[Gasification] Coconut Charcoal

Angela Clark acdewi at gmail.com
Mon Oct 5 01:00:10 CDT 2015


Hi Mr. Anderson, (or do you prefer to be called Dr. TLUD?)
Thanks for your message, much appreciated!
At this point we are selling our wet coconut shells to a buyer at the local
village market - for a cheap price as we are still figuring out our supply
chains of the coconut oil and other products. BUT, coconut shell charcoal
is a huge commodity throughout Aceh / Sumatra and all of Indonesia, so I am
looking forward to utilizing this byproduct of the VCO biz.

At the moment our coconut shells are in 2 halves, what is an appropriate
size that will allow even burns to the charcoal? Also, the drying may be a
bit of an issue as rainy season is often year-round.

As for TLUD equipment, we are looking for a simple and affordable system
that can be constructed/fabricated on-site. Making coconut shell charcoal
is done everywhere in the region, but I'm looking to produce charcoal that
is better quality than what is found in the open burning pits found
alongside the roads.

Of course we are always thinking about Biochar as an option, ever since I
met Tom Miles (aka Professor Biochar), it has been on our radar.

Carlos, would love to check out your facility. We are still quite far from
coconut charcoal briquettes, but it's something we want to explore.

Gary, if you're ever in Bali, let's catch up for a Bintang. I'm Montana
born and raised, but have been traveling to Indonesia since I was born, a
result of my mother being Javanese.

Tom, do you have have some pics of the Japanese cone / kiln? I remember us
talking about it while you were here, but I don't think I ever saw fotos.

We are aiming to move forward with charcoal production asap (yesterday!) so
looking forward to any suggestions of equipment specifics and price points.

Thanks guys,
-Angie


On Sun, Oct 4, 2015 at 8:18 PM, Paul Anderson <psanders at ilstu.edu> wrote:

> Dear Angie, Carlo and Gary,
>
> The Listservs are here to assist you to make contacts.  I have added the
> Stoves Listserv and the Biochar Listserv (as well as the Gasification
> Listserv that you contacted), for reasons clarified below.   But you cannot
> post to those lists if you are not a subscriber.
>
> A very appropriate way to make char (charcoal) from coconut shell is with
> TLUD technology.   Much info about it is at my website:    www.drtlud.com
>
> For your size of operation, you should certainly see:
> http://www.sgfe-cambodia.com/
> The website does not focus much on the equipment, but this is a "must see"
> operation in Cambodia.   I have seen it (in 2013) and have been very
> impressed.   The head is Carlo Figà Talamanca   <carloft at gmail.com>
> <carloft at gmail.com>    and he is receiving a copy of this message.   I
> believe that he is not subscribed to this Gasification Listserv.   Very
> friendly and helpful!!!!    Note:  The   SGFE   project is large, but it
> should not be considered totally optimal.   I am sure that Carlo is
> experimenting with improvements.
>
> Another possible helper for you is Gary Shapiro   <glshapiro at gmail.com>
> <glshapiro at gmail.com>    - American with totally strong Indonesia ties
> and knowledge of TLUD gasification and frequently in Bali.
>
> You should consider drying and sizing your coconut shells, and selling it
> at very reasonable prices to assure that you can sell it all to low-income
> households or perhaps schools or orphanages or military barracks with the
> requirement that they give back to you the char that is made in TLUD
> gasifiers for residential use or for institutional cooking (larger stoves)
> OR for some other usage of the heat, such as for bakeries or drying
> operations (including your own needs for drying).   Depending on the
> situation, the CLEAN heat value can be greater than the value of the
> charcoal.
>
> NOTE:  TLUDs do NOT produce gases that can be sent into internal
> combustion engines.   For ICE usage with different gasification
> technologies in addition to pyrolysis, you will want the expertise of the
> Gasification Listserv members.
>
> With your charcoal production sorted out, you then have some options on
> what to do with the char:
> 1.  Additional processing to obtain activated charcoal for filters, etc.
> 2.  Sell it as it is in small pieces of charcoal to others who will
> consider these options for usage.
> 3.  Crush it and make charcoal "logs, briquettes, pellets, etc." that have
> appropriate size for burning.
> 4.  Use the char as biochar, to be put into soil for agricultural
> purposes AND as carbon sequestration (which will progressively become more
> economically interesting in the near future as you develop your project.)
> Do not overlook biochar as one of your options.
> 5.  Something else that others might suggest.
> 6.  Of course, use two of more of the above uses.
>
> I am available to assist you further, either via the listservs or directly
> at    psanders at ilstu.edu     My resume is at my website.
>
> Dr TLUD
>
> Doc  /  Dr TLUD  /  Prof. Paul S. Anderson, PhD
> Email:  psanders at ilstu.edu
> Skype: paultlud      Phone: +1-309-452-7072
> Website:  www.drtlud.com
>
> On 10/3/2015 9:33 PM, acdewi at gmail.com wrote:
>
> Hello all - Cheers from Bali!
> I am part of a team developing various coconut products ranging from
> virgin coconut oil, palm sugar, coconut flour, etc.etc.
> We will be processing around 1 million coconuts this year and want to
> effectively, efficiently, and affordably utilize the coconut shell as a
> value add product.
> Anyone have experience with making coconut charcoal? Or a step further,
> making activated carbon with coconut shells?
> In the future (year 2) we will be incorporating biomass gasification using
> coconut shells, but for the upcoming year we are looking for solutions to
> our coconut shell surplus.
> Thanks in advance,
> -Angie
>
>
>
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