Coconut does have many uses and benefits, starting from its stems, leaves, to the fruit that can be used for various purposes. Even the coconut shell waste can be used to make handicrafts that have a fairly high selling value. However, lately the coconut shell waste has found its new purposes, and it can be used for something even better than a handicraft.
Coconut Shells: More Than Just a Handicraft Material
Most of the time, the coconut shell was only used in the creative industry to make handicrafts. Ranging from rice scoops to toys or key chains, bowls, cups, ashtrays, clothes buttons, table lamps, and so on, which are included in the form of souvenirs. There are also some who processed these coconut shell waste into coconut fiber which is the basic material for brooms, ropes and mats.
Surprisingly, this coconut shell waste has another use aside from handicrafts. What’s amazing about coconut is that nearly every single part of it can be cultivated by humans and used to its maximum. Coconut shells can be used as raw materials to be processed into charcoal, which can still be processed into innovative products that can provide more value.
Charcoal Made From Coconut Shells
These coconut shell charcoal briquettes are an alternative fuel that is often used for cooking, especially in Europe it is often used for grilling food. In Middle Eastern countries, this type of charcoal is used for shisha or hookah pipe smoking purposes, meanwhile in Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan, coconut shell briquettes are being used for cooking purposes.
The coconut charcoal is produced by burning coconut shells with a limited air supply in order to obtain carbonizations. The coconut shell will be losing 70% of its weight once it is heated. There are two ways of making this type of charcoal, there is the drum method and there is a pit method.
The coconut shells that can be used for making this type of charcoal are the ones that are fully dried and mature. In order to get a high-quality activated carbon, then the raw material source should come from an excellent coconut shell.
These coconut briquettes are considered to be a better product than the usual charcoal made from mangrove plants and coal, as it is more stable and can generate more heat. It is able to produce a clean burn, and is environmentally friendly compared to other types of charcoal and coal. Many countries used it for grilling and barbecue because the smell of coconut shell charcoal is neutral and pleasant. That is why there are also products called coconut charcoal BBQ as it is being sold as a fuel for barbecues.
There are several reasons why this type of charcoal is said to be environmentally friendly compared to other types of coals. Firstly, charcoal made of coconut shell waste can be processed continuously without having to fear exhaustion, which means it is a good renewable energy.
Besides that, coconut shell briquettes are being produced naturally, as it is made from coconut shells and only added with tapioca flour. This way, manufacturing coconut shell charcoal will not harm the environment as it has no toxic substances involved in the making.
On top of that, the smoke emitted from these coconut shell charcoal briquettes is far less than the typical ordinary charcoal. Some might say it is barely even smoky, which makes it even more environmentally friendly as that the burning process will not pollute the area. That, combined with the fact it burns longer for around 2 – 3 hours, making it furthermore a better option than any other ordinary charcoal.
How to Produce Coconut Shell Charcoal
As mentioned previously, there are two ways of making this type of charcoal, which are the drum method and the pit method. Both methods involve burning in their process as it is the way to create carbonization to the coconut shell.
The first method might require a lot of space as the drum will take a lot of space, but this method can allow a large production of charcoal. Firstly, a pile of mature and dried coconut shells are put into a drum. Once there are enough coconut shells piled inside, the coconut shell is burned. As the coconut shells are burning inside the drum, the ones that have yet to be burned are added gradually into the drum.
This is done continuously until the drum is filled with coconut shells. Once full, the drum is closed and all the coconut shells in the drum undergo the combustion process. Slowly, the coconut shell will turn into charcoal. After being burned, sealed tightly, and covered with sand, the fire on the coconut shell will extinguish itself.
Once the burning fire subsides, the shell is then removed and then pounded until smooth. The pounded shells will be filtered, and the results of the filtration are mixed with a starch mixture. The mixture of pounded shells and starch will be molded into different sizes and left under the sun to dry. And that is how briquettes are being produced.
The pit method is the oldest method of making coconut shell charcoal. This method is considered to be a simpler method than the drum version since it does not require a lot of space and a drum, however, the downside of this method is that it can only produce charcoal in small quantities.
With this method, the shells are filled inside a hole before burning. In order to make the fire stronger, usually there will be a small dry fuel added into the hole. Once the shells are burned, a layer of leaves and soil will be placed about 8 inches over the materials. The burning process takes around 2 days maximal (for better results).
The post-burning process is somewhat similar to the drum method, with the burned shells being crushed and added into starch mixture, before then molded and left under the sun to dry. There are also some who preferred to use an oven machine to heat and dry the shells and starch mixture. To get larger quantities of coconut shell charcoal, the pit method should be repeated several times.
