How to make Activated Carbon

Activated Carbon from coconut shells, a by-product of copra processing, is a good material for activated carbon/charcoal production. Activated charcoal (charcoal activated with CO2, water vapor, or chemical compounds) made of coconut shell has advantages compared to other materials (wood, rice husk, corn cob) because of its ability to absorb color or aroma. It is used as supporting material for food and non-food industries (processing of cooking oil, sugar, and chemical matter purification). Generally, coconut production at farmer level is 1 ton/ha, with coconut shell by-products of 0.9 ton, which in turn can yield 0.36 ton of activated charcoal. Price of activated charcoal is US$440.00/ton.

Processing of activated charcoal

Materials and equipment:

Coconut shell
Drum or burning sink
Oven
Plastic pail
Crusher wood/iron
Draining tray
Distilled water
Sieve, 100 mesh

Methods:

a. Separate and clean coconut shell from other materials, such as coconut fiber or soil.
b. Sun dry.
c. Burn dried coconut shell at burning sink or drum at 300-500 oC for 3-5 hours.
d. Soak charcoal in chemical solution (CaCl2 or ZnCl2 25%) (Calcium Chloride or Zinc Cholride 25%) for 12-18 hours to become activated charcoal.
e. Wash charcoal with distilled/clean water.
f. Spread on tray at room temperature to be drained.
g. Dry in oven at temperature 110 oC for 3 hours.
h. Crush or refine activated charcoal with crusher wood/iron into size of 100 mesh.
i. Pack activated charcoal in plastic.

Source:www.agnet.org, photo courtesy of http://img.alibaba.com