Get Coal

Mine Coal in Hoseki Quarry (-138, 28): climb the first two ladders and take the accessible right landing for coal. Mount Toroyama (-99, 34) is another early coal source. These are reachable before the fog upgrade. Cooking Wood or Sawdust in the Kitchen also produces Coal. Once you own Coal, eligible turtle plots can replenish it. None of these is a recipe for Silica Powder; Silica is made from Quartz.

Crusher conversion

Albert’s Expert blueprint tier unlocks Crusher: 1,850 Glims, 10 Iron Ingots and 10 Wool Fabric for the tier, then 7 Pulsar Ingots, 15 Ash Planks and 5 Zinc Ingots to build the facility. Put Coal into the Crusher and use the interact action until the powder is produced, then collect Carbon Powder. The base conversion is one Coal into one Carbon Powder; the Crusher improvement doubles output.

Carbon Powder is a processed item, not raw Coal or a Foundry ingot. If you have Coal but no processing option, inspect the blueprint tier and build the Crusher rather than continuing to mine more Coal.