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Presence of Water During Manufacturing
Of Coconut Shell Charcoal
By Jerome Pun
By Jerome Pun
Traditional Cooling Process
Using water to rapidly cool coconut shell charcoal (CSC) is widespread in the charcoal processing industry
By Jerome Pun
How to bring down temperature fast?
For years, CSC manufacturers or small scale home-based CSC processors in the villages face dilemma in bringing down temperature of burning charcoal once carbonization is complete By Jerome Pun
Natural Cooling vs. Water Cooling?
Natural Cooling (Resulting in Overburnt)
Water Cooling
By Jerome Pun
Does it make $$ ense?
Natural Cooling normally requires > 24 hours to bring down red hot charcoal to room temperature!! Letting burning charcoal cool down naturally inside the kiln
does not make much economic sense for manufacturers as the kilns need to be turned over fast enough to make way for the next carbonization batch.
By Jerome Pun
Cheap, Fast and Easy!!
Most traditional charcoal producers rapidly cool by pouring water onto red burning charcoal!
Factories are run 24/7!
Temperature inside the kiln > 300 ˚C !!
By Jerome Pun
Frequent Break Down
Most of the traditional kilns are brick walled. Over time cracks and leakages tend to form all over as temperature rises and falls - make control of air intake into the kilns almost impossible, resulting in over-burning of charcoal!
Substances Expand When Heated and Contract When Cooled
By Jerome Pun
Quality Issues
Studies have found CSC produced in the traditional methods tends to have thickness lower than that produced under a well controlled kiln
Pouring of water creates irreversible impact on some of the physical properties of charcoal vital for the production of activated carbon
There is evidence that CSC with a high moisture content tends to shatter and produce fine when heated in activation process By Jerome Pun
Contamination
CSC can resorb tars and pyroligneous acids dissolved in water. The resorbed acids make the CSC corrosive and lead to rotting of packaging – a problem during logistic management
Water facilitates contaminants and impurities to be attached to the CSC. Some of the undesirable contaminants cannot be easily gotten rid off by simple sieving!
By Jerome Pun
Transporting Water?
Large amount of CSC has to be transported from regions of production to where the activated carbon factories are located. Very often, CSC has to be hauled thousands of kilometers across ocean (in freight containers) from one continent to another!
It would be silly to pay freight charges to transport water! By Jerome Pun
Jerome Pun @sleepundercoco
There are solutions to problems faced during Cooling!
• Coconut fibre is easily burned down to ash inside the kiln and yet it can be preserved and converted into char by deploying a unique cooling technique during carbonization.
