COCONUT SHELL CHARCOAL PLANT

Coconut shells are important raw materials widely used for obtaining charcoal in the world, basically in the developing countries such as Indonesia, India, Malaysia. Coconut shell charcoal is used in many areas because of its advantages and important characteristics. Moreover, coconut shell charcoal could be powdered and used for producing granular activated carbon. Due to pleasant smell, coconut charcoal is recognized as one of the best fuels for cooking. Coconut shell There are many methods of coconut charcoal making, but the most cost-effective method is production by special charcoal kiln using process of pyrolysis which involves burning coconut shells in a limited supply of oxygen. It is important to know that oxygen could destroy shells if the air will not be limited. It should be used clean, fully dried and mature shells in order to get high quality charcoal. The processing of coconut shell charcoal briquettes includes the carbonization of the coconut shells first and then crushing it to the powder, allowing to manufacture different shape and size charcoal briquettes. For this purpose, the charcoal kiln and the charcoal powder-making machine are used. The kiln should maintain the temperature of 200-500°C. There are some advantages of using coconut shell charcoal briquettes. First of all, it is completely eco-friendly product, which is made from sustainable natural resources. The ash content of the coconut shells is around 0.6% and the lignin is about 36.5%, what helps to turn the shell into briquettes easily. As a result, less ash is produced to the environment during burning. In addition, these briquettes are very safe to use and easy to inflame. The coconut charcoal briquettes do not emit any toxic gases, so it is safe to use it for outdoor cooking as well. In general, because of its high level of calorific value the briquettes can be used in food and metallurgy industries, as fuel etc. So, coconut shells are good raw materials to produce coconut shell charcoal. The process of converting shells to charcoal includes removing all the moisture from the raw material in a limited supply of air. It requires a special charcoal kiln to carbonize the coconut shells and produce high quality charcoal. The coconut shell charcoal is widely used in food and metallurgy industries. It is also an excellent raw material source to manufacture activated carbon etc. Carbon is probably the most widely distributed element in nature. It occurs in two allotropic crystalline forms viz. graphite (hexagonal system) and diamond (isomeric system), the former is soft and black while diamond is hard and transparent. Charcoal, coke and carbon black, classified as emorphous carbon; are considered by some to represent a third allotropic form. They are said to be composed of very minute crystals of graphite by others. Carbon is an essential constituent of all vegetable and animal matter in which it occurs in combination with hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and other elements in immense variety of compounds. In combination with hydrogen it occurs as hydrocarbons in petroleum. It is also found in carbon dioxide in air (0.03% as sodium bicarbonate in sea water, and as calcium and magnesium carbonate in sedimentary rocks such as chalk and dolomite. Many carbons of industrial value are prepared from coal and from organic vegetable and animal matter. The resulting amorphous products include charcoal, coke and protroleum coke. Several carbon products are prepared and used in the electrical and electro-chemical industry. Carbon 13, a stable isotope of carbon (At wt 13) has recently come into prominence as a tracer element employed in the study of biological process. It is obtained from carbon compounds by concentrating the minute quantity of the heavier isotope, normally present in them, by thermal diffusion methods. Carbon 14 or Radioactive carbon, a product of the uranium atomic pile, is used also as a tracer element in the study of plant and animal metabolism. The term Activated charcoal (carbon), active carbon, or active charcoal is usually applied to amorphous carbons possessing higher absorption capacities than wood or animal charcoal. Many processes were developed during world war for the production of effective absorbents for use in gas masks. Industrial activated carbons in the form of pellets, granules or fine powders, and with many industrial applications, are now available in the market under different trade names. Commercial absorbent carbons may be grouped into decolorizing, gas absorbant, metal absorbant, and medicinal carbons according to their physical structure, properties, and applications. No one type of carbon can be used for all purposes. A large variety of raw materials are available for the manufacture of these products. Coal, petroleum coke, and wood charcoal are activated by gas activation. Industrial waste e.g. raw dust, bagasse, molasses, straw, coconut pericarp and shell, corn cobs, paddy and ground nut husk, corn bean shell, distillery slop, waste Mahua flowers, waste wood pulp laquor, and mud from sugar factories have been utilized for the production of active carbons by chemical activation.