Continuous Pyrolysis for the Activated Carbon Production Part 2

Activated carbon production can be done in two ways, namely physical and chemical activation. Both physical and chemical activation require pyrolysis (carbonization) in the activated carbon production process. The difference about the sequence, in the use of the pyrolysis unit (carbonization) in the activation process is the physical activation of the pyrolysis unit (carbonization) for charcoal production which is then activated using steam or CO2, while the chemical activation of the pyrolysis unit (carbonization) is used for charcoal production from raw materials previously chemically activated like with H3PO4, ZnCl2, KOH. Other differences in physical activation using temperature for activation are higher, namely the range of 800-1000 C while the chemical activation uses a lower temperature, which is around 150-200 C only. Activated carbon products or yield that are produced chemically are more than those produced physically, which are around 3: 1.

The advantage of using a continuous pyrolysis unit for activated carbon production primarily increases the efficiency of the production process and the quality of the products. Efficiency is very important for a production activity. The efficiency of the production process is derived from the use of pyrolysis by-products that can be used to produce heat and even electricity. As an example of physical activation that uses a high operating temperature, excess syngas can be used to reach that temperature. Biooil produced can produce steam. Charcoal products produced from a continuous pyrolysis (carbonization) unit also do not need to be cooled and can be activated directly, so that their energy needs can be minimized. So that the activated carbon production should be an integration between the pyrolysis unit (carbonization) and its activation unit.

While in the chemical activation process, pyrolysis (carbonization) byproducts can also be used for the production of activated carbon. The activation process that uses a temperature that is quite low at 150-200 C can use excess heat from the pyrolysis process for its heat source. While excess syngas can be used to produce electricity for the production of activated carbon or sold to other parties such as other industries or PLN. Biooil can also be used for burner fuel or purified again for the production of vehicle fuel and so on. Continuous use of pyrolysis (carbonization) will also produce high quality, standard and stable product quality, this is because the operating conditions in the unit can be easily and accurately controlled, such as heating rate, residence time and temperature.

While in charcoal production (carbonization) traditionally operating in batches, in addition to a lot of energy loss also produces a lot of smoke which causes air pollution. The loss of energy during the traditional process of carbonization (pyrolysis) can even reach more than 60% meaning that more than half of the energy is only wasted, for more details can be read here. Of course this is very unfortunate, the activated carbon plant which should be able to operate very efficiently and economically, becomes wasteful and expensive. The effect of this is of course on the depletion of the profits obtained by the business. Within a short time it is expected that activated carbon factories will use continuous pyrolysis (carbonization) to increase efficiency, environmental and economic aspects.

Continuous Activated Carbon Production is More Efficient With Integration JF BioCarbon Continuous Carbonization and Rotating Kiln Activation Unit

Charcoal production as raw material of activated carbon with continuous slow pyrolysis (carbonization) technology very efficient in terms of the energy efficiency, product quality of charcoal is produced, the production process in an easy and environment friendly and many type of outputs is the produced by slow pyrolysis process beside the charcoal namely syngas, biooil  and biomass vinegar, which are all valued economically. Accurate process control as well as production capacity of medium-large scale highly profitable to process a large number of raw materials or that will make activated carbon plant in medium-large scale with high quality.

The size of activated carbon usually on granul or powder which is also very suitable with application of the technology. Charcoal production with JF BioCarbon technology for raw materials of activated carbon will be in the form of granul with capacity is around 20 tons to 70 tons per day which is processed by steam activating so that it would be activated carbon. With raw materials of charcoal is produced then activated carbon plant with capacity 6 - 25 tonnes per day can be made. Charcoal from coconut shell and palmkernel shell are the most common  used in the activated carbon production because its hardness. Iodine number is other parameter the quality of activated carbon besides its hardness. With steam activation, the iodine number that can be reached around 1000 while when combined with chemical activation then the iodine number that can be reached above 2500.

  By setting up the operational process condition such as temperature and residence time then charcoal with high fixed carbon can get and after the process conditions has been obtained for charcoal product with that specification that is desired then the hot charcoal can immediately feed into the  rotating kiln activation unit  without cooling beforehand, so that will save energy consumption significantly especially in the steam activation process. Syngas from pyrolysis will be used in the activation process to produce steam and keep the temperature of activation. Excess syngas after being used in process activation, then can be used to generate electricity or other energy source.

Go Green With Sustainable Energy For All

UN Secretary-General BanKi-moon has called on governments, the private sector and society to commit to his Sustainable Energy for All Initiative at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

In his keynote at WFES, Ban Ki-moon said he has designated sustainable development as his top priority for his next five-year term, and he has set out three objectives to be achieved by 2030:

1. Universal access to modern energy services;
2. Double the rate of improvement of energy efficiency; and
3. Double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

Work on an Action Agenda has already started.Energy transforms lives, businesses and economies. And it transforms our planet — its climate, natural resources and ecosystems. There can be no development without energy.

Biomass is the fourth largest energy source in the world. In contrast to water, wind and solar thermal, biomass is the only energy source that does not depend on the weather in order to ensure stable energy production. Most of the biomass has been used optimally in developed countries, but otherwise there are still many untapped in developing countries. Yet millions of tons of biomass produced annually as a result of agricultural and agro-industrial residue.

Pyrolysis is a technology to process biomass into high-grade fuel. Application of pyrolysis products that biochar can also improve soil fertility. Problem is the lack of electricity supply is a common problem especially in developing countries. According to Ban Ki-moon one in five residents of this planet do not have access to electricity services. Syngas produced from continuous pyrolysis can be used to power plants in remote areas that are rich in potential biomass. 

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF CHARCOAL PROPERTIES

The quality of charcoal depends on both wood species used as a raw material and of the proper application of the carbonisation technology. Charcoal produced from hardwood like beech or oak is heavy and strong. Charcoal made from softwood, on the other hand, is soft and light. The density of beech charcoal is 0.45 t/m3a, that of pine charcoal 0.28 t/m3. The bulk density of charcoal does not only depend on the apparent density but also on the size distribution, and is in the range of 180-220 kg/m3. The gross calorific value (GCV) is usually in the range of 29-33 GJ/t.

Good quality charcoal was characterized by Chaturvedi as follows: “[It] retains the grain of the wood; it is jet black in colour with a shining luster in a fresh cross-section. It is sonorous with a metallic ring, and does not crush, nor does it soil the fingers. It floats in water, is a bad conductor of heat and electricity, and burns without flame.”

Charcoal intended for barbecue typically contains 20-30%mass of volatiles, whereas metallurgical charcoal often contains 10-15%m (or even less) volatile matter. Hence, taking ash contents into account, the fixed carbon content is 78-90 %mass.

This carbon is a finely crystalline and practically free of sulfur. Charcoal also contains volatiles that may escape at elevated temperatures (obviously above the charcoal manufacturing process of approximately 400 C), consisting of hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Ash content is approximately 1.5-5%mass. Charcoal also contains water, the amount being dependent on ambient temperature and humidity. Moisture content varies between 5 %m-8 %mass.

Standards for barbecue charcoal and charcoal briquettes, according to EN 1860.

Charcoal: Carbon (fix), dry basis > 75% Ash, dry basis < 8% Moisture, wet basis < 8% Granulation [d > 80 mm] < 10% [d > 20 mm] > 80% [0 mm < d < 10 mm] < 7% Bulk density > 130 kg/m3

Charcoal briquettes: Carbon (fix), dry basis > 60% Ash, dry basis < 18% Moisture, wet basis < 8% Granulation Suitable for BBQ equipment of EN 1860-1 [d < 20 mm] < 10% Binder Combustion gases cause no health hazards in contact with food. Binder is of food grade quality.

Source : INDUSTRIAL CHARCOAL PRODUCTION, A Development of a sustainable charcoal industry,Presented by FAO

COCONUT SHELLS AND PALM SHELL USED AS WATER PURIFIERS IN TOKYO

Granulated charcoal, made of shells of coconuts and palm kernels, is being used by treatment plants in Tokyo and neighboring regions to filter tap water supplies and protect the city’s water from radiations leaked by a damaged nuclear power plant, according to a report last month from www.bloomberg.com. Prices for the absorbent carbon material have risen as much as 44 percent since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the radiation threat, said Yoshio Toi, a spokesman for the municipal government in Chiba, a prefecture neighboring Tokyo.



