Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Autothermal Portable Charcoal Kiln using Casuarina Wood

Abstract

The foremost aim of this paper is to design a kiln which purpose is to serve as a quick converter of wood into charcoal without wasting the amount of wood and minimizing the emission. The use of wood as biomass for continuous production of charcoal seems to be fruitful due to the capability of producing them in wastelands and in a short period. The charcoal is highly porous and its properties are found by the nature of the carbonization process and the raw materials used. Charcoal is mostly pure carbon, made by solid biomass in a low oxygen environment, a process that can takes several days. To obtain a charcoal highly pure, the source should not contain non-volatile compounds. A biggest disadvantage of conventional production method is the large amount of emissions which are harmful as it gives out CO and the conversion of wood to charcoal is 20 - 25%, fixed carbon content is 60 - 65% under an operating temperature of 450 - 500°C. In this paper, 30kg of kiln is designed and conducted experiments with both auto and allo thermal process (direct and indirect heating) as the conversion of wood to charcoal is 35 - 38%, fixed carbon content is varying from 75% to 80%. (The first half of the process uses wood for the energy and the second half of the process uses the emitted CO as the energy). It is estimated that the CO emission is reduced by 60% compared to traditional method.