Reviving the Integrated Coconut Industry Part 8: Coconut Milk, VCO, Dessicated Coconut, Coconut Water, Nata de Coco, Shell Charcoal and Activated Carbon

Basically the campaign to save the coconut plantation (tree of life) is to revive the integrated coconut industry. Damaged and not maintained of coconut plantations due to lack of funding to maintain and develop it in a sustainable manner.

Bioeconomy is defined as knowledge-based production and uses biological resources or living things to produce products, processes, and services in the economic sector within the framework of a sustainable economic system.

Instant coconut milk or packaged coconut milk is almost unthinkable, especially by mothers in Indonesia a few decades ago. Likewise, bottled coconut water, almost all Indonesians were also unthinkable at that time. That is mainly because coconut is very easy to get in almost all corners of the country. But this condition changed when Asian cuisine began to worldwide so that many Western people like it. Coconut milk as one of the main elements of the dish has become a necessity that must be provided. Urban communities with dense population and have a high level of activity, need something practical and instant that makes instant coconut milk products easily accepted. It is also the same as instant food seasoning products that are in demand in urban areas.

Coconut milk and bottled coconut water industry is a type of large industry so it requires a supply of raw materials in large quantities and continuously. To get these conditions in general can only be in coconut plantations which are not infrequently still very remote location. At that location, electricity and a number of supporting infrastructure were not yet available, so the integrated coconut industry could not yet be operated. Electricity is one of the basic needs for industrial operations, so it needs to be made before running the integrated coconut industry such as industries with the main products are coconut milk and bottled coconut water. The production of electricity for this purpose can be done in at least two ways: first, with a steam boiler, as is usually done in a palm oil mill. Coconut coir which has the lowest economic value is used for fuel.

The second way, namely by continuous pyrolysis. Coconut shell can be used as raw material for the pyrolysis. With pyrolysis technology, it would be more profitable because besides electricity generated, heat and charcoal shells are also produced. Electricity and heat can be used for the operation of the coconut processing industry, while shell charcoal can be directly sold or further processed into briquettes or activated carbon. When the need for electricity is large, power plants can use both, namely coconut coir steam boilers and pyrolysis with raw materials for coconut shells. If you want to produce more charcoal, coconut coir can also be used for continuous pyrolysis fuel. The quality of coconut coir is lower than that of coconut shell. This is so that coconut coir charcoal can be used as agricultural charcoal (agri-char / biochar) so that it will increase the productivity of coconut plantations, while coconut shell charcoal for the purposes mentioned above.

Apart from being processed into packaged coconut milk, fruit meat can also be processed into VCO (Virgin Coconut Oil) or dessicated cooconut. VCO production can be done on a medium scale, but currently for the export market or foreign buyers in general require organic certificates. That is also the reason why the production of small-scale VCO for the export market is difficult. Basically, coconuts can be made for a variety of products, according to market needs. Almost all coconut processing industries require electricity and heat for the production process (specifically for the VCO industry, only electricity). The integrated coconut industry approach makes the coconut processing industry more efficient. The combination of the coconut processing industry adjusts to market needs. The dim market for copra & coconut oil, it turns out that little by little is substituted by increasing markets for dessicated coconut, VCO, coconut milk, nata de coco, bottled coconut water and even coconut sugar. Is it possible that the coconut will come back victorious? There are indications there indeed. Wallahu'alam

Reviving the Integrated Coconut Industry Part 7: Production Integration of VCO, Nata de Coco, and Shell Charcoal

Basically the campaign to save the coconut plantation (tree of life) is to revive the integrated coconut industry. Damaged and not maintained of coconut plantations due to lack of funding to maintain and develop it in a sustainable manner.

Bioeconomy is defined as knowledge-based production and uses biological resources or living things to produce products, processes, and services in the economic sector within the framework of a sustainable economic system.

One of the fundamental questions about the integrated coconut industry is why should the coconut business be made in an integrated manner? Why not just process one part of the coconut? In almost all regions coconut is sold in the form of whole coconut without coir. When the raw material is whole coconut, all parts can be processed and become various products. And when only processing one part of coconut as an example of a shell for the production of charcoal and coconut water for the production of nata de coco, then that means only taking waste or byproducts from processing or utilizing the main coconut which in general is coconut meat. This condition is very dependent on the processing or main utilization of the coconut fruit. The same thing is similar to the biomass processing industry such as wood pellets and briquettes originating from sawmill waste or the wood industry. And when all parts of the coconut can be processed, it will be more economical and efficient and no waste will be produced. The combination of these types of coconut processing also determines the level of efficiency and economical production. The efficient use of energy is one of the keys to its success. So if the combination of coconut processing can make energy use efficient, so that the use of external energy can be reduced or even eliminated, then that is the best condition sought.

VCO is quite well known and popular among the people of Indonesia. Some time ago this product exploded in the market and many small industries have sprung up to produce it. Unfortunately this trend only lasted a short time. With the decline in the demand for VCO in the country quite a lot of these producers who close their businesses and switch to other professions. VCO has the main content in the form of lauric acid, which is a medium chain fatty acid (MCFA: Medium Chain Fatty Acid) that has many health benefits. Consuming VCO will also provide instant energy addition, and not be stockpiled in the form of fat. For more clearly read here. Besides being in VCO, lauric acid is also found in palm kernel oil (PKO) and mother breast milk. Palm kernel oil mills (PKO mills or KCP: kernel crushing plants) are not as many as palm oil mills (CPO mills). Many CPO mills do not have kernel processing (KCP) or the palm kernel.

