
Sunday, April 1, 2018
https://dailyasianage.com/news/115049/charcoal-----a-value-addition-to-jute
Charcoal --- A value addition to jute M S Siddiqui
Jute was the life blood of our economy for several decades and continues to be one of the mainstays of our rural economy even today. About 15 million farmers are involved in growing this cash crop and several million more of our population, perhaps an equal number, are involved with its processing, transportation, conversion, etc. It has lost its' glorious role for many reasons. One those are the traditional use of jute in making jute bag and low cost jute fabrics. There was casual study and experiments although it has many potential to use in production of value added products. The jute sticks were used for domestic purposes as fuel, temporary fencing etc. The ashes were used in cleaning utensils at kitchen. These ashes are now known as raw material for some industries. It has been 'discovered' the potential of use in industry as raw materials for charcoal and activated charcoal. This sector has now earning foreign currency from export of charcoal. This new sector of manufacturing and exporting initiated with the technical support of some Chinese buyers. According to report in 2017 of 'Global Apparel Forum', Chinese technicians are looking after the production and quality in some factories.
The charcoal and activated Charcoal or carbons and are two products are made of Jute sticks. Charcoal is a kind of half-burnt wood or ash. Activated carbon is the high end product of charcoal using better technology and better machinery. The export potential of jute stick charcoal made the headlines at a time when Bangladesh is struggling to diversify its export items. Charcoal is going to be a major export item in near future as Bangladesh produces 30 lakh tons of jute sticks in every year and a large portion of them are used as firewood and for making fences in rural areas. These can be easily converted into commercially important charcoal. If the industrial use of even 50 percent of the jute sticks could be ensured it could produce 2.50 lakh tonnes of charcoal worth Taka 2,500 crore annually. If half of the total produce could be used for making ashes, it is possible to earn $30,00,000 to $35,00,000 as said by an official. During the fiscal year ending June 2016, Bangladesh exported charcoal to China worth about US dollar 1.74 million. Bangladesh enjoys tax free market access to China when it comes to the sale of jute stick carbon. Bangladesh is eyeing to fetch an estimated Tk 2,500 crore each year from the carbon residue made of locally grown jute sticks. As per claim of existing exporters, that right incentives can lead to a generation of 2.5 lakh metric tons of activated charcoal from jute sticks per annum and that can be exported to a number of countries. The charcoal producers buy jute sticks from farmers at Tk 4,000 to 5,000 per ton. In terms of weight, charcoal production is about 17% from jute stick. The average selling cost is US $ 1000 per to overseas buyers. The value addition is about 4 times and seems very attractive. Charcoal is now being used to produce face wash, photocopier ink, water filter, anti-venom drugs, lifesaving drugs and tooth cleaning medicines. Charcoal is widely used for purifying water, producing lifesaving ultra-carbon or anti-toxin tablets, cosmetics, ink cartridge used mainly in photocopier machines and tooth cleaners. It is used to absorb odors and toxins in gases, such as air. Charcoal filters are also used in some types of gas masks. It is used for relieving discomfort from insect bites, rashes from poison ivy or poison oak, and snakebites. Activated Charcoal is a value added products made of charcoal powder and has variety of health related applications. Activated charcoal is inexpensive, multitasking, reusable, environment friendly, restores/revitalizes water, chemicals and can get from renewable sources. It has many high end applications. It has different type of applications of activated charcoal includes industrial, pharmaceutical, chemical, agricultural, environmental, adsorption of unwanted chemicals and neutralize toxic compounds. Medically, it is used to treat poisonings and overdoses following oral ingestion, tablets or capsules making as an over-the-counter drug to treat diarrhea, indigestion, flatulence and ineffective for a number of poisonings such as strong acids or alkali, cyanide, iron, lithium, arsenic, methanol, ethanol or ethylene glycol. Activated carbon uses help promote a healthy digestive tract by removing toxins that cause allergic reactions, oxidative damage and poor immune system function. A study in the American Journal of Gastroenterology found that activated charcoal prevents intestinal gas following a typical gasproducing meal. Jute stick charcoal ensures best quality other than the products produced of raw materials except jute stick. The environmental applications include Spill cleanup, Groundwater remediation, Drinking water filtration, Air purification, Volatile organic compounds capture from painting, dry cleaning, gasoline dispensing operations and the measurement of radon concentration in air. There is some agricultural use as well.
It can be used in both livestock production such as used as a pesticide, animal feed additive, processing aid, non-agricultural ingredient & disinfectant and wine making. The health care product use is in whitening of tooth and skin and removing blackheads from skin. Other applications include sound wave/microwave/radio wave capture, Nuclear Biological Chemical (NBC) suits, Snow avalanche control, etc. Bangladesh manufacturer of Charcoal are producing in a crude way and simultaneously polluting environment with the generating various greenhouse gases along with losing energy which is possible to conserve by the process of green technology by adopting higher technological process which can conserve energy, utilize by-products without polluting environment. Existing plants are emitting harmful gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and sulphur dioxide. The particles in these gases can cause severe environmental and health hazards. It is understood that uses of carbon products such as Charcoal, Activated charcoal are dramatically increasing. China imports charcoal, but they are using this low valued carbon product into high valued and more sophisticated and modern consumer goods and gaining maximum return. In fact, they are exploiting us and giving a minimum return with environmental pollution and wasting by products and energy. The most important property of Jute charcoal/ jute carbon is its purity and lightness than other carbon products from similar sources. From time immemorial, carbon and carbon products have been using various utility product developments as stated above. The diversified uses of charcoal and activated charcoal are increasing dramatically. Every year huge tons of jute stick are burned inefficiently in various household firing and crude charcoal production and losing easily available, renewable natural resource and causing air pollution from the unscientific commercial production of charcoal. Because Bangladesh charcoal manufacturers are using old and crude methods of burning jute sticks for making charcoal. At the primary stage of transfer of technology, they got very easy and primitive technology they got from buyers in China. We should go for higher technology and also high value activated charcoal and also subsequently to the other industrial, agricultural and personal care and pharmaceutical products. The writer is a legal economist. mssiddiqui2035@gmail.com