The main component of the charcoal briquette is carbon, so it can be used as fuel. The minor ingredients include accelerants, white ash and briquette binder.
Charcoal accounts for more than 70% of the entire charcoal briquettes. As the combustion material providing heat, the raw materials for charcoal can be various woods, such as beech, birch, hard maple, pecan and oak.
The charcoal is mainly processed by the kiln. In general, the charcoal produced and extinguished in the kiln is called black wood charcoal. It has the advantage of being easy to ignite, but it is easy to explode during burning with a short burning time and much smoke.
The charcoal briquette cannot fully contact with oxygen during the combustion process, so the accelerator is needed to accelerate the combustion. The most suitable accelerator is the nitrate, which can not only provide oxygen to accelerate combustion but also heat during combustion.
However, it is too expensive. As an excellent accelerator with lower cost, 10% -20% of sawdust can be added to effectively increase the burning speed.
As one of the minor ingredients, white ash accounts for only 2% -3% of the charcoal briquette. But it plays a very important role in the burning process of charcoal briquettes.
By observing the degree of turning white, we can judge the burning degree of the charcoal briquette. In addition, because the white ash is not combustible, it can effectively extend the burning time.
Due to the lack of plasticity, the binder needs to be added in the process of charcoal briquettes. The proportion of binder in the charcoal briquettes is about 5% – 7%.
Numerous facts show that starch has the best performance as a binding material. After it’s gelatinized, a thick paste can be formed so that the charcoal powder is stuck together to facilitate the later briquette.
Another popular briquette binder is arabic gum or acacia gum. However, considering the cost, the best choice is the waste paper pulp.
With different composition ratios, the final material produced will be different.