Palm kernel oil (PKO) is also commonly called lauric oil and is a competitor for VCO. This is also the case among competing palm cooking oils and coconut cooking oils. Some parties may be more interested in VCO because it comes from coconuts, whereas PKO comes from palm oil and is currently undergoing a bad campaign from Europe, although this could be part of a trade war. Coconut oil from copra has also experienced the same thing. Indonesia, which has historically been the largest producer of copra, has subsequently its coconut industry been destroyed due to a trade war with soybean oil in the United States.

As for the export market, besides requiring better specifications or quality, it is also generally required to be accompanied by organic certification. Organic certification is something that is not easy especially for small businesses. Information from the APCC (Asia Pacific Coconut Community) that the Philippines is the largest producer of VCO at present even though the area of coconut plantations is still below Indonesia with export volumes continuing to grow. It was noted that the Philippines' VCO exports in 2006 were 461 tons, then nine years later, in 2015 it increased to 36.3 thousand tons. The coconut industry in the Philippines is also more developed than in Indonesia, this is evident from the many export commodities from coconut products. The Philippines exports 30 kinds of coconut products while Indonesia only has 14 kinds of products.

The combination of integrated coconut processing that can be combined with VCO production is the production of nata de coco and coconut shell charcoal. VCO production can be done on a medium scale so that the coconut shell produced is also not so much that the production of charcoal with carbonized furnace in batch is sufficient. The heat lost or wasted from the carbonization process can then be taken again and used to cook coconut water in the production of nata de coco. In addition, if the nata de coco is sold in ready-to-consume form, the nata de coco needs to be cooked at least 3 times so that it becomes soft and clean. Cooking can also use waste heat from the carbonization process. The production of nata de coco will be competitive and more profitable because it does not need to use external thermal energy such as LPG.

Reviving the Integrated Coconut Industry Part 6: Integration of Dessicated Coconut Production, Packaged Coconut Water, and Shell Charcoal

Basically the campaign to save the coconut plantation (tree of life) is to revive the integrated coconut industry. Damaged and not maintained of coconut plantations due to lack of funding to maintain and develop it in a sustainable manner.

Bioeconomy is defined as knowledge-based production and uses biological resources or living things to produce products, processes, and services in the economic sector within the framework of a sustainable economic system.

Dessicated coconut is not very popular in Indonesia. This product is used in the food industry for a mixture of cakes and chocolate so that it gives the flavor of coconut and much later became a favorite food in Europe. This product was originally discovered in Sri Lanka from Henry Vavasseur's drying experiment of grated coconut in 1888. There are 3 countries that are currently producing dessicated coconut, namely the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Indonesia. The need for this dessicated coconut product also continues to increase, namely recorded export of dessicated coconut in 1990 amounting to 151 thousand tons and in 2008 it increased to 248 thousand tons. In Indonesia alone, it is estimated that there are around 20 dessicated coconut (DC) factories.

DC is produced by drying grated coconut until the water content reaches a maximum of 3%. A dryer commonly used for DC production is a fluidized bed dryer. This dryer has advantages including high sensitivity for its operations, so it is commonly used for food and pharmaceutical products. Rotary dryer is a type of dryer that is also popular in the industry, especially in biomass processing such as wood pellets and briquettes, for more details, please read here. Rotary dryer types are more suitable for materials that are not too sensitive to heat, are not easily broken when dropped and heavier materials. That is why rotary dryers are more suitable for materials such as minerals, fertilizers and so on. Rotary dryer can be said to be heavy duty processing load and requires a wider space, while fluidized bed dryer for lighter-duty materials and requires less space.

For drying the grated coconut, heat energy is needed and for the operation of the plant's equipment such as shredding, conveyors, etc. electricity is needed. Both of these energies can be fulfilled by using a continuous pyrolysis unit. Coconut shell is used as a raw material for continuous pyrolysis, so that the output is in the form of charcoal, syngas and biooil. The charcoal can be sold for immediate use, made briquettes or activated carbon. For electricity production, syngas is used for fuel the gas engine (internal combustion engines) which convert heat energy into mechanical energy then into electrical energy. And biooil can be a source of heat both for boiling or sterilizing coconut meat as well as for a heat source for drying grated coconut with the heating media not in direct contact (indirect heating) with the grated coconut.

With the above pattern, the integrated coconut industry is energy independent or does not require energy supply from outside. This condition is very attractive especially for operations in remote locations. This energy independent industry practice is common in the palm oil industry. Palm oil mills usually burn shells and fiber for the production of electricity and steam. Why besides electricity, does the palm oil mill also produce steam? For more details, you can read here.

At present a number of palm oil mills have even used efficient boilers so that it is sufficient with fiber only and the shell can be sold or exported abroad. Though there is a better or more efficient way to produce electricity and steam, which is also by continuous pyrolysis, for more details read here. The shell, which is a biomass fuel, has properties almost similar to wood pellets at a cheaper price and is still abundantly available. Japan and Korea are the two countries in Asia that are most striking in the use of biomass energy related to climate change mitigation and global warming.

Coconut shell charcoal is a sought-after product, so the price is also increasing every year in accordance with market laws, namely supply-demand. The production of coconut shell charcoal will provide an attractive additional income compared to just being burned to ash and making a zero waste integrated coconut industry.

The DC industry is usually large enough in scale or production capacity to produce quite a lot of coconut water. Coconut water can be processed into bottled coconut water, which also requires electricity and heat in the production process. Electricity and heat production can use coconut fiber as fuel. Burning coconut fiber to heat the boiler and produce electricity, similar to the palm oil mill. Steam is produced to heat or sterilize the coconut water. The demand for bottled coconut water increased rapidly, from 484 thousand liters in 2009 to 71.7 million liters in 2015, or 141 times.