Charcoal From Agro-Waste

Scientists from the Agricultural Engineering College of Jabalpur, India, have developed a simple and inexpensive technology for converting agricultural and urban wastes into charcoal pellets through pyrolysis.

Charcoal is produced by burning raw material within a confined place under controlled conditions well enough to be carbonised but not so much that they are reduced to ashes.

About 7 kgs of charcoal can be obtained from 10 kg raw material with the charcoal having a calorific value of 4,500 to 5,000 k cal per kg. Longer-lasting pellets with lower calorific value can be obtained by mixing charcoal with clay.

Areas of Application: This charcoal can be used as a fuel in different industries for generating heat.

Inputs Required: 

To produce charcoal, the following equipment required are:

• Ten leaf collectors which are mainly bamboo or mild steel rakes.
• Five leaf crushers or lightweight (15 kg) manually operated machines for compacting leaves.
• Two municipal waste cleaners which manually operate perforated inclined cylinders made of expanded metal.
• 75 waste pyrolisers having a maximum capacity of 10 kg for transforming cellulosic material into charcoal powder. These pyrolisers are ordinary mild steel drums with holes and lids on the drum's periphery. A detachable chimeny is located at the top of the drum.

Two extruder-type pellestising machines with 7.5 HP motors. Charcoal pellets are 2.5 cm in diameter and 7.5 to 12.5 cm in length.

Economic Data: Investment for a small unit producing three tons of fuel pellets per day is estimated at 3,900 USD, excluding land and building costs.

For more information, contact:

The Managing Director
National Research Development Corp.
Anusandhan Vikas,
20-22 Zamroodpur Community Centre,
Kailash Colony Extension,
New Delhi 110048, India
Tel : 26417821; 26432121