How to make charcoal from birch. How to make charcoal at home

Charcoal is a natural biofuel that can be used in a variety of industries. What are the benefits of charcoal?

• does not contain phosphorus and sulfur;
• does not have a negative impact on the atmosphere;
• has a large ;
• burns out completely;
• is a renewable resource.

Those who have already faced the need to purchase charcoal know that this type of fuel is very expensive. Therefore, in order to minimize costs, you can make charcoal with your own hands. In the manufacture of charcoal, both hardwoods (beech, oak, birch, etc.) and softwoods (aspen, alder, poplar, etc.) can be used. The quality of the fuel also depends on the feedstock: I get grade A coal from hard grades, grade B coal from soft grades.

How to make charcoal in a pit

This method was used by our ancestors. So it will be easy to make coal yourself. First you need to dig a small hole. The pit is made in the form of a cylinder, following the verticality of the walls. With a diameter of 75-80 cm and a depth of 50 cm, approximately two bags of coal are obtained.

The bottom of the pit must be tamped (you can use your feet) so that the soil does not mix with the finished product. Then a fire is made in the pit (use small branches, dry birch bark, etc., but no “chemistry”). Gradually add dry thin branches or firewood to the fire, it is necessary that the entire bottom is covered with burning firewood. When the fire flares up well, we proceed directly to the burning of charcoal: we add prepared firewood.

Important! Firewood for charcoal must be without bark. It smokes a lot, and the coal from it is of poor quality. To make it more convenient to use fuel, you can cut the firewood into “portioned” pieces. Choose the sizes yourself, but it is undesirable to use more than 30 cm.

Gradually, as some firewood burns out, we lay fresh ones on top, periodically moving them with a long pole - the firewood should lie tightly. And so on until the hole is filled to the top. How long the burning lasts depends on the size of the firewood, and on their density (hardwood burns out longer, but coal is of better quality), and on the humidity of the air. It takes at least 3 hours to fill a hole of the specified size.

The filled pit should be covered with green grass or leaves, sprinkled with a layer of earth on top and tamped well. Under these conditions, the manufactured charcoal will cool for about two days, after which it must be sieved and packaged. After all these procedures, the coal is completely ready for use.

This video clearly demonstrates this technology, inherited from our ancestors, but big pieces are burned here. It takes more time. Firewood smokes strongly due to the fact that the bark is not cleaned. Try repeating the process, but without the bark, and compare.

How to make charcoal in a barrel

Another way to make your own charcoal. You will need a thick-walled metal barrel. You choose the size depending on the amount of coal you want to make in one run (if the barrel is large, it will take a long time to fill it). Under no circumstances should containers from under chemistry be used, if oil products were stored in the container, it must be burned out and only clean ones should be used.

There are two ways to make charcoal in a barrel. In the first, a fire is made inside it and then the process itself is no different from getting coal in a pit. Only if you use a large container (100-200 liters) so that the firewood laid on top does not “crush” the fire, put six bricks (preferably refractory) standing on the bottom. Between them, make a fire, carefully load the firewood until the coals almost cover the bricks. Then put a grate on the bricks and lay the next batches of logs on it. This wood is laid in rows tightly. After filling the barrel to the top, wait until flames appear on the surface, then cover with a sheet of iron, leaving a small gap. To speed up the process, air can be supplied to the hole made in the lower part, for example, from a vacuum cleaner, but it is quite possible to do without it. Firewood is burning, and you watch the color of the smoke. As soon as it turns gray, the barrel must be closed tightly and left in this state until it cools completely. Then remove the lid and take out the finished coals.

In the second version, a barrel filled to the top with densely packed wood is covered with a non-combustible lid. Close almost tightly. The holes should be (for the release of gases), but small, since the temperature inside must be brought up to 350 ° C. We put the barrel on a platform isolated from the ground. In the simplest version, these are several bricks laid on a sheet of metal. Between these bricks we make a fire, on which we “warm” the barrel. After some time, the process of wood oxidation (combustion) begins and gas begins to come out. After the release of gases has stopped, leave the container on the fire for some more time (so that you can navigate, let's say that it may take 2-2.5 hours to burn a 20-liter container with firewood into coal). Then we remove the barrel from the fire and close up the holes in the lid. Leave until completely cool. Having opened the barrel, we have some charcoal that you made with your own hands. Nice…

These techniques are not the only ways to make charcoal at home, but they are inexpensive. Their disadvantage is the difficulty of tracking the process: if in an open pit or barrel it is still possible to somehow navigate by the type of firewood, then such “means” of control are not available in a closed barrel. Relying on experience. After several self-made batches, you will learn how to burn coal with high quality, avoiding underburning or, conversely, burning out of raw materials (at first, almost everyone has it).

