The utilisation of waste heat produced during the manufacture of coconut shell charcoal for the centralised production of copra / by G. R. Breag and A. P. Harker

Includes tables

Includes bibliographical references

The Forest Products and Fuel Technology Section of the Institute has carried out a series of trials on a pilot plant to examine the possible use of the gases produced during the batch carbonisation of coconut shell in copra drying operations. The results from this research and development programme are augmented with factual data obtained in the field. In addition comparison is made between an integrated coconut shell carbonisation and waste heat unit for drying copra, and an indirect fired shell fuelled dryer system including subsequent carbonisation of the shell. The throughput of the units on which the comparison is made is 3 tonnes of copra per day.

From the study it is shown that the utilisation of waste heat through the combustion of exhaust gases during the carbonisation process for copra drying is feasible and warrants further investigation on the process plant scale. The use of the heat from the waste gases in place of oil-fired dryers offers a particularly attractive alternative but as the work has been carried out on a pilot scale further in-field development work will be required before the technology is confidently applied.