Design and performance test of drum kiln for durian peel carbonization

Abstract

Durian is one of famous fruit in several places in Indonesia. Only about 20 % of durian fruit is utilized or consumed. The huge amount of waste, especially durian peel, still un-utilized and potential causing some environmental problems. Based on the composition of durian peel, carbonization is one of the best process to utilize durian peel to produce bio-charcoal. The research aims to design a specific kiln for durian peel carbonization and conducting performance test of the kiln. The kiln has been designed as drum type, by using used oil drum as main raw material of the kiln, so it will be easy to find even in the village area and relatively cheaper and easier on kiln fabrication. The performance test shows that the kiln capacity is around 10 kg durian peel. The best performance was achieved in the second test, which produce yield 25% of good quality bio-charcoal in 75 minutes process at temperature range of 326 – 359 °C. The charcoal has LHV (low heating value) of 6347 kCal/kg at water content of 4.66% wet basis, which is compatible to Indonesian National Standard (SNI) quality. Based on the performance investigation, the kiln design should be improved to avoid some weakness performance such as smoke flow and duration time of carbonization.