Most often, charcoal is purchased; it is sold not only in specialized stores, but also at gas stations, as well as in supermarkets. But if you have a sufficient amount of your own firewood in the garden and have a little space near the fireplace, then at almost zero cost you can get charcoal yourself; it will not be a labor-intensive undertaking, nor will it take much time.
Organization of charcoal production at home
First you need to find some old bucket, barrel or large tin container. We will also need a piece of sheet metal with which we will cover the container. It will be useful if the selected, purchased container has some kind of “ears” or handles, thanks to which the container can be easily manipulated, moved and turned over. Using a drill, you need to make several holes at the bottom and sides (about 15-20 centimeters from the bottom of the barrel) of the container. Not far from the fireplace, we dig a small hole equal to the diameter of the selected container; we dig the depth to the level of the side holes.
We fill a tin container with unnecessary wood and place it on the fireplace with a grate; if there is none, you can use, for example, a couple of bricks or flat stones. Next, we light the wood waste contained in the container. We wait for the end of combustion, the wood will begin to slowly darken, but will not yet turn into coal. We put gloves on our hands so as not to get burned, use “ears” or carrying handles to move the container into the prepared hole, cover the barrel with a lid so that the smoke remains inside and maintains the temperature there and does not bother us. Leave for several hours, or better yet overnight (until the barrel cools down). In the morning, the container will contain ready-made, high-quality charcoal. It is no different from the one we buy in the store.
The entire process of producing charcoal (without preparing a container or place) takes approximately six to eight hours in absolutely unpretentious conditions, without special equipment. The production procedure can be modified in various ways. For example, immediately place the container in a dug hole with a small, strong mesh, then simply throw soil around the barrel to limit the access of air, then the lower fire will burn out.
Making charcoal at home usually requires the use of lumber from deciduous trees. The profitability of production depends on several factors, in particular on the capacity of the container, as well as our desire and hard work. In one process from the barrel standard sizes you can get about five kilograms of coal!
For those who don't know, you can make your own charcoal if you have the right stove. The process is quite labor-intensive and dirty, but it will allow you to prepare high-quality fuel for the winter or even open your own small business producing coal. This technology will be especially interesting for those who live near a forest and have access to an unlimited amount of firewood, which will allow them to produce charcoal for free and then sell it. Of course, this type of coal is most in demand for those who like to have a barbecue.
Let's take a closer look at how charcoal is mined.
Materials and tools:
- wood (any kind will do);
- partially burnt wood;
- a special stove with chimneys;
- overalls for this type of work;
- mask;
- gloves;
- protective glasses.
Charcoal mining process:
Step one. Preparing the oven
First of all, you need to prepare for work. For these purposes, you need to wear protective overalls, gloves, rubber boots, a mask and goggles. All this is necessary in order not to get dirty during work and not to inhale harmful dust particles from coal. Now you can climb into the oven and clean it. Particular attention should be paid to the ventilation openings, they must be clean.
Step two. Installation of the first tier of logs
When the lower part of the stove is cleaned, short logs are laid on it according to a special pattern, their length is about one meter. They need to be laid in the same way as the spokes on a bicycle wheel are installed, in which case the necessary ventilation corridors are formed.
Step three. Filling the stove with logs
Then you can put all the remaining logs in the oven. They are placed in a circle on top of the base of those logs that were laid out in the form of wheel spokes. A chimney is made in the center of the stove; it consists entirely of partially burnt wood, which remains from the previous production process.
Step four. Installing the stove cover and chimneys
The stove is filled with logs to the very top, but a gap must be left so that the lid can be installed. The height of this gap should be about 75 centimeters. When the installation is completely done, the oven is set on fire, and then it is covered with a lid. It is best to do all this early in the morning, for example at 5-6 o’clock, since it takes about 8-12 hours to burn the logs. The combustion time depends on the type of wood, for example, birch or pine will burn much faster than oak.
