How to Make Charcoal Briquettes from Sawdust in Kenya

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In the recent past, the presence of natural charcoal is diminishing. But its demand has been high while the supply is limited. Partly because of diminished forests and the desire to conserve the trees. As a result, charcoal briquette making machine is becoming popular today. And starting a charcoal briquette business has been profitable project in many countries, like South Africa, Uganda, Kenya, etc.. For this, on 19th April 2024, we received a charcoal briquette making customer from Kenya. This client wanted to make charcoal briquette from sawdust. But he didn’t know what the production process is. The following are the detailed information in this case:

What is the process of making biochar briquette from sawdust?

This Kenyans customer wanted to know the process of producing sawdust biochar briquette. In general, there are 4 steps in the production of sawdust charcoal briquette.

Crushing wood into sawdust

If your material is wood, you can use hammer mill to make wood into sawdust. But if your material is sawdust, you can directly ignore this step. And when you want to prepare high quality sawdust charcoal briquette, you can also crush sawdust into about 5-millimeter size.

Drying sawdust

Then you need a drying process. If the water content exceeds the empirical upper limit, the temperature will rise and the volume will suddenly expand. For this, it is easy to cause an explosion. Then if the moisture content is too low, it will be difficult to shape. So you can use a dryer to reduce the moisture content to about half (to about 15%) the level required for briquettes formation.

Sawdust briquette making

Compress the briquette machine under high pressure and temperatures in a process known as briquetting. During this process there is self-bonding which involves thermoplastic flow of the biomass. Lignin content is formed naturally inside the biomass machine due to high pressure and temperatures, and it is liberated. It serves as glue, binding and compressing the biomass to form high-density briquettes. For this, we recommend you charcoal extruder machine.

Carbonizing sawdust briquette

After briquetting sawdust, you can put them into carbonization furnace. According to their rod shape, we recommend you two carbonization machines. Hoisting carbonization machine and batch type carbonization furnace. You can choose them according to your capacity.

What is the advantage of making sawdust charcoal briquette?

Finally, customer from Kenya prepared to make sawdust charcoal briquette for a lone time. But he was worried that the profit would not be as good as selling natural sawdust charcoal. We explained to him the advantages of processing sawdust charcoal briquette.

Creating value from waste

In New Zealand, a company was looking to find a solution for the dust byproducts from their MDF production. The dust produced during the manufacturing process needed careful and costly disposal. Finally, converting the dust to briquettes and sold to a greenhouse, turning the waste into a considerable profit maker.

No waste liquid

The whole process does not need to add, drain or any liquid. So it will not pollute the water source. You don’t need to worry about complaints from surrounding residents.

No waste gas

The gas produced in the charcoal briquette production process is only water vapor and some combustible gases, which does not pollute the air. And it is worth mentioning that this part of the combustible gas can be recycled and reused as fuel, and the cost can be reduced at the same time.

How much does a small&large scale sawdust charcoal briquette plant cost?

The capacity plays an important role in sawdust charcoal briquette plant cost. The price of sawdust biochar briquette machines will increase with the capacity. This Kenya customer wanted us to give him a price plan.

500-1000 kg/h sawdust charcoal briquette plant budget

For the small scale sawdust charcoal briquette making project, we recommend you buy a hookah press system. In general, with 500-1000 kg/h output, the sawdust biochar briquette plant cost is $60,000-$150,000.

1-10 t/h sawdust biochar briquette machines price

As 1-10 t/h sawdust biochar briquette plant setup, it is advisable to buy a charcoal extruding system. It can make rod shape charcoal briquette. But if you want to produce cube biochar briquette, we can also configure with cutter machine. Generally, you need to prepare $150,000- $335,000 for it.

10-30 t/h sawdust charcoal briquette production line cost

When it comes to 10-30 t/h, the price of a complete sawdust charcoal briquette line is $335,000-$900,000. In a large scale sawdust charcoal briquette business plan, the charcoal ball press system is the best choice. For one thing, the maximum output if a biochar ball press equipment is 30 t/h. For another, you can change the roller skin according to your needs for large scale sawdust charcoal briquette processing.

