Coal gas
![Gas Works Park, Seattle, preserves most of the equipment for making coal gas. The only such plant surviving in the United States.](/Images/godic/202501/14/Gas_Works_Park_033729.jpg")
![An illustration of typical polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Source: NASA](/Images/godic/202501/14/NASA20050627a_PAH_molecules3730.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202501/14/Mantles_in_their_unused_flat-packed_form3730.jpg")
![Coke oven at smokeless fuel plant, South Wales](/Images/godic/202501/14/Coke_Ovens_Abercwmboi3730.jpg")
Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous fuels produced for sale to consumers and municipalities.
Coal gas contains a variety of calorific gases including hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen.