Reviving the Integrated Coconut Industry Part 8: Coconut Milk, VCO, Dessicated Coconut, Coconut Water, Nata de Coco, Shell Charcoal and Activated Carbon

Basically the campaign to save the coconut plantation (tree of life) is to revive the integrated coconut industry. Damaged and not maintained of coconut plantations due to lack of funding to maintain and develop it in a sustainable manner.

Bioeconomy is defined as knowledge-based production and uses biological resources or living things to produce products, processes, and services in the economic sector within the framework of a sustainable economic system.

Instant coconut milk or packaged coconut milk is almost unthinkable, especially by mothers in Indonesia a few decades ago. Likewise, bottled coconut water, almost all Indonesians were also unthinkable at that time. That is mainly because coconut is very easy to get in almost all corners of the country. But this condition changed when Asian cuisine began to worldwide so that many Western people like it. Coconut milk as one of the main elements of the dish has become a necessity that must be provided. Urban communities with dense population and have a high level of activity, need something practical and instant that makes instant coconut milk products easily accepted. It is also the same as instant food seasoning products that are in demand in urban areas.

Coconut milk and bottled coconut water industry is a type of large industry so it requires a supply of raw materials in large quantities and continuously. To get these conditions in general can only be in coconut plantations which are not infrequently still very remote location. At that location, electricity and a number of supporting infrastructure were not yet available, so the integrated coconut industry could not yet be operated. Electricity is one of the basic needs for industrial operations, so it needs to be made before running the integrated coconut industry such as industries with the main products are coconut milk and bottled coconut water. The production of electricity for this purpose can be done in at least two ways: first, with a steam boiler, as is usually done in a palm oil mill. Coconut coir which has the lowest economic value is used for fuel.

The second way, namely by continuous pyrolysis. Coconut shell can be used as raw material for the pyrolysis. With pyrolysis technology, it would be more profitable because besides electricity generated, heat and charcoal shells are also produced. Electricity and heat can be used for the operation of the coconut processing industry, while shell charcoal can be directly sold or further processed into briquettes or activated carbon. When the need for electricity is large, power plants can use both, namely coconut coir steam boilers and pyrolysis with raw materials for coconut shells. If you want to produce more charcoal, coconut coir can also be used for continuous pyrolysis fuel. The quality of coconut coir is lower than that of coconut shell. This is so that coconut coir charcoal can be used as agricultural charcoal (agri-char / biochar) so that it will increase the productivity of coconut plantations, while coconut shell charcoal for the purposes mentioned above.

Apart from being processed into packaged coconut milk, fruit meat can also be processed into VCO (Virgin Coconut Oil) or dessicated cooconut. VCO production can be done on a medium scale, but currently for the export market or foreign buyers in general require organic certificates. That is also the reason why the production of small-scale VCO for the export market is difficult. Basically, coconuts can be made for a variety of products, according to market needs. Almost all coconut processing industries require electricity and heat for the production process (specifically for the VCO industry, only electricity). The integrated coconut industry approach makes the coconut processing industry more efficient. The combination of the coconut processing industry adjusts to market needs. The dim market for copra & coconut oil, it turns out that little by little is substituted by increasing markets for dessicated coconut, VCO, coconut milk, nata de coco, bottled coconut water and even coconut sugar. Is it possible that the coconut will come back victorious? There are indications there indeed. Wallahu'alam 

Modernization Charcoal Production with Continuous Pyrolysis

Charcoal production and charcoal marketing have not been treated by strict rules such as wood pellets. This is mainly due to the large number of charcoal producers, with a small average production and traditional production technology. In addition, the market or buyer also does not require large volumes and long-term contracts. The quality factor remains an important standard, especially for the export market. But it could be that more stringent rules will also apply to production and marketing, given the potential damage caused. The low conversion of traditional charcoal kiln, which is an average of 15%, makes the need for wood raw materials extra, so that to produce 1 million tons of raw materials is needed about 6.5 million tons of wood. The approach to using efficient technology is increasingly urgent especially to serve large and continuous needs. Pyrolysis or continuous carbonization is the solution to this, with a conversion rate to charcoal reaching 30% or almost one third. With this efficient technology, only 3 million tons of wood is needed, or only half that means saving about 3 million tons of wood raw material.

Another motivation for using continuous pyrolysis technology is the high efficiency of energy savings that can be obtained. In charcoal production traditionally more than 60% of energy is lost during the production process. This can be illustrated in making charcoal from coconut shells. Conversion from raw materials to charcoal is only 15-25% in the process of traditional carbonization / pyrolysis. For example, we take a conversion of 25% (the best estimate), with a raw material of 10 tons of coconut shell, then 2.5 tons of charcoal are produced. Coconut shell with a heating value of around 4,500 kcal / kg, meaning that 10 tons of raw material is 45,000,000 kcal. While coconut shell charcoal with a heating value of around 8,000 kcal / kg, then 2.5 tons of charcoal will have a heating value of 20,000,000 kcal / kg. Based on these calculations more than 50% of energy is lost or is only wasted, ie 25,000,000 kcal. If the conversion to charcoal is lower or 20%, the energy loss is even greater, namely 29,000,000 kcal or more than 60%. Of course it is very inefficient and a lot of energy waste.

Whereas in the continuous pyrolysis process almost all energy can be utilized. Syngas and biooil are two types of by-products from pyrolysis that can be used as energy sources. Based on this, not only is conversion increasing, resulting in a reduction in raw materials which are also used by side products that can be used as energy sources. At present there are very few people who are thinking of utilizing the energy lost during the carbonization / pyrolysis process, this is because most people only think about how to increase the conversion to the charcoal. The loss of energy during the carbonization process is unknown or not realized by mostly charcoal producers in particular.

The use of 'lost energy' when the carbonization / pyrolysis process becomes another form of energy is certainly very good and adds value to its benefits. Electricity and heat are the two most needed forms of energy, so the conversion of 'lost energy' or pyrolysis / carbonization byproducts to become electric and heat energy is the best use scenario today. A number of regions or regions in the world still have low levels of electricity access. Africa, for example, on average has a low level of access to electricity, which is less than 30%, whereas in this region is the largest charcoal producer in the world which reaches 50% of global global production. By using continuous pyrolysis, this area, in addition to being the largest charcoal producer and even with a higher conversion, will also have access to electricity with the construction of a power plant fueled by the pyrolysis / carbonization by-products.

Charcoal is an energy product from biomass processing, especially wood. Wood charcoal has been known for a long time and is produced in a number of places. The process of producing wood charcoal is generally traditional, takes a long time and the quality is not uniform. According to FAO, global wood charcoal production in 2015 was recorded at more than 50 million tons and about half of it was produced in Africa. That means with the assumption that the conversion rate of 15% requires biomass, especially wood as raw material, as much as 333 million tons every year with 167 million tons coming from Africa. If the conversion rate to charcoal can be increased to 30% or two times, then the need for raw materials will decrease drastically or only half, namely 167 million tons globally and 83.5 million tons from Africa. What a very significant savings effort.

Every year Europe imports 1 million tons of charcoal, as well as Saudi Arabia and Middle Eastern countries import more than 1 million tons of charcoal. Saudi Arabia and the Middle East mainly use charcoal to roast lamb, a favorite food there. The use of charcoal in general is mostly the household sector with retail distribution. In addition charcoal is also used for metallurgy, agriculture (biochar) and activated charcoal (activated carbon) raw materials.

Activated Carbon Production From Palm Kernel Shell

Besides being able to be directly used as fuel, for charcoal production and torrified products, palm kernel shells can also be processed for higher added value which is activated carbon. One of the advantages of activated carbon from palm kernel shells is that the majority of micropore is more than 80%. This makes it suitable for recovering gold and silver from the solution. Another thing that makes it suitable for the application is because of the level of its hardness. Activated carbon from palm kernel shells will have characteristics similar to activated carbon from coconut shell. The form of granule is activated carbon which is commonly used for recovery of gold and silver. The granule shape is made by crushing both coconut shells and palm kernel shells to a certain size.

Rotating Kiln For Steam (Physical) Activation

Indonesian and Malaysian palm kernel shell production is huge, which is more than 15 million tons per year from palm oil mills waste. There are around 17 million hectares of palm oil plantations from both countries as palm oil sources and are the largest in the world today. The use of palm kernel shells can be optimized for the production of activated carbon. Activated carbon demand is predicted to increase by about 10% per year and the demand reaches nearly 4 million tons in 2021 valued at 8.12 billion USD (while data in 2015 recorded global production of 2.7 million tons of of activated carbon valued at USD 4.74 billion). Powdered activated carbon (PAC) has the largest market share followed by granular activated carbon (GAC) .The high demand for PAC is mainly driven by the needs in a number of industries such as chemicals, petrochemicals, food and beverages for decolorizarion and deodorization applications. Liquid phase application have the largest portion for usage of activated carbon. Asia Pacific region is the largest market location for activated carbon, and the location of Indonesia and Malaysia which are rich in palm kernel shells is also in the Asia Pacific region, meaning that producers and markets can be in one region, so they should also be the main players of this commodity .

As awareness of sustainability increasing, the production of activated carbon from renewable raw materials will be expanded. It should be noted that world activated carbon production is currently dominated by activated carbon from non-renewable raw materials which reach up to 80% and partly produced in western countries. Activated carbon production can be carried out by chemical or physical activation. Chemical activation is not so much done on an industrial scale because of the associated environmental pollution, although the yield is higher and the operating temperature used is lower. Physical activation, especially with the steam, is the type of activation that is suitable for palm kernel shells and mostly operated today. Rotary kilns are the most widely used equipment for steam or physical activation.

Before being activated, the palm kernel shell is made into charcoal. The charcoal production process is still largely traditional, which makes a lot of air pollution, small yields and large energy losses. Modernization of technology for charcoal production needs to be done to overcome the above. Pyrolysis or continuous carbonization is a technology for charcoal production which is the activated carbon raw material. The pyrolysis or continuous carbonization will also make the activated carbon production process very efficient. This is because one of the highest cost components for the activated carbon production process can be fulfilled from the side products of continuous pyrolysis namely syngas and biooil. For more details can be read here.

Production of Biophenol, Bioformaldehyde and Wood Adhesive from Pyrolysis Liquid Products

The byproducts of biomass (slow) pyrolysis are liquid and gas products. The liquid products consist of biooil and biomass vinegar (pyroligneous acid). Biooils can be directly used as fuel with a particular burner, or can also be upgraded to the vehicle fuel. Meanwhile, if used for non-energy products, can be used for the production of green chemical or renewable chemicals such as BioFormaldehyde and wood adhesive. While the aqueous phase of pyrolysis liquid product that is biomass vinegar (pyroligneous acid) can be used for feedstock biophenol production. Previously biomass vinegar has been known for various uses such as latex coagulant, anti-termite and fertilizer. While the biophenol production process scheme of biomass vinegar as follows.

Global consumption for phenol currently reaches 20 million tons or worth 20 billion US dollars (280 trillion rupiah). Renewable phenol or biophenol can substitute phenol which has been produced based on petroleum. Excess heat and excess syngas from the pyrolysis process can be used for the production process of the biophenol as energy sources. An integrated and efficient production unit will produce highly competitive products, such as the pyrolysis process which is primarily charcoal, and from its by-products made derivative products that are desperately needed today.