PKSC For Activated Carbon Production

The production of palm kernel shells (PKS) in Indonesia and Malaysia is very large, with more than 15 million tons annually which comes from palm oil mill waste. There are about 20 million hectares of palm oil plantation from these two countries (Indonesia and Malaysia) as sources of crude palm oil and are the largest in the world today. Utilization of PKS can be optimized for the production of activated carbon. The demand for activated carbon is predicted to increase by around 10% per year and the demand will reach nearly 4 million tons in 2021 worth 8.12 billion USD, while data in 2015 recorded global activated carbon production of around 2.7 million tons worth 4.74 billion USD. Powdered activated carbon (PAC) has the largest market share followed by granular activated carbon (GAC). The high demand for PAC is mainly driven by the need in a number of industries such as chemical, petrochemical, food and beverage for decolorizarion and deodorization applications. More specifically, the use in the liquid phase has the largest portion.

However, it is recognized that coconut shell is the current favorite material for activated charcoal production, and PKS is likely to be the next priority. The area of ​​Indonesian coconut plantations is estimated at around 3.7 million hectares so that the number of coconut shells that can be used as activated carbon is also not as much as PKS because the area of Indonesian palm oil plantations has also reached approximately 15 million hectares. With a coconut plantation area of 3.7 million hectares, coconut shells have a composition of 12% of coconuts so that the total coconut shells that can be produced are around 23,000 tons/year. This is in stark contrast to PKS which have the potential to reach tens of millions of tons every year.

The characteristics of coconut shells are also almost the same as PKS. Likewise for the use of activated carbon which emphasizes factors such as hardness and ash content. The harder the material and the smaller the ash content, the better the quality of activated carbon produced. Currently there is a need for palm kernel shell charcoal / PKSC  of 20,000 tons / year for the raw material for the production of activated carbon. Groups of palm oil companies that have a number of palm oil mills (1 group of palm oil companies having 5 palm oil mills is common in Indonesia) or other private parties by taking raw material for PKS from these palm oil mills to be able to produce PKSC to be exported as raw material for the activated production. The use of a large capacity carbonization (pyrolysis) equipment that works continuously is needed to meet these needs. This will be a business development for the palm oil companies and will be more environmentally friendly because less solid biomass waste is produced.