Utilization of Land Clearing Wood Waste For Charcoal And Briquette Production

Land clearing is mostly done, especially for the establishment of new plantations, both plantations for food crops and plantations or forests for wood products. The establishment of palm oil plantations and acacia forests are examples. Prior to planting palm oil or acacia, the location which is usually natural forest was cleared of vegetation or trees beforehand. Natural forests, of course, have various types of trees, both in terms of their types and ages. Some trees have a large diameter while others are smaller. After clearing the old trees, then the land is conditioned for the allocation of the plantation.

Indeed, the establishment of the plantation or forest must be in accordance with the land designation. Of course, land that is protected forest or conservation forest cannot be used for production forest or industrial plantation forest. This of course concerns environmental factors in the form of environmental preservation, such as forests as a source of water, preventing the danger of landslides, as a carbon sink and so on. The economic activities of production forests must also pay attention to environmental aspects so that the business being carried out can also be sustainable. Wood, for example, as a source of biomass for various industrial raw materials, can be said to be a renewable source only if it is managed properly and sustainably.

During the land clearing, a lot of wood just becomes waste. Timber with large diameters can be sold to sawmills. However, small diameter woods such as branches and twigs are mostly not utilized, even though there are many. The solution to this problem can be processed into charcoal and briquettes. Non-salable logs for sale in sawmills can be used for charcoal production. With good technology, high quality charcoal production can be done, namely with a fixed carbon of more than 82%. Production quantity up to 3000 tonnes / year of charcoal are also possible. Meanwhile, waste wood in the form of smaller twigs or pieces of wood can be used for briquette production. The production of briquettes is easier and also cheaper than wood pellets. Another thing that distinguishes briquettes from pellets, especially the market segment, can be read here for more details.