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Posts tagged Charcoal

CRH Is Good Carrier Of Inoculant

Carbonized rice hull (CRH) can be an environment-friendly alternative to wood charcoal as a carrier component in making Rhizobium inoculant, according to a study conducted by Dr. Constancio Asis Jr. and Julie Elijay of the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in the Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija.

The use of microbial inoculant such as Rhizobium inoculant in crop production is now being widely adopted by farmers all over the country as this has resulted in increased yield and added profit because the application of synthetic nitrogenous fertilizer is reduced by up to fifty percent.

“The atmosphere has 78 percent nitrogen but this is in inert form which is not readily available for plant use due to the triple bond connecting the two nitrogen molecules,” says Asis. At this point, he said that the use of Rhizobium inoculant can be beneficial because the bacterium Rhizobium releases nitrogenase, an enzyme that cuts the bond between nitrogen molecules, making it available to the plants. In other words, nitrogenase helps in fixing atmospheric nitrogen and converting it into ammonia, a form which is usable by plants.

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Charcoal Briquetting

Learn how to prepare your own uling!

Charcoal made out of the modified pit method can be used in making charcoal briquettes. Charcoal briquette is charcoal duct compactly massed by a binder of cassava flour, corn or sweet potato starch.

As fuel, charcoal briquettes have higher heating value than wood or plain charcoal. They are almost smokeless when burning and give off intense and steady heat. They can be used in blast furnaces to replace coal in the smelting of iron ore since it is compact and dense.

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Here’s An Improved Kawayan Charcoal Briquette (Part 2)

COMPARISON TO OTHER BIOENERGY SOURCE
Comparing the characteristics of BPW based -from the study of Dr. Malab’s team and the standard heating values of charcoal (CRH and wood waste) and briquette (common hardwood and gmelina), the following results were obtained:

BPW has higher heat value (4,997 kcal/kg) than CRH (3,000 kcal/kg) and wood charcoal (2,222 kcal/kg), and was found comparable to common hardwood briquette (5,162 kcal/kg) and gmelina briquette (4,636 kcal/kg).

In terms of ash content, BPW has 8%13%, CRH and wood charcoal both have 8%-10%, common hardwood briquette has 8.18%, and gmelina briquette has 7.32%. However, common hardwood and gmelina briquettes have higher density at 0.52 g/cc and 0.54 g/ cc, respectively than BPW which has 0.46 g/cc.

It was noted that BPW does not easily crumble. It also produces white to clear fumes and does not cause blackening of cookware’s bottom, according to Dr. Malab. He added that a kilo of BPW burns in 2.5 hours, which means that it can cook up to three regular meals.

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Here’s An Improved Kawayan Charcoal Briquette (Part 1)

The dependable old kawayan (bamboo) charcoal briquette is now made better and is making waves in Ilocos, thanks to the continuous development efforts of Dr Stanley Malab and his colleagues from the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Batac, Ilocos Norte.

Dr. Malab, the main researcher on the development of kawayan charcoal briquettes, is the director of Ilocos Agriculture Resources Research and Development Consortium (ILARRDEC) and also the vice president for research, extension and agribusiness affairs of MMSU.

In a forum organized by the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development recently, Dr. Malab introduced the BPW (Biomass Processing Wastes) briquette, which is a combination of bamboo wastes, carbonized rice hull (CRH), and chichacorn effluent.

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ITDI Reactor Produces Cheaper Activated Carbon

The Industrial Technology Development Institute(ITDI) of the Department of Science and Technology has developed a reactor which produces cheaper activated carbon(AC) from dried coconut shells and surplus energy which can be converted into electricity.

Cora Magpantay, senior science research specialist of ITDI’s Fuels and Energy Division, said that in the new technology, carbonization and activation are done in a single reactor whereas in the conventional process, these are done separately and eats up more energy.

The reactor has a capacity of 15 kilos per hour while in the conventional process, only 12 kilos of AC are produced per hour. And since it follows a continuous process and uses the gas that it produced for activation, it also reduces the production cost. “The process that takes place in the reactor is self-sustaining since the gas produced is also used to produce steam that is needed in the activation phase.” she added.

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Manual Charcoal Briquettor Boosts Income of Coconut Farmers

This modified manual briquetting machine has been creating ripples in Cavite.

The researchers of the Forestry Products Research and Development institute, based at UP Los Banos, Laguna, fabricated a modified manual briquetting machine using steel plates, angle bars and round bars. It was patterned after an existing manual briquetting machine weighing 55 kilograms (kg) and produces 12 kg of briquettes per hour. Each briquette measures 5.0 cm high and 2.5 cm in diameter.

The modified unit makes briquettes each measuring 3.8 cm high and 3.8 cm in diameter with 1.25 cm cavity diameter. It produces 15 kg of charcoal briquettes/hr. The unit weighs 75 kg, making it sturdier than the old unit.

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Bamboo Wastes Make An Excellent Charcoal Briquette

Bamboo wastes particularly the dead poles and branches from the clumps as well as the processing wastes such us trimmings and shavings, can be a very good material for making low-cost be a very good-quality charcoal briquettes used for cooking purposes.

This was learned from Dr. Stanley C. Malab, a professor and scientist at the Mariano Marcos State University and the director of Ilocos Agriculture and Resources Research and Development Consortium (ILARRDEC), both located in Batac City, Ilocos Norte.

Dr. Malab headed a research team that perfected the process of making charcoal briquettes out of bamboo wastes. What makes it more interesting is that the researchers have used effluent from the processing of “chichacorn” (boiled glutinous white corn kernels and deepfried) as binder.
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