Knowing how to make coconut shell briquette can be really handy. After all, the briquette is useful for many things. Although most people think that briquettes are one of the best eco-friendly fuel types that can be used as an alternative energy source, their functions are beyond that. Some of the new products, such as coconut hookah, are being sold and they are gaining popularity. Expect great benefits when you use the coconut charcoal and the briquettes.
Understanding Coconut Charcoal Briquette
Charcoal made from coconut shells and burnt without the oxygen is called briquette (coconut charcoal briquette is the longer name). The end product would be the activated carbon having high surface area, which is amazing for absorbing toxins and odors. People in Europe, the Middle East, or Kenya like to use the briquette for shisha and barbeque.
Benefits of Coconut Charcoal Briquette
There are some good reasons why more people today turn to this briquette instead of using the charcoal lump. Some of the briquette manufacturers even claim that the orders have drastically increased lately.
- Minimal odor and ash. The briquette has less than 5% ash content, which means that it doesn’t have carbon deposit. Not only the cooking area will remain clean, but it’s also easy to do the clean up. It doesn’t produce smell either, so it’s convenient and pleasant
- Higher and longer lasting heat. The briquette can burn longer than the traditional lump charcoal. It’s both less effort and cost effective. Let’s not forget that coconut briquette is somewhat more concentrated, which is handy to produce more consistent heat and higher thermal value. Tackling your cooking routine would be effortless. That’s why we even have the so-called coconut charcoal BBQ referring to the briquette being used for barbeque. Sure, the briquette will be super handy for cooking your meat long and slow. .
- Eco friendly and more sustainable. The briquette is made from 100% natural stuff without any chemical addition. It’s eco friendly in the coolest way. Not to mention that it’s also renewable and organic, which is good for the sustainability value.
- Non toxic. The process to turn coconut shells into the briquette is typically done naturally, which makes the briquette safe. When you cook your food with it, it won’t leave any unpleasant smell or change the flavor.
How to Make the Briquette
You can basically make the briquette on your own without having to use any fancy equipment or costly tools. You only need a charcoal stove (or a drum will do) and coconut shells.
In developing nations with limited fossil fuel access (like gas or oil), people would turn to coconut charcoal as their alternative source of energy. They would bake fibrous material (like coconut shell) so they can remove the fire retardant components (like tar and water) and burn off the methane and hydrogen (which are super combustible). They will produce charcoal that is rich in carbon content, able to burn evenly and produce a lot of heat. The process to convert the shells to briquettes require specially designed charcoal stove or drum. You want to remove the moisture completely without having to burn the shells completely to ash.
The processing steps are:
- You need to clean the shells first. Make sure that you remove the fibers from the outer area of the shells. These fibers are generally flammable and they tend to catch fire. You don’t want this to happen as you are supposed to bake the shells.
- Let the shells to cure. It generally takes 6 months. You want to store the shells in a dry and warm location. This action will remove the majority of moisture from the shells, encouraging carbonizing (burning process that doesn’t require oxygen) instead of burning it in the stove.
- Put your coconut shells within the charcoal stove or drum. The stoves would keep the shells from making direct contacts with the fire as well as allowing better airflow control. The heat within the stove would create a special drying environment.
- Increase (or reduce) the air intake so you can maintain a temperature between 500 and 900 degrees Fahrenheit. The shells produce small flames. But if you can manage the entire temperature under 900 degrees Fahrenheit, the entire process is able to create more charcoal instead of ash.
- Bake the shells for 3 to 5 hours. You want to cook the shells until you can pierce them without causing them to shatter.
- You can remove the already carbonized coconut briquettes. Let them cool.
- You can crush the shell briquettes if you want to.
- Keep in mind that you should never leave the fire without supervision.
Mind you that the process isn’t completed if you want to sell the briquette. The steps above are only for home usage, but if you are thinking about selling it, you still have a long way to go. From this on, you may need to consider buying the appropriate machines to help you. You can still do everything manually, but it would be a lot faster with the machines.
So, you have made the carbonized briquette. But if you want to make or shape the briquette, there are more steps to follow.
- As it was mentioned before, once the carbonized charcoal is made, you can crush them. It’s easier to form the briquette when it’s in the powdery form. If you can crush them into smaller bits, they would be easier to shape. You can either crush it on your own or use a crushing machine.
- The powder isn’t sticky so you need to add up water and a binder. You can use cassava or corn starch as the binder with ratio around 3 to 5%. When you add up water, try to have a handful of the mixture. Pinch it. If the powder isn’t loose, then you have reached the desired consistency. Again, you can do this manually or you can use a special mixing machine.
- You need to dry it after you have mixed everything up. If you have a dryer, it would be great. But if not, dry it under the sun or win-dry it.
- Now is the briquetting time. You send the powder into roller-type machine that will shape the powder into balls. If you don’t have the machine, you can still roll and shape the powder manually, but it would definitely take longer time to complete.
- Pack, seal, and sell. Those briquettes are ready for packing with sealed plastic bags.
Conclusion
Have plenty of coconut trees and still don’t know how to use them? Now you know the better way to turn the coconut waste into something profitable. Even if you aren’t planning to sell the briquettes, knowing how to make coconut shell briquette can seriously be useful in your household.
