Implications of Charcoal Briquette Produced by Local Communities on Livelihoods and Environment in Nairobi Kenya

The residents of Nairobi, Kenya, use 700 tonnes of charcoal per day, producing about 88 tonnes of charcoal dust that is found in most of the charcoal retailing stalls that is disposed of in water drainage systems or in black garbage heaps. The high costs of cooking fuel results in poor households using unhealthy materials such as plastic waste. Further, poor households are opting to cook foods that take a short time to prepare irrespective of their nutritional value. This article presents experiences with community self-help groups producing charcoal fuel briquettes from charcoal dust in poorer nieghbourhoods of Nairobi for home use and sale. Households that produced charcoal fuel briquettes for own use and those that bought them saved 70% and 30% of money spent on cooking energy respectively. The charcoal fuel briquettes have been found to be environmentally beneficial since they produce less smoke and increase total cooking energy by more than 15%, thereby saving an equivalent volume of trees that would be cut down for charcoal. Charcoal briquette production is a viable opportunity for good quality and affordable cooking fuel. Bioenergy and waste management initiatives should promote recovery of organic by-products for charcoal briquette production

Minimizing the Potential for Groundwater Contamination from Agricultural Point Sources

An activated charcoal filtration unit was designed to remove pesticides from leftover pesticide solutions and rinsates generated under farm-like conditions. The system, fabricated for less than $1400 using readily available components, effectively removed the pesticides atrazine, benomyl, carbaryl, fluometuron, metolachlor, and trifluralin from wastewater generated on the University of Arkansas Agronomy Farm located in Fayetteville, AR. A total of 2253 L of wastewater were treated using the system. Of these 1768 L were generated from washing out the spray tank (rinsates) while 485 L stemmed from leftover pesticide solutions that were mixed, but not applied. Typical initial pesticide concentrations in the wastewater were on the order of 500 to 1000 parts per million (ppm). The final pesticide concentrations remaining after charcoal filtration were generally less than 10 ppm. Approximately 1514 L of wastewater was treated with 23 kg of charcoal before the charcoal was replaced. This resulted in an estimated pesticide loading rate on the charcoal of 0.05 to 0.10 kg pesticide active ingredient per kg activated charcoal. Incubation of alachlor-treated charcoal with a mixed culture of microorganisms resulted in approximately a 30% loss of alachlor after 21 d. These results suggest that on-site degradation of spent charcoal may be a feasible alternative to incineration, however more research is needed to fully determine its potential. A reduced adsorption of methylene blue dye with increasing amounts of trifluralin sorbed to charcoal occurred. Activated charcoal treated with 222 mg/g trifluralin sorbed only 19% of the amount sorbed by the control with no trifluralin present. These results suggest that methylene blue or other dyes might be used to indicate the remaining adsorptive capacity of a charcoal used for removing pesticides from wastewater

Rethinking fuelwood: people, policy and the anatomy of a charcoal supply chain in a decentralizing Peru

In Peru, as in many developing countries, charcoal is an important source of fuel. We examine the commercial charcoal commodity chain from its production in Ucayali, in the Peruvian Amazon, to its sale in the national market. Using a mixed-methods approach, we look at the actors involved in the commodity chain and their relationships, including the distribution of benefits along the chain. We outline the obstacles and opportunities for a more equitable charcoal supply chain within a multi-level governance context. The results show that charcoal provides an important livelihood for most of the actors along the supply chain, including rural poor and women. We find that the decentralisation process in Peru has implications for the formalisation of charcoal supply chains, a traditionally informal, particularly related to multi-level institutional obstacles to equitable commerce. This results in inequity in the supply chain, which persecutes the poorest participants and supports the most powerful actors

Effect of Activated Charcoal and Composition Activator Acid Sulphate on Palm Oil Waste Water Treatment

Purpose of this research is to exploit the shell and palm fiber become the active charcoal, by looking at the influence of the ratio mixture composition and effect of activator. this Active charcoal application as adsorbent to the liquid waste of crude palm oil. Initial treatment, shells and palm fiber dried first at a temperature of 1200C and carbonized. charcoal mix shell and palm fiber activation chemically with a solution of H2SO4 by way of immersed in the solution for 24 hours. The best quality activated charcoal obtained from the comparison of the 75% shell, 25% palm fiber with activator H2SO4 that has a yield of 95.94%, 4.9% moisture content, ash content 6.13%, iodine number 916.594 mg / g. Activated charcoal mixture palm shell and palm fiber can be used as adsorbent liquid waste CPO, which is indicated by a decline in these parameters in the waste water contaminants in CPO, which is a 7.49 pH of 9, TSS of 660 ppm to 325 ppm,COD becomes 237,12 mg/L from1577.60 mg/L

Influence of production variables and starting material on charcoal stable isotopic and molecular characteristics

We present a systematic study on the effect of starting species, gas composition, temperature, particle size and duration of heating upon the molecular and stable isotope composition of high density (mangrove) and low density (pine) wood. In both pine and mangrove, charcoal was depleted in o13C relative to the starting wood by up to 1.6% and 0.8%, respectively. This is attributed predominantly to the progressive loss of isotopically heavier polysaccharides, and kinetic effects of aromatization during heating. However, the pattern of o13C change was dependant upon both starting species and atmosphere, with different structural changes associated with charcoal production from each wood type elucidated by Solid-State o13C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. These are particularly evident at lower temperatures, where variation in the oxygen content of the production atmosphere results in differences in the thermal degradation of cellulose and lignin. It is concluded that production of charcoal from separate species in identical conditions, or from a single sample exposed to different production variables, can result in significantly different o13C of the resulting material, relative to the initial wood. These results have implications for the use of charcoal isotope composition to infer past environmental change