Also now you need to install chimneys around the stove. They are installed vertically in special holes. There should be three chimneys in total. They should be located at the same distance from each other. Otherwise, the air circulation will be incorrect and the logs will burn unevenly, which is a waste of raw materials.
Step six. Final stage of firing
When the required time has passed, the stove is given time to go out naturally. Now, to continue further work, you need to wait until the oven and its contents have cooled completely.
Step seven. Sorting of received raw materials
At this stage, you need to put on your entire protective uniform again, since the work ahead is dirty. All burnt wood is taken out of the oven and sorted. If you come across logs that are not completely burned, they are set aside and will be used to create a chimney the next time the stove is refueled.
What remains is then sifted from dust and placed in paper bags and other containers.
Charcoal is a porous mass of shiny black color with a blue tint. You can make your own charcoal if necessary. This is a unique material, the most ancient look fuel. But besides this, it has a lot of useful qualities.
Properties of charcoal
Areas where charcoal is widely used:
- Household sphere
- Chemical industry
- Metallurgy
- Agriculture
- Blacksmithing
And this list is not complete yet.
Important: All over the world, charcoal is considered the main source of energy.
Coal is able to perfectly absorb moisture; it rids the room of unpleasant odors and toxic chemical compounds; cleans water from unnecessary impurities; protects products from spoilage. Activated carbon, which everyone often buys freely at pharmacies for stomach problems. In a word, this is truly a useful product in almost all respects.
How to make charcoal yourself
In fact, making charcoal with your own hands is a rather multifaceted process, with many nuances and methods. But there is one, the simplest and most accessible to absolutely everyone, and therefore universal. We are talking about burning wood in a pit.
It is very important to find here appropriate place for the pit. In the city, near the house you should make allowances for the wind, the presence of trees around and anything that could accidentally catch fire. In the forest it is enough to simply find an open place, in country house- the same.
Important: firewood should be small in size.
A round hole is dug with a simple shovel. Its depth is directly dependent on the amount of raw materials. The walls need to be made as vertical as possible. The bottom must be compacted so that the earth does not mix with coal.
Then a fire is made from twigs at the bottom, gradually adding fuel until the hole at the bottom is completely ablaze. Now you can throw the prepared firewood. It is better to pack them more tightly as the fire burns. It will take about 2 to 4 hours for everything to burn through. The type of wood, humidity, and thickness of the logs matter here.
When everything has burned out and the fire has gone out, the pit must be closed tightly. Some people lay it with a sheet of metal, others with turf, the main thing is to ensure tightness. You can open everything in about a day, when the coals have cooled. Unnecessary impurities are removed by sifting the coal through a sieve.
Charcoal for barbecue and flowers
Few people don't like meat cooked on the grill. In addition to the correct marinade and other tricks, there are also nuances associated with coal. Although you can buy charcoal in briquettes for a long time, it never hurts to learn how to make charcoal for the barbecue with your own hands.
The main thing here is to have enough material at hand. Coal can be burned in a pit, as described above, or you can take a galvanized barrel. By the way, getting coal is only half the battle. You need to be able to light it up. To do this, coal is placed on the bottom of the grill in a thin, even layer and poured over with lighter fluid. Then you can add coal, sprinkle it again and wait a little for the liquid to dissipate. Now you can set it on fire.
And this is far from the only place where charcoal can be successfully used. For example, you can make your own charcoal for flowers. This is excellent drainage, which saves plants from death due to overwatering. A natural antiseptic, it absorbs salts and prevents roots from rotting. It is usually placed in a pot at the bottom with a 2-centimeter layer.
And since it is always better to see more than once than to hear a hundred times, for clarity, it is suggested to look at different options for preparing coal yourself. DIY charcoal video
Among various types solid fuel Of particular interest is charcoal, which consists of 80-90% pure carbon. This makes it primarily an effective biofuel, virtually smokeless and environmentally friendly. Its scope of application is quite wide both in various industries and for home use. In this article we will look at how you can burn charcoal with your own hands and how this happens in industrial production conditions.