Top 3 carbonization machines for sawdust charcoal briquettes making

After discussing the process, the Kenyan customer wanted to know which carbonization furnace is the most suitable for producing sawdust charcoal.

Hoisting carbonization machine

The hoisting carbonization furnace includes an electric hoist. With the electric hoist, it can lift the inner tank easily, which save labor cost. And each furnace is equipped with 3 inner tanks. Its carbonizing time is 8-12 hours to ensure the good quality of charcoal. After one tank of materials finishes carbonization, you can lift out it by the hoist and then put another tank of materials for charring.

Horizontal carbonization furnace

Horizontal carbonization machine adopts a horizontal design to reduce machine height. So it is more convenient for loading raw materials. And it also includes a smoke recycle system. Smoke generated in the carbonizing process enters the purifier and then be ignited for heating the furnace. What’s more, it produces charcoal by batch, carbonizing time 8-10 hours, water cooling time 2-3 hours, air cooling 6-8 hours.

Continuous carbonization equipment

Continuous carbonization furnace is suitable for charring the biomass materials which are in small pieces. When you use this machine for producing charcoal, we suggest the size of materials not bigger than 50mm. Though the carbonization rotary kiln has the function of drying, we don’t suggest carbonizing the wet materials directly, it will affect the carbonizing efficiency and charcoal quality. So it is better that make sure the moisture of materials is less than 30%.

Testing report of sawdust biochar briquette made from charcoal molding machine

Here we select local Chinese sawdust to test the quality of sawdust charcoal briquette. The report indicates that the calorific value of the sawdust charcoal briquette produced by our sawdust charcoal briquette machine has exceeded 6000 kcal/kg, approximately doubling that of raw sawdust (typically 3000-4500 kcal/kg). This outstanding performance makes sawdust charcoal briquette a reliable and efficient energy source with good economic benefits. Therefore, we sincerely recommend that customer consider this project.

Kind	Sawdust
Total Moisture Mt%	6.84
Analytical Water Mad%	4.51
Dry Basis Ash Ad%	5.871
Volatile Matter on Dry Basis Vd%	20.8
Fixed Carbon Fcad%	68.91
Sulfur Content on Dry Basis St.d%	0.08
New national standard calorimeter dry basis high calorific value kcal/kg	6454
The new national standard calorimeter method receives the base low calorific value kcal/kg	6088

Note: Different types, moisture, sizes of raw materials, and technical parameters will have an impact on the biomass carbonization results.

Feasibility and ROI of investment in sawdust charcoal briquette project

Several key factors contribute to the promising profit prospects of investing in a sawdust charcoal production project. Now, let’s delve into this investment for Kenya customer.

Thriving Global Biofuel Market

Investing in a sawdust charcoal briquette production project aligns with the flourishing trends in the global biofuel market. In 2022, the global biofuel market exceeded a value of over $1 trillion, and it is projected to surpass $2 trillion by 2030. Sawdust charcoal briquette, a promising biomass fuel, positions itself favorably within this market trajectory.

Global Carbon Neutrality Goals Drive

With the rise of the concept of sustainable development, countries worldwide are actively participating in carbon reduction and carbon neutrality. Given biochar briquette’s positive impact on carbon sequestration, it has created promising prospects for investing in sawdust charcoal briquette making machine.

Market Resilience of Sawdust Charcoal Briquette

The versatility of sawdust charcoal briquette in various applications, from industrial to household use, offers a diversified market base. By mitigating the risk linked to reliance on a singular market segment, it effectively lowers the potential for investment losses in charcoal briquette projects.

The above are details about how to make charcoal briquette from sawdust in Kenya. Besides, we can also offer you other charcoal briquette production lines. Such as 3 t/h sawdust charcoal briquette machine, BBQ biochar briquette making plant and bamboo charcoal briquette plant, etc.