Before coconut charcoal briquettes are ready to be used in cooking, BBQ, shisha, or others, the raw material undergoes a long process. The process involves coconut charcoal making machine. Want to learn more about these? If so, then read on. Below, we explain the coconut charcoal process.
Coconut Shell Carbonization
The first step in the coconut charcoal process is carbonization. First, coconut shells are carbonized into charcoal by using a carbonizing machine. This process turns coconut shells into black charcoal. What kind of carbonizing machine a manufacturer uses varies from one manufacturer to another.
For manufacturers with small-scale charcoal production, it is best to use an airflow carbonization furnace. On the other hand, for manufacturers with large-scale charcoal production, it is best to use a continuous carbonizing machine.
Crushing
Crush the coconut shell first to make powder then grinding them into powder makes the briquettes easier to shape. So it helps to reduce the wear on the machine, too.
Mixing
Mix charcoal powder with water and a binder. On its own, the powder doesn’t have viscosity. Thus, it is necessary to add a binder. Adding a binder helps the powder form into briquettes. With a binder, the resulting briquettes are not only more solid but also have a smoother surface.
The most commonly used binders for charcoal powder are cassava starch and corn starch. These starches are food-grade. They don’t produce noxious gas after burning, either. The binder ratio is somewhere between 3% and 5%.
So adding water helps to add moisture. Ideally, after mixing, the charcoal powder should have 20 to 25% moisture.
Briquetting Using Coconut Charcoal Making Machine
After all, it is time to process it with the coconut charcoal making machine. The machine gives the powder shapes.
What kind of shapes the briquettes will have depends on the purpose. The most common coconut charcoal briquette shapes are cube, pillow, and finger.
Briquettes Drying
After being processed by the coconut charcoal making machine, dry the briquettes first. There are two ways to dry the briquettes: natural drying and drying by machine.
Natural drying means placing the briquettes in an open-air area where they get exposed to the sunlight. Usually, this process takes about 4 to 7 days.
Drying by machine takes only several hours. If done by using a mesh belt dryer, the drying process takes only 2 to 3 hours. If done by using a box-type dryer, it takes a bit longer, about 5 hours.
Packaging and Storage
The next thing the manufacturer does is package the briquettes and store them. Coconut charcoal briquettes ready to sell.
That’s how the briquette manufacturing process. The process involves coconut charcoal making machine. So if you are need more information about coconut charcoal you can visit our website or click here to buying good quality of coconut charcoal.