Treatment plants are trying to remove any traces of radioactive matter, such as iodine-131, known to cause thyroid cancer, and convince customers that water supplies are safe. Some Tokyo facilities more than quadrupled the amount of activated charcoal used in filtration after a March 21 sample contained iodine-131 that exceeded the safe limit for infants. “Tokyo is ordering more activated charcoal as we deplete our stocks,” said Gen Ozeki, a spokesman for the city’s Bureau of Waterworks. “It’s not just Tokyo doing this, others are taking extraordinary measures for their water, too, so charcoal is becoming scarce.” Kuraray Co., which produces about 24,500 tons of a year of activated charcoal, is receiving orders for “several hundred tons” daily from utilities in and around Tokyo, said Takeshi Hasegawa, a spokesman for the Tokyo-based company. He declined to comment on prices.

Continous Pyrolysis System for Activated Carbon Plant

Activated carbons are versatile adsorbents. Their adsorptive properties are due to their high surface area, a microporous structure, and a high degree of surface reactivity. They are, used, therefore, to purify, decolorize, deodorize, dechlorinate, separate, and concentrate in order to permit recovery and to filter, remove, or modify the harmful constituents from gases and liquid solutions. Consequently, activated carbon adsorption is of interest to many economic sectors and concern areas as diverse as food, pharmaceutical, chemical, petroleum, nuclear, automobile, and vacuum industries as well as for the treatment of drinking water, industrial and urban waste water, and industrial flue gases.


Activated carbon in its broadest sense includes a wide range of processed amorphouscarbon-based materials. It is not truly an amorphous material but has a microcrystalline structure. Activated carbons have a highly developed porosity and an extended interparticulate surface area. Their preparation involves two main steps: the carbonization of the carbonaceous raw material at temperatures below 800°C in an inert atmosphere and the activation of the carbonized product. Thus, all carbonaceous materials can be converted into activated carbon, although the properties of the final product will be different, depending on the nature of the raw material used, the nature of the activating agent, and the conditions of the carbonization and activation processes.


During the carbonization process, most of the noncarbon elements such as oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen are eliminated as volatile gaseous species by the pyrolytic decomposition of the starting material. The residual elementary carbon atoms group themselves into stacks of flat, aromatic sheets cross-linked in a random manner. These aromatic sheets are irregularly arranged, which leaves free interstices. These interstices give rise to pores, which make activated carbons excellent adsorbents.

During carbonization these pores are filled with the tarry matter or the products of decomposition or at least blocked partially by disorganized carbon. This pore structure in carbonized char is further developed and enhanced during the activation process, which converts the carbonized raw material into a form that contains the greatest possible number of randomly distributed pores of various sizes and shapes, giving rise to an extended and extremely high surface area of the product. The activation of the char is usually carried out in an atmosphere of air, CO2, or steam in the temperature range of 800°C to 900°C. This results in the oxidation of some of the regions within the char in preference to others, so that as combustion proceeds,
a preferential etching takes place. This results in the development of a large internal surface, which in some cases may be as high as 2500 m2/g.

Activated carbons have a microcrystalline structure. But this microcrystalline structure differs from that of graphite with respect to interlayer spacing, which is 0.335 nm in the case of graphite and ranges between 0.34 and 0.35 nm in activated carbons. The elemental composition of a typical activated carbon has been found to be 88% C, 0.5% H, 0.5% N, 1.0% S, and 6 to 7% O, with the balance representing inorganic ash constituents. The oxygen content of an activated carbon can vary, however, depending on the type of the source raw material and the conditions of the activation process.

