Coconut Shell Charcoal
There are many ways of charcoal making, but the simplest so far is the use of drum. The
method modified by the Forest Products Research and Industries Development (Los Baños)
are the following:
Month: May 2010
Charcoal Making in Clay Stove
Charcoal Making in Clay Stove
Clay Preparation
1. At the center of the oven, stand a 2 meters straight wood which will serve as support for wood to be arranged perpendicular to the oven.
– Shorter cuts of wood will be arranged around the center until it reaches the wall of the round pit of the oven.
– Use only woods which grow easily like ipil-ipil, bakauan, pototan, kakawate, kamachile, anabiong, tangal, agoho and alibangbang.
– Add small cuttings of wood on top of the first layers of wood in order to help mold the top walls or roof of clay.
Modified Drum Kiln
Modified Drum Kiln
1. Use an ordinary drum with 91 cm tall and 57 cm in diameter (55 gal).
2. Make a hole on top of the center about 10 cm wide (where the chimney can be placed).
3. Make equal holes on four sides about 1.5 cm in size and 30 cm spaced apart from each center, but the lowest is 2 to 3 cm from the bottom. (For example the second top is 30 cm apart from here then the third is the same).
Operation:
1. Place a piece of roundwood, about 4 inches in diameter at the center of the kiln.
2. Stack coconut shells around this makeshift chimney until the drum is full.
3. Remove the starting chimney and drop a piece of burning rag to the bottom of the drum until it ignited.
4. Cover the drum when the fire is well underway.
5. Gradually decrease the air opening.
6. Feed additional shells after sometime, when the volume of the charge shell have shrunk.
7. Carbonization is considered complete when the volume of the smoke thins out and becomes bluish.
8. When this happened all the holes are closed and the kiln is left to cool.
This procedure last 5 hours to finish charcoal making. The charcoal yield with this kiln design ranges from 27-30 per cent.
Tips for Good Quality Charcoal
1. Shiny and black in color, not reddish or greyish.
2. It sounds like metal when it falls on the floor. A good charcoal easily breaks but uncooked
charcoal is hard and doesn’t break easily.
Source: Tekno Tulong
Modified Method of Charcoal Production
Modified Method of Charcoal Production
The highest form of charcoal comes from wood or coconut shell burned under controlled air.
About 75% of energy we use comes from wood and charcoal fuel.
The customary or usual method of charcoal making was to answer the needs of barrio people
and to lessen the problem of forest denudation.
There are many types of charcoal making, the easiest is the use of excavation or pit and use
of drum. The principle of charcoal making is by heating the wood or coconut shell until dried
leaving only the carbon. This can be done by burning slowly under controlled air. If it is not
done this way the charcoal will turn into ashes.
The best method is by burning in a low fire and the smoke circulates within the wood and
coconut shell that are being made into charcoal.