Production technology
Coal from wood is consumed in large volumes by metallurgical enterprises, where it is used to produce high-purity alloys, as well as to saturate the metal with carbon, resulting in an increase in its physical properties.
In the chemical industry, this product is used in the manufacture of glass, various plastics and even paints. Coal has not bypassed the food industry; in food products it often acts as a natural coloring agent, which is displayed on their packaging under the code E153.
Such significant demand requires corresponding production volumes, so charcoal stoves are usually located near or on the territory of wood processing enterprises. This is understandable, because there is a large amount of large waste wood of various species there, which serves as raw material for charcoaling.
To explain in simple words, then the charcoal production technology is designed to solve the problem of obtaining carbon from wood of the highest possible degree of purity. To do this, all other organic and inorganic substances must be removed, which is achieved using a pyrolysis reaction. Its essence lies in the separation of all unnecessary compounds from raw materials by thermal decomposition in the presence of insufficient oxygen. But let's go in order.
There are four stages of the production process in total (not counting preliminary preparation raw materials):
- drying at temperatures up to 150 ºС. The pyrolysis process, which takes place at higher temperatures, requires a minimum amount of moisture in the raw material;
- pyrolysis, which takes place at a temperature of 150-350 ºС and a lack of oxygen. Thermal decomposition of substances occurs and coal begins to form. Pyrolysis gases are released;
- combustion (calcination) when heated to 500-550 ºС. On at this stage Resins and residues of substances are released from coal in the form of gases;
- recovery (cooling).
In essence, a coal production plant is a furnace where all the above reactions take place. The figure below shows a diagram of the technological process:
Charcoal stove
The charcoal oven is quite complex, and it is very difficult to replicate its design at home. The cylindrical or rectangular body has a combustion chamber, on top of which 2 closed containers filled with raw materials are loaded - retorts. The wood is heated from the outside, through the walls of the retort, and uses the heat generated by the wood during the reaction process. The operation of the furnace in various modes is shown in the diagram:
An industrial furnace for the production of charcoal is designed in such a way that while pyrolysis is taking place in one container, drying is taking place in the second, the pyrolysis gases are burned and pass through a retort with wet raw materials. This sequence is followed further until the final product is obtained. It turns out that the internal volume of each vessel is divided into zones, in each of which a certain process occurs:
After calcination, the containers with coal are unloaded and new ones are placed in the oven. Before packaging and sending to the warehouse, the product undergoes crushing to the required fraction size, and, if necessary, briquetting. The apparatus where all operations are carried out using this technology is a continuous charcoal production furnace. However, there is another technology, but it is more complex and expensive, although it provides high performance.
Making charcoal at home
Information about home charcoaling is of interest to those people who are involved in metal forging in small workshops. Clean biofuel such as charcoal has long been considered the best for the forge. Well, everyone has long known how good charcoal is for kebabs and barbecues, but buying it in a store is a little expensive. Based on the fact that equipment for the production of charcoal is complex, expensive and cumbersome, we will offer two methods that have long been proven by home craftsmen:
- burning coal in a barrel;
- charcoaling in a pit.
The method of making coal in a barrel, as in a pit, assumes the same technological process pyrolysis in a confined space with a lack of oxygen. Only under such conditions the product is not so pure for obvious reasons. The skill of the performer also plays a big role; the first 2-3 portions can simply burn out (which happens more often) or, conversely, not burn out. But everything comes with experience.
The method of charcoaling in a barrel is considered more convenient and technologically advanced. So, to make charcoal yourself, you actually need a metal barrel with a capacity of 200 liters, and even an old vacuum cleaner. Any other cylindrical metal container will do, preferably with thick walls; it will last longer. A hole is drilled at the very bottom of the container and a fitting is inserted. A hose from a vacuum cleaner is connected to it; this will supply primary air to the combustion zone.
