The biomass purpose for coconut shell has been replaced by palm kernel shell and other commodity such as EFB pellet. Most of the coconut will go through “Drum method” to yield coconut shell charcoal. Coconut shell also can go through grinding process to powder form for manufacture granular activated carbon.
Coconut shell has 2 major applications apart from biomass purpose, namely coconut shell charcoal and granular activated carbon. The porous structure of coconut shell charcoal has become a good source of trapping the bad smell from the environment. The granular activated carbon even used in water filtration system. Coconut shell powder is another used of coconut shell. The coconut shell will be grind and sieve for achieving certain finest criteria. Coconut shell powder is an critical organic additive for improve properties characteristic, mosquito coil.
Coconut shell is the raw shell substance. It is chopped and broken in pieces.
The coconut shell will come in raw form without additional packaging.
Coconut shell becomes scarcity commodity. Currently most of the coconut shell has used as activated carbon for filtration.
Malaysia is one of the main coconut crop plantation and coconut shell supply country. DST is located in strategic location that we have become one of the key coconut supplier in Malaysia. Kindly write to DSTfor any inquiry about coconut shell needs.
Shell Charcoal is an important product obtained from coconut shell. Shell charcoal is used widely as domestic and industrial fuel. It is also used by blacksmiths and goldsmiths and in laundries. Shell Charcoal is also used to produce activated carbon. Activated Carbon produced from coconut shell has certain specific advantages as the raw material can adsorb certain molecular species. Shell is carbonized by using methods like pit method, drum method, destructive distillation etc. The shell charcoal is the raw material required for the manufacture of activated carbon. The shell charcoal is manufactured by burning shells of fully matured nuts in limited supply of air sufficient only for carbonisation, but not for complete destruction. The output of charcoal in the traditional pith method is just below 30 per cent of the weight of the original shells. In India the average output in the traditional method has been found to be 35kg of charcoal from 1000 whole shells or about 30,000 whole shells yield 1 tonne of charcoal. Sometimes, especially when the processing is defective, the output is still lower and nearly 50,000 shells are required to produce one tonne of charcoal. To obtain good quality charcoal, fully dried, clean, mature shells should be used. Now several modern methods are in vogue for the production of charcoal. In the modern waste heat recovery unit the heat generated by the burning of coconut shells is used for drying copra and shell charcoal is obtained as by-product. A simple and efficient method adopted for the production of charcoal on cottage scale is given below.
Fixed carbon | 72% (minimum) |
Volatile matter | 15% (maximum) |
Ash | 2 % (maximum) |
Moisture | 10% (maximum) |
Size | Not more than 5% shall pass through a 0.63 cm mesh sieve |
Colour | Uniformly black |
Activated carbon is a non-graphite form of carbon which could be produced from any carbonaceous material such as coal, lignite, wood, paddy husk, coir pith, coconut shell, etc. Activated carbon manufactured from coconut shell is considered superior to those obtained from other sources mainly because of small macropores structure which renders it more effective for the adsorption of gas/vapour and for the removal of colour and odour of compounds.
The activated carbon is extensively used in the refining and bleaching of vegetable oils and chemical solutions, water purification, recovery of solvents and other vapours, recovery of gold, in gas masks for protection against toxic gases, in filters for providing adequate protection against war gases/nuclear fall outs, etc.
Steam activation and chemical activation are the two commonly used processes for the manufacture of activated carbon. However coconut shell based activated carbon units are adopting the steam activation process to produce good quality activated carbon.
pH Value | 6.5 - 7.5 |
Methylene Value adsorption mgm / gm | 190 - 350 |
Adsorption capacity at % by mass (min) | 45 |
Moisture (max.) | 5% |
Ash (max) | 5% |
Hardness | 90 |
Shell Powder Coconut shell powder is manufactured from matured coconut shells. The manufacture of coconut shell powder is not an organized industry in India. The product finds extensive use in plywood and laminated board industry as a phenolic extruder and as a filler in synthetic resin glues, mosquito coils and agarbathis. Coconut shell powder is preferred to other alternate materials available in the market such as bark powder, furfurol and peanut shell powder because of its uniformity in quality and chemical composition, better properties in respect of water absorption and resistance to fungal attack. The product is manufactured in sizes ranging from 80-200 mesh. Keeping in view of the vast industrial uses, the demand for coconut shell powder appears to be promising.
Appearance | Clear light brown free flowing powder |
Moisture | 10 per cent max. |
Apparent density | 0.6 to 0.7 g/cc |
Ash content | 1.5 max. |
Sieve analysis - BS sieve | Retained on 200 mesh shall not exceed 0.1% |