The most important application of activated carbon adsorption where large amounts of activated carbons are being consumed and where the consumption is ever increasing is the purification of air and water. There are two types of adsorption systems for the purification of air. One is the purification of air for immediate use in inhabited spaces, where free and clean air is a requirement. The other system prevents air pollution of the atmosphere from industrial exhaust streams. The former operates at pollutant concentrations below 10 ppm, generally about 2 to 3 ppm. As the concentration of the pollutant is low, the adsorption filters can work for a long
time and the spent carbon can be discarded, because regeneration may be expensive. Air pollution control requires a different adsorption setup to deal with larger concentrations of the pollutants. The saturated carbon needs to be regenerated by steam, air, or nontoxic gaseous treatments. These two applications require activated carbons with different porous structures. The carbons required for the purification of air in inhabited spaces should be highly microporous to affect greater adsorption at lower concentrations. In the case of activated carbons for air pollution control, the pores should have higher adsorption capacity in the concentration range 10 to 500 ppm.

For personal protection when working in a hostile environment, the activated carbons used in respirators are also different. When working in the chemical industry, the respirators can use ordinary activated carbons because the pollutants are generally of low toxicity. However, for protection against warfare gases such as chloropicrin, cynogen chloride, hydrocynic acid, and nerve gases, special types of impregnated activated carbons are used in respirators and body garments. These activated carbons can protect by physical adsorption, chemisorption, and catalytic decomposition of the hazardous gases.


More than 800 specific organic and inorganic chemical compounds have been identified in drinking water. These compounds are derived from industrial and municipal discharge, urban and rural runoff, natural decomposition of vegetable and animal matter, and from water and waste water chlorination practices. Liquid effluents from industry also discharge varying amounts of a variety of chemicals into surface and ground water. Many of these chemicals are carcinogenic and cause many other ailments of varying intensity and character. Several methods such as coagulation, oxidation, aeration, ion exchange, and activated carbon adsorption have been used for the removal of these chemical compounds.


Active carbons in the form of carbonized wood charcoal have been used for many centuries. The Egyptians used this charcoal about 1500 BC as an adsorbent for medicinal purposes and also as a purifying agent. The ancient Hindus in India purified their drinking water by filtration through charcoal. The first industrial production of active carbon started about 1900 for use in sugar refining industries. This active carbon was prepared by the carbonization of a mixture of materials of vegetable origin in the presence of metal chlorides or by activation of the charred material by CO2 or steam. Better quality gas-adsorbent carbons received attention during World War I, when they were used in gas masks for protection against hazardous gases and vapors.

Nearly 80% (~300,000 tons/yr) of the total active carbon is consumed for liquid-phase applications, and the gas-phase applications consume about 20% of the total production. Because the active carbon application for the treatment of waste water is picking up, the production of active carbons is always increasing. The consumption of activecarbon is the highest in the U.S. and Japan, which together consume two to four times more active carbons than European and other Asian countries. The per capita consumption of active carbons per year is 0.5 kg in Japan, 0.4 kg in the U.S., 0.2 kg in Europe, and 0.03 kg in the rest of the world. This is due to the fact that Asian countries by and large have not started using active carbons for water and air pollution control purposes in large quantities.


Coconut shell and palm shell are the best raw materials for manufacturing of activated carbon because of its hardness. Indonesia is the largest coconut plantation with about 4 million hectares and the largest CPO producer in the world with palm oil plantations more than 7 million ha, which is the ideal location of the source of raw material for production of activated carbon. Indonesian coconut plantation area occupies 31.4% of the world with vast coconut plantations of coconut production of approximately 12.915 billion items (24.4% of world production). Coconut shell weight reached 12% of the weight of coconuts. With weight of coconut average 1.5 kg, the potential of Indonesia, namely coconut shell 2.3 million tons / year. The number of palm oil mills in Indonesia and Malaysia more than 800 units. When an palm oil mill with a capacity of 30 tons of fresh fruit bunches per hour, it will produce 1.95 tonnes of palm shells / hour or about 46.8 tons / day. Certainly the number of very abundant for the production of activated carbon.
Our continuous pyrolysis technology with capacity 60 up to 200 ton/day INPUT would very reliable in the process of carbonization. Integration our continuous pyrolysis technology in activated carbon plant would be very beneficial because the most efficient processes (self sustaining process with syngas) and all products can be drawn.