It is important to find an airtight lid for the barrel. If there is none, you need to adapt a sheet of metal, asbestos cement or other material for this purpose. You will also need a long steel poker for scooping firewood. Regarding the latter, it is worth noting one important point. Since charcoal is made at home using improvised means, the technology is not always followed, but it is necessary to withstand the low humidity of the firewood.
Important! Freshly cut wood or wood saturated with moisture is not suitable for charcoaling; there will be a lot of smoke, and the pyrolysis process will not begin or will proceed very sluggishly. As a result, you will end up with ash or unburned firewood. The wood must be dry.
The bark is removed from the tree (it smokes a lot, and produces very little coal) and sawed into logs up to 40 cm long, so that they are tightly placed in a barrel. Then light a small fire at its bottom and turn on the vacuum cleaner, otherwise the fire will start to smoke heavily.
As the firewood flares up, you need to add another portion. It should be noted that the production of charcoal in this way is a delicate process; here you need to correctly catch the moment when the raw material has flared up well, but not let it burn to ash, but add new wood. If necessary, you can turn off the vacuum cleaner for a while, and when loading more than half of the container, it is better to insert the air supply pipe from above.
When the barrel is full, it is covered with a lid, the vacuum cleaner is turned off, and the fitting is closed with a plug. Now you need to wait until the processes inside the closed vessel are completed; you can open the lid only after the walls of the container have completely cooled. The convenience of the barrel is that you can simply turn it over and calmly sort the resulting product. Some of the wood will remain unburnt, but it doesn’t matter, it will go to the next load. The rest of the coal is sifted and put into bags.
Charcoaling in a pit
You can make charcoal yourself at home or right in the forest simply in a hole. To get 2 bags of coal, you need to dig a round hole approximately 80 cm in diameter and half a meter deep.
The bottom is trampled down with feet, and the walls are cleaned so that the fuel does not mix with the ground. The latter does not need to be thrown far, it will come in handy in the end. The difference with “barrel” burning is only in the absence of forced pressurization with a vacuum cleaner. Dry firewood is taken, 30 cm long and no more than 7 cm in diameter, and a small fire is built from it at the bottom of the pit.
Further actions - as in the case of a barrel, raw materials are added as needed. A pit full of firewood is covered with leaves or grass, then covered with earth and compacted. You can come back for coal in 2 days, by which time it will definitely have cooled down.
Conclusion
Of course, charcoal burned by yourself cannot be compared in quality to factory-made fuel. But the requirements at home are not as high as in production; coal is quite suitable for a barbecue or forge. You just need to take care not to harm others from smoke or start a fire in the forest.
Charcoal is a biofuel suitable for lighting grills, stoves, barbecues and other cooking facilities, as well as home fireplaces. Its manufacture will require certain knowledge and equipment. Having mastered the technology of how to make charcoal with your own hands, you can get excellent raw materials for household use in a short time without large financial investments.
If we compare charcoal, for example, with peat or firewood, it has undeniable advantages:
- better heat dissipation;
- absence of smoky smoke and harmful emissions into the air;
- low cost;
- a small amount of ash after complete combustion of the fuel;
- absence of foreign impurities (sulfur, phosphorus, etc.);
- ability to maintain high temperature for a long time.
Charcoal is produced by combustion, and the raw material for it is wood itself. It is heated to high temperatures in an airless environment. The finished product is packaged and supplied for sale to stores, markets, wholesale centers, etc.
Thanks to a large number of positive qualities, charcoal is increasingly replacing other types of fuel. To produce it in large quantities, special burning furnaces are used, in which wood is burned at high temperatures without access to oxygen. The absence of air allows the integrity of the wood fibers to be preserved.
Technology for making charcoal at home
If you do not need a whole trailer of charcoal, then purchasing in large quantities will not be rational. You can make a small amount of fuel for a barbecue or stove yourself, having a small supply of knowledge and the necessary materials.
