Classical Charcoal Making and Properties of the Charcoal from Palmyra Palm Fruit as the Traditional Community Practice

Abstract

Survey on classical charcoal making from Palmyra palm fruit as the traditional community practice at Ramdang, Songkhla was carried out. Results revealed that as for the community way of life.The first experiment involved with quality assessment of charcoal obtained from 4 traditional charcoal making methods. Treatments were compared using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 4 replications. Three factors being assessed were chemical, physical and fuel properties. Results showed that burning charcoal in a circular pit using 3:1:3 ratio of staminate inflorescence, dry leaves and rice husk (M4) gave maximum charcoal yield, charcoal weight/pit and weight /fruit (51.25 g/fruit) with the least weight of cracked charcoal/pit (800 g) and statistical significant different from other methods (p<0.05). Burning charcoal in a square pit using 1:1:1 ratio of staminate inflorescence, rice straw and husk (M2) provided high levels of volatile substances and stable carbon which were significantly different from other methods (p<0.05). These meant that the method had carbon as the major stable molecular components resulting in a better combustion process but the amount of ash was high. The second experiment was on the effect of fuel materials on quality of the charcoal. Results revealed that the treatment having 3:1:3 ratio of staminate inflorescence, dry leaves and rice husk (S4) gave maximum charcoal yield and charcoal weight/fruit. The other treatment having 2:1:2 ratio of staminate inflorescence, dry leaves and rice husk (S3) provided high and significant level of stable carbon resulting in a better

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Author Information
Mookda Suksawat, University of Technology Srivijaya, Thailand
Nicha Prasongchan, University of Technology Srivijaya, Thailand
Somboon Prasongchan, University of Technology Srivijaya, Thailand

• Category: Environmental Sustainability and Human Consumption: Waste

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

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