An easy way to make your own charcoal

If you have a wood-burning stove, you don’t need any special devices: firstly, you can choose burned-out, but not collapsed red coals and lower them into a container with a well-fitting lid. It is desirable that it be a large ceramic tub, but you can also fit a bucket or a small barrel. Just remember that when using metal containers, you must not forget about fire safety, and you can get burned. The lid must be closed until the coal has cooled completely. After everything has cooled down, you already have coal.

In order to have more coal, after the laying of firewood flares up well, close the doors and blower, close the dampers, allow 15 minutes to burn out, and then scoop out the coals into an airtight container. The result is more significant, but the method is more risky.

Charcoal production as a business

If you consider the production of charcoal as a business, then you won’t be able to manage with a pit and a barrel: the volumes are not the same, it takes a lot of time. We will have to purchase equipment for the production of charcoal. You will need:

• coal burning furnace;
• scales, charcoal bags and filling equipment;
• source or generator of electricity;
• means for chopping firewood (chainsaws, devices for chopping firewood, etc.).

A lot of expenses, but you can save on premises: production is located in an open area. At the start, you can get by with one furnace, but to reach serious capacities, you need to consider a chain of furnaces, since the process is quite lengthy: first loading wood and drying it, then firing, cooling and unloading products. A more serious installation contains separate containers - retorts, into which raw materials are loaded. There can be several retorts: while wood is drying in one, coal is burned out in another, the third cools down, the next one is unloaded and loaded (). Such a chain provides round-the-clock operation.

Self-manufacturing of a coal burning furnace looks problematic: even the simplest designs are far from elementary, you will have to work with thick-walled metal, welding must be of high quality. For example, here is a drawing of a charcoal stove called UVP-5B, developed by TsNIIME.

This development of TsNIIME looks simpler. Their portable charcoal kiln is laconic and has good performance, but it requires compliance with all proportions.

In general, as a business, the production of charcoal is not the easiest option, but quite promising and, if properly organized, profitable: demand is growing steadily, prices for good fuel are high. Moreover, even waste and non-standard products (crumb and fine coal) can be processed into fuel briquettes.

Conclusions. The simplest ways to make charcoal at home are generally available: mostly dry wood (even thin branches and dead wood will do), a small plot of land and / or a metal barrel with a lid. If we consider the production of charcoal as a business, then there will be considerable costs. But charcoal can be made from any type of wood, even from waste from the woodworking industry: scraps and substandard residues. You can even use sawdust, having previously formed pellets. Some of the products coming out of the kiln do not meet the standards, but screenings of charcoal can also be turned into good fuel using. In general, despite the difficulties, this is a fairly promising type of activity.

Charcoal is used as a fuel for barbecues, filters and medicines are made from it.

Typically, special charcoal kilns are used to produce charcoal. The main condition for the operation of such a furnace is to ensure the combustion of wood at a high temperature, but without access to oxygen. Without oxygen, the combustion reaction does not take place completely, as a result of which the wood does not break down.

To make charcoal at home, we need wood, from which charcoal will be obtained. It will be better if you cut the tree into small briquettes, then the coal will be of high quality, and there will be less waste.

You also need firewood for a fire and a metal container that will have an airtight lid. A 20-liter barrel is also suitable as a container.

First, make a fire. It is better to stack firewood on top of each other to make it easier to install the barrel. You can use bricks or concrete blocks as a stand for the barrel. Peel the tree from the bark and cut it into small pieces so that it is easier to grind them later. If you do not clean the bark, corrosive gases will come out of the bark during distillation. Then put the wood briquettes up to the top in a metal barrel. Place the container on a fire with a tightly closed lid. To initially prevent heat from escaping, you can lubricate the gaps between the edges of the lid with resin. Make a few small holes for the release of gases, otherwise an explosion may occur. But the holes must be small so that the temperature in the barrel reaches 350 degrees. Keep the barrel of coal closed for some more time, without removing it from the fire, even after the cessation of the release of gases. The total distillation time of charcoal can last 2-2.5 hours. At the end, remove the barrel from the fire and also leave it without oxygen. The charcoal must cool inside the container, because if you immediately open the lid, the charcoal may flare up. As a result, the charcoal will turn out to be even better.

