A double dose of carbon in a sense
7 Nov 2000
The BPL Group, suppliers of charcoal worldwide, has doubled production in nine months at its charcoal manufacturing plant in Battle, East Sussex, thanks to a dehumidifier from Calorex.
The manufacturing process consists of grinding imported charcoal to a powder, adding a binding agent and chemicals to induce rapid ignition as the tablets are used for incense burning in churches.
At this stage the tablets have a moisture content of 25 per cent. The tablets of charcoal are placed in a drying room where the moisture is extracted and then wrapped and dispatched. Previously, an energy intensive temperature of 130°C had to be achieved using a heat vent drying system.
The DH300BH dehumidifier operates effectively at 50°C which proved to be not only more energy efficient but safer too. Calorex has also installed two drying chambers and a control panel to advise on the status of temperature and humidity.
Each chamber has the capacity to dry 90 000 tablets in a 16 hour overnight period. The drying process ensures that 350kg of moisture is extracted with a low energy usage of 0.42kWhr/kg. The plant has recorded energy savings of up to 50 per cent.
