Charcoal Briquettes

Cavron’s Coconut Charcoal Briquettes are of an extremely high quality and are 100% natural. We do not use any artificial chemicals in our products. The granulated charcoal is mixed with our all-natural tapioca starch to bind the charcoal briquettes – a 100% food grade product made from the plant Manihot Esculenta.

Our BBQ briquettes are based on our high-quality carbon granulate from carbonised coconut shells and offer a superior green alternative to regular wood charcoal and fossilised coal. The use of our briquettes is primarily as a fuel source for barbecuing. In other words, with Cavron Coconut Charcoal Briquettes you will know what you are grilling with – we guarantee that our charcoal is clean without any unhealthy, badly tasting chemicals.

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Matter and energy

Activated Carbon Filter Guidelines

AC filters have a limited lifetime. Eventually, the surface of the AC becomes filled with adsorbed pollutants, and no further treatment occurs. ‘’Break-through” takes place when pollutants break through the filter and emerge in the treated water. When it happens, contaminant concentrations in the treated water can possibly be even higher than those in the untreated water. The cartridge then needs to be replaced. Knowing when breakthrough will occur and when to replace the cartridge is thus a major problem with AC treatment.

Unfortunately, unless the pollutants are smelled or tasted, they can be unknowingly consumed. In most cases, break-through can be positively verified only by chemical testing. Frequent chemical testing is impractical and expensive. Some cartridges are sold with predictions about their longevity. But these are generally only crude estimates since they do not consider the characteristics of a specific water source.

The retailer from whom you purchase the treatment device can better estimate a filter’s useful lifetime based on water usage (flow rate) and pollutant concentrations, shown in the chemical analysis. To make the most accurate estimates, you should learn what these amounts are before purchasing the system. If pollutant concentrations increase over time, and without testing done to reveal the change, such estimates may not be very practical or useful.

AC filters can be excellent places for bacteria to grow. A filter saturated with organic contaminants, or one that has not been used for a long time, provides ideal conditions for bacterial growth. A saturated filter supplies the food source for the bacteria. It is still unclear whether bacteria growing on the carbon pose a health threat. Some manufacturers place silver in the AC to prevent bacterial growth. The effectiveness of the silver has not been independently verified. In addition, the silver may contaminate the drinking water.

Matter and energy

Something About Portable Air Cleaner

Question: What portable indoor air purifier should I buy to remove air pollution inside my home? I want to use the air filters to reduce my wife’s suffering from multiple chemical sensitivity.

Response: If your wife spends most of her time at home in one or two rooms, then placing a suitable portable air cleaner near her in each room should help reduce particle levels – and thus improve the indoor air quality. If she spends time at home in many rooms or your home has an open floor plan, portable air cleaners may not be the best solution. You may want to look at other possible solutions, such as a whole house air cleaning system.

Portable air cleaners are the most common type of air cleaner. They are small and plug into the wall much like a counter-top kitchen appliance or a portable heater. There are many models of portable air cleaners to chose from. In choosing the best portable air cleaner for you, you should consider the following three factors:

Efficiency. Most portable air cleaners use a filter to remove dust and other particles from air that is moved through the filter by a fan. The efficiency of the filter is the fraction of particles removed by the filter. The best performing portable air cleaners have HEPA-grade efficiency, meaning that they remove at least 99.97% of 0.3 micron particles from the air that passes through them.

Continue to Part 2 to understand more about portable air cleaners.

Matter and energy

Special Treatments for Pollutants

Pollutants come into different categories. Despite most air purifiers help remove pollutants, not every cleaner has the ability to tackle each pollutant in the same manner. Let’s look into the different type of pollutants in the air around us.

Pet Dander

Pet dander is a powerful allergen that can trigger severe reactions in to allergy-sufferers. The most common treatment would be an air purifier that contains a type of HEPA filter. True HEPA filters are certified and best known for removing allergens of all kinds, especially pet dander.

Dust, Dust Mites and Pollen

If you want to remove more solid particles floating around in the air like pollen or dust mites, a HEPA filter is all you need. Another option that’s especially good for dust is an ionizer. Ionizers are very similar to air purifiers, only their technology utilizes negative ions which attach in the air to the positively charged particles of dust.

Mold and Mildew

Most households have experienced some kind of mold or mildew problems which occur in humid environments. Once mold has spread, it produces airborne spores that can be dangerous to your health. The best treatment out there is an air purifier with a certified HEPA filter, and if it comes with an inbuilt ionizer even better! HEPA filters are great at removing solid particles out of the air, while Ionizers produce negative ions that attach to the spores and neutralize them.

Matter and energy

What else can we do with coconut shells? Activated carbon.

We all like coconuts. But how much do we know about its shells? They are indeed biomass waste and if treated properly, can be very sustainable products.