The second method is much simpler and you do not need to use any containers. Stack all the wood in a pyramid and light a fire. When igniting, do not use gasoline or other combustible substances, otherwise the smell will remain in the coal. Use only natural products such as paper. Now wait until the fire burns out, and only red coals remain. Carefully collect them with a scoop and put them in some kind of pan. As soon as all the coals have been collected, it is necessary to close the lid tightly and block the access of oxygen so that the coals do not burn out. The whole process takes no more than 2 hours.

When the need for natural biofuel arises, people rush to the store to buy charcoal. But the price of this product is very high, it is one thing to buy a couple of packages for the barbecue, and another to provide such fuel for a fireplace in a city house.

Why in the city? Because in a rural house or in a cottage, fireplaces can be heated with wood, since they are equipped with chimneys and other necessary elements. And in a city apartment, you can only make an electric fireplace or charcoal, which does not need a chimney, but will perform more of a decorative function. However, if you know how is charcoal made, the financial burden can be greatly reduced.

Making this type of fuel with your own hands is not so difficult, in this article we will reveal how to make it at home.

Benefits of Charcoal

Charcoal is obtained by pyrolysis, which involves heating wood without access to oxygen. It is used in various fields of human activity and has a number of remarkable properties:

It is for these reasons that people are increasingly thinking about how to make handmade charcoal. And many achieve amazing results.

Old-fashioned way of production

This method is far from new. Our grandfathers also used it. There is nothing complicated in such production, and additional investments are not required. All you need is to prepare firewood and dig a cylindrical hole. The walls of the pit should be as steep as possible, its diameter should be about 80 cm, and the depth should be 50 cm.

The bottom of the pit is carefully tamped so that loose soil does not mix with ready-made charcoal. in the hole lay out a fire from dry branches and birch bark, without chemicals for ignition. When the whole bottom is covered with burning branches, the laying of prepared firewood, peeled from the bark, begins.

As it burns out, new portions of wood are reported into the pit, this is done until the pit is completely filled. As a rule, the process takes more than three hours. The filled pit is covered to the brim with leaves or green grass and covered with earth, which also needs to be tamped down. It takes at least two days to cool, then the finished material is sieved and packaged for storage. That's exactly what happens making charcoal at home.

From one bookmark in such a pit, you can get almost two bags of the finished product. Just in case, it should be noted that the quality of charcoal depends on the type of wood. Grade A wood biofuels are produced from hardwoods such as:

• maple;
• Birch tree;
• oak and others.

Grade B charcoal is obtained from soft wood:

• poplar;
• aspen and others.

This is the easiest way to get charcoal, but others are also known.

The use of a metal barrel

There is another option, how to make charcoal at home. For it you need a barrel made of thick metal. It is very important to remember that the barrel must be clean, if chemicals were stored in it, then it is not suitable for our purposes. After storage of oil products, the barrel is usually burned out to clean it.

Refractory bricks are placed at the bottom of the barrel, and a fire is made between them, which is maintained until the coals completely cover the height of the bricks. Now you need lay the grate and the wood on it in dense rows. Fill the container to the top, and wait for the appearance of flames. Now cover with a heavy sheet of iron on top, leaving a small gap.

If you want to speed up the process, then make a small hole at the bottom of the barrel in advance and blow a little air in there (with a vacuum cleaner). However, this is not too important. Your task monitor the color of the smoke. As soon as it becomes gray, the gap on top must be closed. After that, the closed barrel stands quietly until it cools completely.

Making a small amount of charcoal

If you don't need bags of charcoal, but you use it when transplanting flowers, for example, then you can do without tricky methods. Provided, of course, that you have a cottage or a house in the village with a wood-burning stove.

