Anthracite coal is commonly known as white coal or red coal, and is also called anthracite coal. It is the coal with the greatest degree of coalification. The coal sample is heated in isolation from the air under specified conditions. The organic matter in the coal is heated and decomposes into a part of liquid (in the steam state at this time) and gaseous products with smaller molecular weights. These products are called volatiles. The fraction of volatile matter in coal sample mass is called volatile matter yield or simply called volatile matter. Taking the dry ashless basis as the analysis basis, coal with a volatile content of less than 10 is called anthracite. Anthracite with a volatile content greater than 6.5 and less than 10 is called anthracite No. 3.

Anthracite has high fixed carbon content, low volatile component yield, high density, high hardness, high ignition point and no smoke when burned. Black is hard and has a metallic luster. Rubbing with grease will not cause staining, the fracture will be shell-shaped, and the flame will be short and smokeless when burning. No coking. Generally, the carbon content is above 90 and the volatile matter is below 10. No colloid layer thickness. The calorific value is about 8000~8500 kcal/kg. Sometimes, those with extremely large volatile content are called semi-anthracite; those with extremely small volatile matter content are called high anthracite.