Like its name, coconut shell activated carbon comes from the coconut shell. To create its activated carbon form, the coconut undergoes a steam activation process. During activation, it creates millions of pores at the surface of the carbon thus increasing the total surface area. Coconut shell carbon has mainly micro-pores to meso-pores and due to its unique distribution of pore diameter; coconut shell activated carbons are very popular in the gas phase purification and potable water purification industries.

Activated carbon manufactured from coconut shell is considered superior to those obtained from other sources, such as wood, coal or peat. This is mainly because of the small macropores structure which renders it more effective for the adsorption of gas/vapour and for the removal of colour and odour of compounds. Indeed, coconut activated carbon has higher iodine number that gives it better adsorption ability for molecules.

The activated carbon is extensively used in the refining and bleaching of vegetable oils and chemical solutions, water purification, recovery of solvents and other vapours, recovery of gold, in gas masks for protection against toxic gases, in filters for providing adequate protection against war gases/nuclear fall outs, etc.

Although steam activation and chemical activation are the two commonly used processes for the manufacture of activated carbon, coconut shell based activated carbon units are adopting the steam activation process to produce good quality activated carbon.

Matter and energy

To Secure Clean Water

750 million people around the globe are lacking in safe drinking water, and nearly all of them in the developing countries. Africa is the region that lacks water the most. Insufficient water supply brings a huge health impact, as it kills lives.

Clean water is getting scarce, when nearly a third of the world’s population live in water-stressed areas. Meanwhile, the number of people becoming aware of risks of drinking contaminated water is increasing. What should we do, and what can we do to secure this scarce resource? Water filters will give you unimaginable solutions to this problem.

A water filter can effectively remove impurities, as well as unpleasant odour from the water. By far the most common type of water filters are those based on absorption, most of which use activated carbon. activated carbon filters can effectively trap contaminants, and eliminate odour in the water. They are high absorbent sponges, removing larger particles like sediment and silt from the water, so they’re no longer present in your consuming liquid. And of course, activated carbon filters will also make sure the end result has less odour and let the water tastes real. This is because they reduce the amount of chlorine and other contaminants that can make your water smell unpleasant.

Be sure that you are selecting the right activated carbon filters from the selling racks? First, we should choose the water filter which activated carbons are made by good source materials. There are several types of source materials for producing activated carbon such as coal, wood, coconut shells and peats, among them, coconut shells stand out. Coconut shell-based carbons tend to be harder and thus more resistant to abrasion. They also have very effective adsorbing capacities, and show superior removal performance in catalytic applications, such as drinking water treatment. We also need to choose a filter manufacturer that has its own carbon production facility, so that the quality of carbons is controlled and reliable.

Your body is about 70 percent water, and these tiny molecules of H₂0 are important for every biological functioning inside our body. Bear this in mind as you make decisions about securing clean water for you and your loved ones.

Matter and energy

Control smells in the grow room

So you want to know about odour control in the grow room. This is just a list of the things you can use to control the odour. Ideally, use a 2-prong approach for the best results. This entails running an ozone generator and an exhaust fan with a carbon filter.

EXHAUST FAN AND CARBON FILTER:

There are several ways to run the carbon filter. First, pre-exhaust the area where you need to exhaust heat (and/or humidity) from the grow room. In this setup, the carbon filter goes into the grow room, where air is drawn first through the filter, then exhausted out of the room. The size of the filter has to be matched to the size of the fan so that the air going through the filter has enough contact time with the carbon to do the thing. If you pump the air through the filter too fast, the carbon can’t do it’s job. So, based upon the amount of heat you’re going to remove, you first determine the necessary fan size, then pick the correct filter for the fan. Don’t confuse with the order.

With the right fan/filter combo, all of the air being exhausted will be clean enough to blow directly outside (or into your house in the winter to utilize the heat and high quality oxygen rich air).

The other way to run a carbon filter is to simply connect the fan to the filter and put it into the area that you’re concerned about with no ducting. In this way, a larger fan with more air movement can be used because the air is being repeatedly drawn through the carbon filter. With this approach, the larger the filter and fan you choose the better.

OZONE GENERATORS:

Ozone use for odour control has a debate of pros and con’s, but one of the benefits is that it kills bacteria, not only in the growroom, but in the exhaust fan and carbon filter. So, if you’ve got an ozone generator treating the air in the room before it enters the carbon filter, it will kill the bacteria that can shorten the life of the carbon.

This dual approach, using ozone and carbon filter to deal with your organic fertilizer odour issues is probably the best overall approach.

Matter and energy

A Wonderful BBQ Wedding

My high school best friend was getting married in Italy. She hosted a BBQ wedding on a piece of big grassland. Honestly, I wasn’t really interested in joining the party at the beginning as it took me 12 hours to land there. But turned out this trip and the party were so much wonderful.