Arm yourself with oven (fireplace) tongs for coals and a metal container with a tight lid. Now pull burned-out but not broken coals out of the oven red and put them in a container. Close the lid tightly and do not touch until completely cool. That's all, you already have coal for drainage in flowerpots.

Areas of use of charcoal

Charcoal is used for filtration, in rare cases for our country - in metallurgy, for the production of activated carbon and smelting of crystalline silicon. In addition, it is used in agriculture and medicine. But for these purposes, charcoal is produced on an industrial scale.

For domestic use, it is applicable as a fuel for fireplaces and stoves, as it gives a uniform heat without flames. In this case, grade A hardwood charcoal is preferred. And, of course, barbecues and flowerpots, for which it is quite easy to make biofuel at home.

Kindle, best of all without the use of chemicals. This will get rid of the unpleasant odor during the combustion process. Crumple up a sheet of paper and fold thin chips around the hut. As the structure heats up, add some firewood, and then lay out the charcoal in a slide. After it has flared up, spread it on the bottom of the brazier and wait until the flames disappear. At the same time, the coals will be covered with a gray coating. Everything, you can cook meat.

In this article, we told you how to make biofuel with your own hands. We hope this information will help you make them at home.

Today, charcoal is quite in demand - it is bought by restaurants and cafes for cooking, chemical and metallurgical plants for production processes, people for cooking barbecue and grilling. Charcoal production as a business - a great solution if you live in wooded areas. The procedure does not require serious investments and quickly pays off with the right approach. In this article, we will analyze how to start your own charcoal business and give an example of the calculation.

Introduction

Charcoal is a high-carbon material, which is obtained by pyrolysis of various types of wood with limited air intake. For its production, a special oven is required, which can be placed both in your own garage and in the open air or in a specially equipped workshop.

Charcoal is a profitable business

As of 2017, in Russia there is an average saturation of the market with these products, so any businessman can easily start production and find sales outlets for finished products. The main thing is to correctly calculate and think over everything, analyze the consumer market, think over where it is more profitable to sell products in bulk. Make a detailed business plan and stick to it as you implement your idea.

Types of coal

Many people think that all coal sold in supermarkets and gas stations is the same, but in reality there are many varieties. It can be divided into:

1. Red. It is made from conifers using a special technology by soft charcoal.
2. White. To create it, hardwood is used, such as oak, birch, elm, hornbeam, etc.
3. The black. To create it, soft wood is used: linden, aspen, poplar, alder, willow, etc.

Many entrepreneurs make only classic black coal, but if you want to capture the market, then the range should be expanded. You should be guided by what raw materials you can get: if oak forests grow in your area, then you will have to use this particular material, etc. You should also know that there are three varieties according to GOST 7657-84 A, B and C. The higher the grade , the better the quality of coal and the more willing it will be purchased, so try to make only a quality product.

Note: a large number of entrepreneurs use various waste products from woodworking and furniture companies, as well as rotten logs and bars as raw materials. It is not recommended to do this, since the quality of coal from such raw materials will be extremely low.

Of course, you can earn more in this way. But customers will not like your products and in the end it will hit the image of a young business.

You should also consider in what packaging to sell the product. Usually it is packaged in paper bags and plastic bags with a capacity of 2 to 50 kg. The most popular among the population are bags weighing 5-10 kg, while restaurants and enterprises buy it in bags of 50 kg to reduce the cost of raw materials.

Raw Material Improvement Dryer

How is charcoal made

Next, we will analyze the technology for the production of charcoal. There is nothing complicated in it - the process is based on the principle of pyrolysis. The finished raw material is fired at a given temperature without air access and turns into coal. The production algorithm is as follows:

1. Raw materials are manually loaded into the furnace.
2. The furnace turns on, burning occurs.
3. Coal is unloaded, cooled, packaged and sent to the warehouse.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in the procedure, but safety precautions should be strictly followed during production. Be sure to observe fire safety, set an alarm and have several fire extinguishers on hand so that in case of fire it can be quickly eliminated.

The best raw material for making coal is wood in chocks, cut into pieces of 40-60 cm. If you plan to buy logs, you will have to hire a special person who will grind them to a predetermined size. The cheapest way to buy raw materials is from a supplier or at woodworking plants - they are available in almost all regions of Russia. Negotiate with them about wholesale deliveries - the cheaper you can buy raw materials, the greater the profit.

