Charcoal has been an important source of energy for centuries and remains till today. Currently charcoal is used, mostly for cooking purposes, in the form of lumps, as well as processed in the form of briquettes. Charcoal briquettes are formed by compressing pyrolyzed biomass (charcoal) particles together with a suitable binder, such as starch mixed with water. Based on the European standard EN 1860-2 (2005) the moisture and the ash yield for the dry charcoal briquettes shall not be above 8 wt% and 18 wt%, respectively, and the total of all detected inadmissible additions should not exceed 1 vol%. The main purpose of this study is to examine the quality of charcoal briquettes from the Greek market. Nine samples were purchased from various vendors in Patras and examined according to the EN 1860-2 (2005) standard. To assess their quality, incident light microscopy is applied to identify the pyrolyzed material and the range of impurities, including raw biomass, mineral matter, plastic, metallic artifact, oxidized metallic artifact, particles of coal origin, etc. The petrographic analysis reveals that the content of impurities exceeds 1 vol% and that four (out of the nine) samples consist almost exclusively of coal particles. Considering the above and the public health hazards that are posed by grill fuel of subpar quality, the need for effective and reliable quality control methods is urgent. The petrographic analysis of charcoal briquettes seems to be the most appropriate technique.

几个世纪以来，木炭一直是一种重要的能源，并且一直延续到今天。目前，木炭主要用于烹饪目的，以块状形式使用，也以煤块形式加工。木炭压块是通过将热解的生物质（木炭）颗粒与合适的粘合剂（例如与水混合的淀粉）压缩在一起而形成的。根据欧洲标准EN 1860-2 (2005)，干木炭块的水分和灰分含量不得分别高于 8 wt% 和 18 wt%，并且所有检测到的不允许添加物的总量不得超过 1 体积%。本研究的主要目的是检查希腊市场木炭的质量。九个样品是从帕特雷的各个供应商处购买的，并根据 EN 1860-2 (2005) 标准进行检查。为了评估其质量，采用入射光显微镜来识别热解材料和杂质范围，包括原始生物质、矿物质、塑料、金属制品、氧化金属制品、煤炭来源的颗粒等。岩相分析表明，杂质含量超过 1 vol%，并且 9 个样品中的 4 个样品几乎完全由煤颗粒组成。考虑到上述情况以及质量不合格的烧烤燃料对公众健康造成的危害，迫切需要有效且可靠的质量控制方法。木炭煤球的岩相分析似乎是最合适的技术。