Charcoal

Charcoal is the solid carbon residue following the pyrolysis (carbonization or destructive distillation) of carbonaceous raw materials.  In some instances, its manufacture may be considered as a solid waste disposal technique.  Charcoal is a premium fuel widely used in many developing countries to meet household as well as a variety of other needs. Charcoal is used primarily as a fuel for outdoor cooking.

Chemical Industry

Carbon disulphide, sodium cyanide, metallic carbides, silicon carbide.

Iron and Steel

Iron smelting, high purity iron, Ferro silicon- silicon- sintering and ore beneficiation

Metallurgy

Foundry operations, copper smelting,- tin smelting, specialized metal smelting and casting, electric furnace electrodes, sintering operations

Activated Carbons

Water purification ,pollution control,- gas purification, solvent recovery,- distillation columns, ageing of distilled spirits, pharmaceuticals, food industry, soft drinks, catalyst, wine processing, electric batteries, cigarette filters

Gas Generators

Gas for motor vehicles, gas for stationary engines, gas for carbonated drinks

Miscellaneous

Animal feed additives, soil conditioners ,tobacco curing ,fruit drying, arts and printing industry, fireworks, black powder explosives

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Applications

Charcoal can be used in a wide variety of industries which has been summarized in the following table.

Value Chain

The predominantly used raw materials for charcoal manufacture are wastes and typically any type of waste. The raw materials are usually dried as a part of processing before subjecting them to pyrolysis process. Pyrolysis is used for turning wood, sawdust and other wood waste products into charcoal in an industrial scale. Charcoal is obtained by heating woody biomass until its complete pyrolysis i.e. carbonization occurs, leaving only carbon and inorganic ash. The heat generated by burning part of the wood and the volatile byproducts pyrolyzes the rest of the pile. The limited supply of oxygen prevents the charcoal from burning too. A more modern alternative is to heat the wood in an airtight metal vessel, which is much less polluting and allows the volatile products to be condensed.

Business Opportunities from the Value Chain

Charcoal production provides attractive opportunities to the raw material suppliers, machineries and equipment manufacturers, those who provide information support for charcoal production and entrepreneurial opportunities created through the sale of charcoal. A trend in charcoal industry off late is the move by incumbents towards vertical integration along the value chain and it is understandable that there is a reason for this vertical integration efforts.

Feedstock Suppliers

Charcoal is mostly produced from wood wastes such as sawdust, woodchips, slabs, twigs, small branches, stumps, roots, bamboo waste, sunflower husk, rice hull, peanut peel, wine dreg, molasses, dry stalks, hay, cane trash, corncob, coconut shell, coffee shell, crops straw and sewage sludge. Wood industries, sugar industries, oil industries, etc. who supply these waste materials for charcoal production have an excellent opportunity as raw material suppliers.

Opportunities in Manufacturing Sector

Great opportunities exist for the manufacturing companies who design and manufacture original equipments and machineries such as Pyrolysis reactor, char separation, cooling and removal system, gas combustor, charcoal kilns, forming machines, drying machines, crushers, carbonizers etc. Auxiliary equipments include chipper or grinder for woody biomass, biomass pelletizer for agricultural waste, biomass dryer or drying system, conveyor, skid steer, or loader to feed biomass. Engineering and machineries manufacturing companies can get much profit by manufacturing charcoal machineries as this is a widely expanding market. Component manufacturers produce a wide variety of mechanical and electrical components for the machineries and auxiliary units. There is an increasing interest shown towards indigenization of pyrolysis and charcoal manufacturing machinery components and this makes the component manufacturing segment an attractive one for Indian businesses.

Service Opportunities

Engineering companies design, develop, and deploy industrial equipment that uses waste biomass, such as agricultural or forestry waste, to produce charcoal. Several business activities such as detail engineering of the pyrolysis plant, research on the production and further upgrading of pyrolysis products, provision of experienced operators for demonstration, and evaluation of the plant performance are available. Maintenance service providers are in high demand in the industry since potential problems occurs with pyrolysis equipment because of  problems such as bed agglomeration, clogging of condensers, poisoning by sulfur and chlorine, coking etc.

Global Scenario and Market Segment

A large market for charcoal exists in EU, USA and ASIA with prices ranging from £170 to £190 per ton.  The charcoal industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and a money spinner for interested investors. The United Kingdom alone consumes more than 60,000 metric tons of charcoal annually, out of which about 70% comes from tropical Africa. Other countries around the world equally consume charcoal in great quantity.

In energy terms, charcoal consumption in many African countries is higher than gross electricity consumption (although the value of the electricity market is usually much higher than that of charcoal). The value of the charcoal market for 26 Sub-Saharan African countries for which we have known data exceeds $1.8 billion per year. 

Charcoal has a seasonal market, but the season differs from one country to another. For instances in Belgium, UK, Holland, France, Germany and Denmark, the Sales season is from May through August because that is their summer time. In countries like Kuwait, Israel and other Asian countries, it is all-year round and order is placed from January through December. 

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