite

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
lignite (lĭg`nīt) or brown coal, carbonaceous fuel intermediate between coal coal, fuel substance of plant origin, largely or almost entirely composed of carbon with varying amounts of mineral matter.

Types



There is a complete series of carbonaceous fuels, which differ from each other in the relative amounts of moisture,
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 and peat peat, soil material consisting of partially decomposed organic matter; found in swamps and bogs in various parts of the temperate zone. It is formed by the slow decay of successive layers of aquatic and semiaquatic plants, e.g., sedges, reeds, rushes, and mosses.
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, brown or yellowish in color and woody in texture. It contains more moisture than coal and tends to dry and crumble when exposed to the air; the flame is long and smoky and the heating power low. It is found in the United States, Canada, Germany, and elsewhere chiefly in formations formed in the Tertiary period.

lignite

Yellow to dark brown, rarely black, coal that has been formed from peat under moderate pressure; it is one of the first products of coalification and is intermediate between peat and subbituminous coal. Dry lignite contains about 60–70% carbon. Almost half of the world's total coal reserves contain lignite and subbituminous coal, but lignite has not been exploited to any great extent because lignite is inferior to higher-rank coals (e.g., bituminous coal) in heating value, ease of handling, and storage stability. In some areas, however, the scarcity of fuel has led to extensive developments.


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I went through gallery after gallery, dusty, silent, often ruinous, the exhibits sometimes mere heaps of rust and lignite, sometimes fresher.
I was anxious to examine a reported coal-mine which turned out to be lignite of little value, in the sandstone (probably of an ancient tertiary epoch) of which these islands are composed.
 
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