The BBQ party was the highlight of the wedding and it started at evening. The fuel they used was coconut shell charcoal instead of gas or coal. This reflected the couple as Earth lovers and the wedding theme as natural. One of the benefits using coconut shell charcoal is that there’s no smoke. Guests could chat and socialise easily without being “covered” by the smoke.

Because of the consistent heat for over four hours using coconut charcoal made it a very a convenient method of barbecuing (and also economical). There’s no need for anyone to replenish the grill with more fuel during cooking. After the party, there was little ash produced that allowed us to clean grill a lot easier after barbecuing.

This really inspired me and I tried to use the same fuel for barbecuing with my kids after going home. Well, I can say, coconut charcoal is definitely one of the cleanest and cheapest ways of enjoying a grilling meal. It’s really something which should be given a thought as once you switch to coconut charcoal you won’t feel like trying another fuel for your grill. There’s no health risk, which is my particular concern for the kids, and the meat tastes just as it is. I even find it amazing as there’s no interruption in the middle to refuel my BBQ.

Matter and energy

Carbon FAQs – What raw materials can be used to made carbon?

Basically, any carbonaceous material can potentially be activated. The common raw materials include, for example, wood (soft & hard), coal, coconut shells, peats and others. Since activated carbon is manufactured from naturally occurring raw materials, its properties will vary. It is necessary to understand the nature of these raw materials, if you would want to purchase carbon for whatever your purpose.

Wood may be activated by one of two methods, i.e. steam or chemical activation, depending on the desired product. The carbon is usually supplied as a finely divided powder which since produced from waste materials such as sawdust, is relatively cheap and can be used on a “throw-away” basis.

Coal is also a readily available and reasonably cheap raw material. The type of activate obtained depends on the type of coal used and its initial processing prior to carbonisation and activation. It is normal procedure to grind the coal and reconstitute it into a form suitable for processing, by use of a binder such as pitch, before activation. Generally, coal contains bigger pores that make it a fairly well adsorbent for gas and air application.

Coconut shell is another common type of raw materials. It contains about 75% volatile matter that is removed largely by partial carbonisation, to minimise shipping costs. The iodine number is high of coconut based carbon, which indicates a higher adsorption capability for molecules. The ash content is normally low and the hardness is relatively higher that makes the carbon hard to breakdown in water. Because of these features, coconut-carbon is a very good filter media for water, beverage and air industries to produce cleaner liquid and air.

Find more about charcoal made from coconut shells http://www.cocarb.com/

Matter and energy

DIY Activated Carbon?

We are sometimes asked, “Please show me how to make activated charcoal at home.” But first, you need to understand team activation, one of the most common ways to “activate” carbon.

Handmade Steam-Activated Carbon
Is it possible?

Steam-activation is primarily used for coconut charcoal and coal. In the production of steam-activated charcoal, first the coconut shell or coal is heated to create a char. This char is then activated high temperatures of 1,700° to 1,800°F with steam in the absence of oxygen. The activated charcoal is then cooled off. The very high temperatures required for steam activation is impossibly achieved in a conventional oven (260 °C). Thus, this method is all but limited to industrial technology.

Another huge limiting factor is the cost of production. The world today uses a huge amount of activated carbon annually and so production has to be on an industrial scale to control the price. Even if money was not an issue, the quality would likely also be an issue, since cooking temperatures and times that require professional knowledge are critical.

So, how can you make steam activated carbonactivated carbon produced by trusted carbon manufacturer. This is the most effective and yet affordable way.

Matter and energy

Which type of GAC filter system do I need?

A filter with granular activated carbon (GAC) is a proven solution to remove certain chemicals (in particular organic chemicals) from water. There are commonly two types of GAC filter system, including a whole-house filter or a point of use filter. Each system has its own features and is used in different applications. Sounds confusing? Don’t worry. Here it’s a guide for to find out your Mr. Filter.
There are several factors to consider:

The type and amount of contaminants in the water,
Other chemicals in the water,
Water use, and
Exposure pathways that need to be eliminated.

For those who have no clue about exposure pathways, exposure pathways are the ways chemicals enter your body. Some chemicals may cause harm if they are ingetsted while some are harmful if they are breathed in, some if they enter through the skin. Sometimes people are exposed through a combination of exposure pathways.

An under-sink filter protects people from ingesting the chemical by treating the drinking water only from that tap. It will not protect people from inhaling the chemical while showering or bathing, nor will it protect other water faucets.

A whole-house filter system treats all water traveling to any faucet in the home. It removes the chemical before it can be ingested, breathed in, or absorbed by the skin during washing or bathing.

Remember, no matter which filter system you’ll use, use only a licensed filter supplier. For either type of filter system, consistent maintenance and periodic filter or GAC replacement is essential to ensure effectiveness and prevent bacterial build-up.

Charcoal Briquettes

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