Charcoal production method

The decision as to the method of charcoal production was the subject of much research. Traditionally charcoal in the UK was made in earth covered mounds (clamps) which had a low conversion rate of approximately 2 ! and was very labour intensive. " lar#e proportion of the wood in the clamp was burnt to fuel the process. The predominant method used in the UK now is the rin# $iln% usin# the same basic method as the clamp% which has a conversion rate in the re#ion of & ! but has a number of drawbac$s includin# that it produces a 'dirty( charcoal contaminated with ash and earth from the #round below the $iln and it also produces hi#h levels of emissions. The contamination is very undesirable for many charcoal niche mar$ets . )etorts% which have been used since the *+ th century% produce charcoal in a fundamentally different process to the $iln or mound method they use an external heat source to brin# the wood up to carbonisation temperature at which point the #ases (syn#as) #enerated by carbonisation can then be burnt to fuel the process. ,n effect the wood is 'coo$ed( in an oven. This #ives very #ood conversion rates ( in excess of -2!) and much #reater control over the process allowin# very hi#h .uality charcoal to be produced. "lso the burnin# of the syn#as reduces air pollution to approx & ! of that produced by rin# $ilns. /e aim to tar#et niche mar$ets as they #ive hi#her returns for a much lower volume of production than barbe.ue charcoal so producin# the hi#hest .uality is paramount therefore we selected the retort as our production method. 0mall scale retorts are prohibitively expensive costin# in excess of 1*2 for the smallest units. This simply wouldn3t have been a reasonable choice for us so after a period of research we built a small retort usin# a 'batch continuous( process. This uses metal drums containin# the wood to be carbonised placed inside an 'oven( which uses waste softwood unsuitable for other uses as fuel to brin# the char#e up to carbonisation temperature whereupon the syn#as #enerated by the char#e is burnt to maintain the carbonisation. 4y usin# multiple metal drums and sta##erin# their insertion into the retort the process is lar#ely self maintainin# as lon# as the drums are removed and replaced at the correct intervals. 5nce the drums are removed they are sealed so that the charcoal can cool down with less ris$ of spontaneous combustion. The retort is ban$ed with earth to act as both insulation and a residual heat store. /e are also able to dry small batches of wood to produce $indlin# and the excess heat could be used for other purposes includin# dryin# lo#s and sawn timber.