Can you imagine the process of making coconut charcoal briquette from coconut shells in the coconut charcoal factory? Here are some steps of making coconut charcoal briquette in the factory.
Carbonizing
To carbonize coconut shells directly into charcoal, a factory usually uses a carbonizing machine. The factory can be equipped with several types of carbonization furnaces for carbonizing coconut shells. The factory can use the hoist and horizontal airflow type carbonization furnaces for charcoal production on a small scale. The continuous carbonizing machine can be a great choice for a big charcoal factory.
Crushing
After being carbonized, the coconut charcoal still has a shell shape. It can also break into smaller pieces. The factory will not shape the coconut charcoal into a briquette right away. The factory needs to grind the charcoal into powder first. Why is it necessary to grind the charcoal into a powder? It is much easier to shape charcoal powder, after all. The charcoal in powder form will reduce the wearing of the briquette shaping machine.
Mixing with Water and Binder
The next step for making coconut shell charcoal in the coconut charcoal factory is mixing the charcoal powder with water and a binder. This step is necessary because the charcoal powder does not have viscosity. The factory will add a binder so the charcoal powder can be formed into briquettes. The coconut charcoal briquettes will be more solid with a binder addition. The surface will be smoother, as well. The factory commonly uses cornstarch or cassava starch as a binder for making coconut charcoal binder because they are food grade and do not produce noxious gas after burning. The usual binder ratio is about 3-5%.
After mixing the charcoal powder with water and binder, the moisture should be 20-25%. How do you know whether the charcoal mixture has enough moisture or not? You can check it easily by grabbing a handful of charcoal mixture. Do not forget to pinch it by hand. You can tell that the mixture has enough humidity if it does not come loose.
Briquetting
Briquetting becomes an important step in coconut shell charcoal briquette because the charcoal will be used for various purposes, including cooking, BBQ, shisha, heating boiler, and so on. To make sure that the coconut briquette can meet different purposes, you need to shape it right. A different machine might be necessary for shaping the coconut charcoal into different shapes for different purposes.
Drying
Last but not least, the coconut charcoal briquette must go through the drying process. After being shaped in the charcoal briquette machine, the coconut charcoal briquettes are still wet, for sure. You cannot use the wet coconut charcoal briquette right away for fuel. You cannot sell wet coconut charcoal briquette, as well. for drying the coconut charcoal briquettes, you can do it naturally and using a drying machine.
For natural drying, you should put the briquettes on a tray or plastic cloth for preventing impurities, such as soil adhering to your briquette surface. The natural drying process will take about 4-7 days. The coconut charcoal factory will also use a charcoal dryer for drying the coconut charcoal briquettes faster.
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