Equipment

Let's consider whatmust be purchased. Today, the market offers entrepreneurs a wide range of specialized equipment, ranging from inexpensive manual-loading furnaces to automated lines capable of producing tens of cubic meters of finished product per shift. The main equipment for manufacturing is a pyrolysis oven. We do not recommend starting a business with professional stoves - first, get a small one, master the process, find customers, and then calculate how much coal you can sell, and select a new device based on this. When choosing, consider the following factors:

1. Available area. Entry-to-mid range ovens are about 40 m2, so think about whether you can place it on your site or in the workshop.
2. How many raw materials can you load at one time. Keep in mind that to get 1 ton of coal you need 7-9 tons. The better the quality of the loaded wood, the better the product will be.
3. duration of pyrolysis. On average, one cycle lasts about 50 hours, but it all depends on the type of wood, the selected equipment and the volume of the furnace.
4. The power of the pyrolysis oven. Power is how much coal can be created in one cycle. On the market there are models with a capacity of 100 to 2000 kilograms of finished products.

Pyrolysis oven for manufacturing

What you need to get started

Next, consider charcoal production technology and equipment needed to start. The main thing in this business is the oven. The price depends on its power - in 2017, a small 100-kilogram furnace can be bought for 50,000, a full-fledged 2 tons - for 1,000,000 rubles. Thanks to this division, you can choose the option that suits you both in terms of price and performance. Many entrepreneurs start their journey with a 300-500 kg oven, after which, if necessary, they buy a second one or change it to a more powerful one. Note that not only pyrolysis, but also retort furnaces are on the market, but they are worse in quality, so they should not be considered as an alternative. To get started you will also need:

1. Scales electronic 5-7 000 rubles.
2. Packaging device - 100-150,000 rubles.
3. Chainsaw - 10,000 rubles.

This is the minimum set of equipment to get started - it is quite enough for beginners and for small workshops. In the future, you may need separators for grinding, dryers for improving the quality of raw materials, batchers for process automation, special supply lines, etc., but usually these equipment are used in large enterprises, so you should not think about it yet. You can save even more by purchasing not a ready-made furnace, but by ordering a pyrolysis barrel from local craftsmen, but this is an option for those who have a seriously limited budget - it’s better to buy a high-quality and specialized furnace right away.

How profitable is it

Universal business plan for the production of charcoal no - it all depends on where exactly you will buy raw materials, what price it will be, how you will arrange sales, etc., but the average figures for the industry are known. We recommend not contacting retailers, in extreme cases, you can simply sell bags in the workshop without organizing your own outlets.

Quality charcoal

Look for those who will buy products in bulk:

1. Supermarkets or local retail chains.
2. Filling stations.
3. Restaurants and cafes.
4. Wholesale stores and bases.
5. Various industrial enterprises that need coal for technical processes.

Practice shows that in almost any region of Russia there are places where coal from the manufacturer will be popular and can be sold in bulk. Therefore, before starting, think about where you can rent it, try to communicate with potential buyers to determine their expectations and the required volumes. It often happens that an entrepreneur works with one wholesaler, handing over to him all the products produced.

1. Registration with the tax authorities - 15,000 rubles.
2. Purchase of a set of equipment - 1,000,000 rubles.
3. Rent of premises, repair work - 400,000 rubles per year.
4. Purchase of wood for processing - 300,000 rubles.

In total, to open a business, you will need approximately 1,700,000 rubles. Note that in this case we are talking about professional equipment and a medium-sized workshop that produces about 20 tons of coal per month. If there is no such budget, then you can get by with a cheaper set of equipment and a garage - this will require investments of about 300,000 rubles with a capacity of 2 tons per month. It is also desirable to have a car for the transportation of finished products - even an inexpensive GAZelle capable of taking on board about a ton of cargo is suitable.

Next, let's calculate the profit. The selling wholesale price of birch charcoal in 2017 is 100 rubles per kilogram, while its cost is about 60, including all expenses. For 1 kilogram you earn 40 rubles, for 2 tons of sold products (home workshop) - 80 thousand rubles, for a full-fledged enterprise producing 20 tons per month - 800,000 rubles. Thus, the investments made pay off in 2-4 months, although in practice a full payback is obtained in 4-6 months (additional costs inevitably arise).

