"Conversion of coconut shells to charcoal and its subsequent conversion to activated carbon opens up an avenue for industrial and community level processing for value addition of these by-products," K Muralidharan, director, Coconut Development Board, said.
Shell carbon and activated carbon are major ingredients used in purification of drinking water, medicines, sugar and industrial gases, he said.
Though activated carbon can be made from various kinds of biomass, coconut shell based activated carbon is reported to be superior in quality and commands a good price in the international market.
India is recognised as one of the important suppliers of activated carbon to the world market as nearly 15 units export shell based activated carbon to destinations across the world.
Muralidharan said the Board has supported establishment of about seven activated carbon manufacturing units, which have a capacity to process 3,142 million shell cups annually.
The demand for coconut shell powder, a key ingredient in agarbathi and mosquito coil making, has also gone up, he said.
Chief development officer of Coconut Development Board, M Thomas Mathew, said coconut shells offer the best raw material for charcoal production. Shell charcoal is of high value for domestic and industrial uses and was in great demand.
Shell charcoal forms the best raw material for producing granular activated carbon, an important product for many industries, he said.
Export of shell charcoal and activated carbon from India had earned $25 million in foreign exchange in 2007-08.
World demand for activated carbon is expected to grow at five per cent per year, touching 1.2 million tonnes by 2010. Besides half the demand coming from developed countries, greater growth opportunities would generally occur in developing markets, primarily the emerging industrial economies of Asia, he said.
He stressed the need for an efficient and cost effective collection machinery to not only ensure steady supply of raw material to the industry, but also provide increased income to the farmers.
Mathew said the Board has calculated that Kerala accounts for about 38.2 per cent (about 0.93 million tonnes) of the total availability of around 2.5 million tonnes of coconut shells in the country.