Selection of raw materials
The quality of coal will depend on what type of wood you choose to produce coal. It is better to give preference to logs without bark. Thus, during the burning process, a lot of smoke will not be released.
To save money, it is better to use the wood that is available or that is easier to obtain. The quality class of coal is determined by the type of wood and is marked accordingly:
- “A” - hardwood trees such as oak, elm, birch;
- "B" - mixture coniferous trees hard rocks;
- “B” - softwood, alder, fir, poplar, etc.
The most common and affordable type of wood is birch. It produces excellent coals with high heat output and even heat.
Making charcoal by burning wood in a pit
To make charcoal with your own hands in a pit, you need to prepare the raw materials and the place where it will be laid. The logs, cleared of bark, are sawn. The smaller the size of the logs, the better the quality of coal you will get. It is better that the dimensions of each workpiece do not exceed 25 cm.
Next, a cylindrical hole measuring 60 cm in depth and 70 cm in diameter is dug. This volume is enough to get about two bags of fuel. The walls of the pit must be exactly vertical. The bottom is thoroughly compacted with feet or any available devices. This is necessary so that the earth does not subsequently mix with coal.
When the pit is prepared, you need to build a fire in it. Brushwood or dry bark is suitable for this. Cannot be used for ignition chemicals. The main task is for the bottom to be completely covered with branches, so you constantly need to add new ones as the previous ones burn out.
Wood is laid out in a well-burnt fire. The logs are placed as close to each other as possible. When the first layer burns out, new logs are placed on top of it and so on until the pit is filled to the top.
The time it takes for the logs to turn into charcoal depends on the density of the wood. Their hard rocks will produce higher quality coal and will take longer to burn. From time to time you need to rake out burnt logs with a pole or a long stick.
After 3-4 hours, the log pit should completely burn out. The finished fuel is left to cool completely before packaging. To do this, the coal is covered with fresh grass, earth is thrown on top and everything is compacted well.
It will take approximately 2 days for the fuel to cool down. After this, it is dug up, sifted and put into bags. Charcoal is completely ready for further use.
Just like burning coal in a pit, you must first prepare the wood. The logs are cleaned and sawn. You also need to prepare a thick metal barrel. The volume is selected individually, based on the principle of how much coal is available or how much coal is planned to be prepared. There are two ways to make charcoal with your own hands in a barrel.
- Heat-resistant bricks are placed at the bottom of the container with the ribs up. A fire is built between them using paper, wood chips, brushwood, etc. Prepared logs are laid on top until the coals cover the surface of the bricks. A metal grate is placed on the burnt wood, and the next batch of logs is placed on it. There should not be large gaps between the logs and their layers. As soon as the barrel is filled to the top and a flame appears on the surface, it is covered with a metal sheet or lid. The readiness of the coals is determined by the color of the smoke coming out. If it is gray in color, then the barrel is tightly sealed and the fuel is left to cool. Afterwards, the coals are taken out and used at your discretion.
- Prepare a platform on which the barrel will be installed. To do this, a sheet of non-combustible material, such as steel, is laid on the bricks. A fire is built between the bricks. A barrel filled with firewood is placed on top. The container does not close completely. The cracks are necessary for the escape of gases during the oxidation of wood. When the process of gases escaping stops, the barrel is left on the fire for a while, then removed, and the gas outlet holes are tightly closed. In this form, the coal is left until it cools, then it is checked for readiness and quality.
The process of making charcoal at home is quite labor-intensive, but the result is excellent biofuel without harmful impurities.
Scope of use of charcoal
Home use of charcoal is far from the only area of its application. Burnt wood can be used in industry for the following purposes:
- for “filling” filters;
- to saturate steel with carbon and obtain pure alloys;
- for the production of glass, plastics, etc.;
- in pharmaceuticals for the production of activated carbon;
- for creating natural food dyes;
- for use in agricultural needs.
The significant concentration of carbon makes charcoal a strong reducing agent. Such properties made it possible to use it in metallurgy, chemical, paint and varnish and electrical industries.