How To Make BBQ Charcoal

As a popular outdoor cooking method, barbecue has huge market demand worldwide. With the improvement of people’s living standards and the increase in leisure activities, the market demand for BBQ Charcoal continues to grow. This article introduces relevant information in detail from the raw materials for making BBQ Charcoal, types of barbecue charcoal, production process, equipment involved, etc.

Raw material for making BBQ charcoal

Wood: Hardwoods such as oak, walnut and maple are the best choice because of their high carbon content and long burning time.

Wood shavings: Wood shavings are usually waste materials from wood processing, such as sawdust and shavings.

Coconut Shells: Coconut shells are rich in fiber and can be carbonized to make high quality BBQ charcoal. Coconut shells are particularly common in Asia and are therefore widely used for local barbecue charcoal production.

Other plant wastes: Other plant wastes such as straw, wheat straw and cornstalks are also used as raw materials for barbecue charcoal.

Natural or Mechanized Charcoal

Natural or Mechanized Charcoal？We need to understand the difference before choosing them.

Shape: Natural charcoal is generally solid, with different shapes, because the raw material is logs, so there are different thicknesses and specifications. Mechanism charcoal is mostly hollow, hexagonal or quadrangular, although there are different thicknesses, but the shape is more uniform, and the density is very high, which is about 3 times of natural charcoal.

Combustion performance: natural charcoal is quick to ignite, but the burning time is relatively short, generally around 80 minutes, while burning will produce smoke and odor. Mechanism charcoal burns without smoke and odor, and the burning time is relatively long, generally up to 3 times of natural charcoal, and the combustion is stable, not easy to explode ash.

Process of making BBQ charcoal

Processing of raw materials: The raw materials are cut, crushed or milled into shapes and sizes suitable for carbonization. Also, the raw material is dried to remove the moisture.

Carbonization: The treated raw materials are put into the carbonization furnace for high temperature carbonization.

Cooling: After carbonization, the charcoal is allowed to cool naturally. Care should be taken to avoid rapid cooling to prevent the charcoal from cracking or breaking.

Machines for making BBQ charcoal

BBQ charcoal briquettes machine

It is a kind of screw extruder for making biomass material into briquette fuel. It is one of the main equipment for making biochar briquettes. It is also known as biomass briquetting machine or charcoal machine.

Carbonization furnace

Carbonization furnace is needed to produce both natural barbecue charcoal and mechanism barbecue charcoal. Carbonization furnace is divided into vertical and horizontal. Vertical charcoal furnace has wide range of application and is suitable for charcoalization of all kinds of raw materials. Here we show the vertical carbonization furnace.

Wood Crusher

Raw material size needs to be crushed to less than 5mm

Air flow dryer

Dry the raw material to <12% moisture