In contact with

In this tutorial, you will learn how to make your own charcoal at home for grilling or using in a smokehouse. Basically, you are trying to take wood and extract wood gas from it, which will make the wood burn slower and smolder longer.

Wood gas is the part of wood that makes it flammable, so once you remove it, you will have charcoal.

Homemade charcoal will not burn as long as store-bought charcoal. This is due to the additives that are added to the store bought at the factory. Homemade charcoal will burn cleaner and be more environmentally friendly than store bought charcoal.

Not much coal will come out of one batch of wood. Some wood will be burned when creating coal and this will reduce the total amount of wood, but in general you will not lose.

You can use homemade charcoal the same way you would regular store-bought charcoal. Lighter fluid or a charcoal chimney will help you start the smoldering. I make my charcoal pieces big because I usually use them for smoking, not just grilling. You can make your charcoal any size.

Step 1: Where to start

How is charcoal made? The hardest thing you have to do is find a source of hardwood. I have a friend who has an almost endless supply of walnut and oak, which are used to transport doors. Soft wood is NOT recommended. It will burn quickly and probably won't burn long enough to make a hot dog. Sources of wood can be sawmills, construction sites (do not forget to get permission) or hand-cut wood.

Basically, all you need is a piece of wood, a saw, a metal barrel with a lid, and a place to store your finished charcoal to keep it dry.

You will also need some burning material to light the fire in the barrel. To get started, you need to start a normal fire, so keep in mind that you should have more than a couple of branches on your hands. If your cask has previously held oil or other hazardous liquids, you will need to burn it or clean it well to remove any hazardous compounds.

Step 2: Start burning

After you chop the wood, kindle a good fire in the barrel. Before adding wood, you need to light a fairly strong fire in the bottom of the barrel. Let your fire burn for a while to make good coals.

When the firewood is blazing, start adding hardwood. I have found that it is most effective to add wood in layers, letting it light up, and then add the next layer. When I fire in a 200 liter barrel, I usually end up with about 3 layers of wood. Adding wood this way takes longer, but the burning process is faster because you don't have to wait as long for the fire to reach the very top of the wood.

After all the wood has been added, let the fire burn until it has covered all of it. This is an important step because this way you will remove all the wood gas. Your tree should be on fire and you will see it begin to char on the outside.

Step 3: Quench the Flame

I would like to tell you the exact time when the firewood will burn, but this is almost impossible. You just need to use your eyes to see what condition the wood is in. Your wood should be burning and slightly charred. Just keep in mind that you are burning the wood to the point where the wood gas and the flammable part of the wood are burned out, but leaving enough wood to burn in your grill.

Once your tree is well lit and you see that it is ready, put a lid on the barrel. This will allow the wood to smolder and go out. This step is important, because at this stage, the charring of the wood will almost completely stop. Of course, if you put out the fire with water, you will spoil the coal, and there will be a big mess in the bottom of the barrel.

The best way to make a mixture is to start preparing around mid-afternoon. When your wood is ready, close the lid and allow the wood to finish smoldering overnight. Wait until the next day to remove the lid and make sure the fire is out and the wood has finished burning.

Step 4: Finishing the Charcoal Preparation

Once your fire is completely out and the barrel is cool, remove the lid. This photo is a great picture of what your wood should look like after it has matured and the charcoal is ready to be processed.

If you remove the lid before the fire is finished, this will add air to the coals and they will start to burn again. When the charcoal has cooled, remove it from the barrel and place it in a container. I used large plastic bags to store the charcoal, paper bags (i.e. trash bags or charcoal bags) will also work.

IMPORTANT! YOU MUST BE ABSOLUTELY sure that your wood is completely extinguished before taking it out for storage! It seems simple, but anyone and you can make a mistake. If the wood is not completely extinguished, then the entire batch that you get from the barrel will eventually burn out. This is not to mention that if you bring it into the house, you risk starting a fire.

Step 5: Using Charcoal

Now that you've made your own charcoal, you can invite your friends and family into the kitchen to show off your charcoal and cooking skills!

As stated earlier, you can use homemade charcoal just like store-bought charcoal, but it won't smolder for as long. Keep this in mind in case you need to add more charcoal or adjust the cooking time.