Optimization of quality of charcoal for steelmaking using statistical analysis approach

Steel is one of the most important materials used in modern society. The majority of the steel produced today is based on the use of coke and contributes a lot to greenhouse gases emission. Many researchers have been laid on the possibility to replace part of the fossil-based energy source in iron making with renewable, biomass-derived reducing agent. The main problems of this replacement are some difference of in quality between coke and wood charcoal (more reactive, less strength and carbon content) It causes a little shutdown of production in blast furnace and additional cost to modify a furnace. The aim of this paper was to determine in a statistical manner how carbonizations parameters impact the charcoal quality, especially reactivity and mechanical parameter. We applied a random factorial design and used the General linear System procedure to perform the statistical analysis. The experimental study was carried out using Eucalyptus Urophylla and Eucalyptus Camadulensis wood and involved two carbonization temperature (350 and 600°C), two relative working pressure (2 and 6 bars) and two heating rates (1 and 5°C/min). Six response variables were analyzed and discussed following a random factorial design: the charcoal yield 61, j char), the fixed carbon content (C1), the bulk density (D), the compressive strength (Rm), friability (F) and the reactivity (R) of charcoal. Except for the friability of charcoal, all other property are well correlate with carbonization parameter. In the range of low carbonisation parameter, reactivity of charcoal is affected only by carbonization temperature. (Résumé d'auteur

Experimental TGA device for the determination of cellulose pyrolysis behaviour at elevated pressure

Forestry lignocellulosic biomass is a major renewable energy sources in the world. Carbon generated by Nature through photosynthesis process, could potentially be considered as a neutral energy carrier in term of the greenhouse gas emissions, if it is produced is assured through sustainable plantations use. Cellulose is the main component of biomass (50% in weight on a dry basis in average) and its conversion into high density energy carrier like charcoal, gives relatively low charcoal yield (< 15%). The development of more efficient conversion technologies in terms of yield of charcoal is of primary importance for both developing countries than for industrialized countries. In the first case, the firewood and charcoal are the main sources of energy to the people. In the second case, the development of sustainable energy sources from biomass for biorefinery applications are of primary importance. The work aims to present our first results of the cellulose pyrolysis kinetic study at Elevated Pressure by specific Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA-EP). The aims are (i) to assess the influence of pressure on the pyrolysis reaction kinetics and, (ii) to determine charcoal yield benefit. After a brief presentation of the TGA-EP equipment developed in the laboratory, a more detailed discussion is done about the treatment of the technical constraints like weigh measurement at elevated pressure (buoyancy). Advantage and limitation of the detailed equipment in term of result and potential studied are discussed. A preliminary study on cellulose pyrolyis at elevated pressure is presented. The work was done with commercial microcrystalline Sigmacell cellulose type 50 (30 mg) provided by Sigma-Aldrich, for pressure conditions between 0.1 MPa and 1 MPa, and at a constant heating rate up to 1000 °C. The inert atmosphere conditions were performed by carrying in constant nitrogen gas flow rate (30ml/ min). The results indicate a significant increase of the charcoal yield (>60%) compared to atmospheric condition results and suggest a significant involvement of secondary pyrolysis reactions. (Résumé d'auteur

Monitoring and modeling of household air quality related to use of different Cookfuels in Paraguay.

In Paraguay, 49% of the population depends on biomass (wood and charcoal) for cooking. Residential biomass burning is a major source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5 ) and carbon monoxide (CO) in and around the household environment. In July 2016, cross-sectional household air pollution sampling was conducted in 80 households in rural Paraguay. Time-integrated samples (24 hours) of PM2.5 and continuous CO concentrations were measured in kitchens that used wood, charcoal, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or electricity to cook. Qualitative and quantitative household-level variables were captured using questionnaires. The average PM2.5 concentration (μg/m3 ) was higher in kitchens that burned wood (741.7 ± 546.4) and charcoal (107.0 ± 68.6) than in kitchens where LPG (52.3 ± 18.9) or electricity (52.0 ± 14.8) was used. Likewise, the average CO concentration (ppm) was higher in kitchens that used wood (19.4 ± 12.6) and charcoal (7.6 ± 6.5) than in those that used LPG (0.5 ± 0.6) or electricity (0.4 ± 0.6). Multivariable linear regression was conducted to generate predictive models for indoor PM2.5 and CO concentrations (predicted R2  = 0.837 and 0.822, respectively). This study provides baseline indoor air quality data for Paraguay and presents a multivariate statistical approach that could be used in future research and intervention programs

Coating Membranes for a Sorbent-Based Artificial Liver: Adsorption Characteristics

Techniques are described for the coating of sorbents to be used in an artificial liver support system based on mixed sorbent bed hemoperfusion. Activated charcoal has been coated with cellulose acetate (CA) by solvent evaporation. With Amberlite XAD-4, the Wurster technique was used for coating with CA. XAD-4 has also been coated with a synthetic polyelectrolyte with anticoagulant activity by adsorption and fixation by gamma radiation-induced crosslinking. Activated charcoal, XAD-4, and a cation exchange resin, all in powdered form, were encapsulated in agarose gel beads. Adsorption characteristics onto the sorbents are described. The results are in agreement with a theoretical model presented. In general, adsorption onto XAD-4 is limited by film diffusion. With activated charcoal, pore diffusion limitation is generally observed. Blood compatibility is improved by coatin