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Charcoal production as a promising business. Charcoal production business plan

Beginning entrepreneurs are always primarily interested in a business that does not require special knowledge and significant capital investments. One of these areas is the production charcoal. Statistics speaks about the attractiveness of the business: during the season, one average cafe burns up to 4 tons of this fuel.

What is charcoal

Before starting a business, it is worth clarifying what you have to deal with. Charcoal is an ecological type of fuel that gives a lot of heat. It is readily used for cooking barbecue on an open fire, for barbecues and barbecues, as well as in rural ovens and fireplaces.

In addition, coal is widely used in the metallurgical and chemical industries for kindling an industrial furnace. In the field of construction, coal is used as an insulating material, and it is also used to make paints and varnishes. In addition, coal is used as a feed additive for various domestic animals.

In connection with such a variety of applications, coal has several varieties:

Red, which is made from coniferous wood using the soft charcoal method.
White is made from elm, hornbeam, oak, birch and other hardwoods.
Black is made from poplar, alder, willow, linden, aspen and other soft woods.

Based on the product quality requirements (GOST), coal is divided into three varieties: A - the highest grade, B - the first, C - the second.

Business registration

To start a business for the production of this material, it is necessary to draw up a business plan. First of all, it includes the mandatory registration of production. There are several ways to organize a business. Which one to choose depends on the scale of your production and plans for its development. If you have a relatively modest production plan, you can stop at a simple organizational form - an individual entrepreneur. To register it, 800 rubles are enough. to pay the state fee and five working days to review your documents.

If you have an ambitious plan to conquer the market or the company will have several founders, it makes sense to register an LLC.

Production room

While your business is going through the official registration procedure, you can start looking for a suitable premises. To save on buying or renting it, you can take a room outside the city or in the suburbs. The business will require little space. Installation of one furnace takes 20 square meters. m of open space. In addition, you will need premises for warehouses and utility rooms for staff and inventory storage. In total, it is necessary to include in the business plan about 200 square meters. m. of total area.

Staff

Work on the furnace is simple, so it makes no sense to spend money on highly qualified personnel. To service the furnace, no more than three workers, including loaders, will be required. In addition to them, it is necessary to hire a manager who will deal with the supply of raw materials and the marketing of finished products. You will also need the services of an accountant. At first, they can be outsourced. But the wider your production, the more difficult the accounting will be. Then it is more profitable to hire a specialist in the state. Another important employee at the enterprise is the watchman at the warehouses.

Equipment

The material is made in a special retort furnace or, as it is also called, charcoal burning. The burning process itself takes place in a separate chamber. Here the material is dried. The advantage of such a furnace is that the vapors of various gases that are released during combustion are used in the further incandescence of the furnace.

At the initial stages of production, one furnace can be dispensed with. If we take the equipment for the production of charcoal of low capacity, up to 100 tons of coal can be produced per year. Over time, production can be expanded and equipment with a capacity of 150-200 tons of products per year can be taken.

Such a furnace costs about 350 thousand rubles. the simplest configuration and inexpensive manufacturer. But you can find equipment for 750 thousand rubles.

Please note that retort stoves work on solid wood. If you want to work with waste from the woodworking industry, you need to use a slightly different technology.

The coal produced in this case is valued even higher than that produced by pyrolysis.

Raw material

Charcoal is made from wood waste, namely:

fragments of wood;
stumps;
pieces of wood with branches;
chips;
peat;
furniture production waste;
sawdust.

It is possible to organize the supply of raw materials from furniture production, logging, woodworking enterprises. The plan for the consumption of raw materials per ton of coal depends on the nature of the wood species. So, soft rocks are taken in the amount of 11-12 cubic meters. Birch is enough 7-8 cubes.

Production technology

The technology for the production of charcoal is distinguished by its simplicity. First, sawdust, wood chips, hemp and other raw materials are sent to the oven. There it heats up to 550 ° C by pyrolysis, that is, without oxygen. When the coal cools down, it goes through the briquetting stage. The finished material is allowed to cool, after which it is packed in paper bags. That is, all the work on the manufacture of products is performed by the furnace. Therefore, anyone who does not have special qualifications can control production.

In addition to the furnace in production, you will need the following equipment:

hydraulic device for chopping firewood - 55 rubles / piece;
chainsaw - 5 thousand rubles;
electric generator - 20 thousand rubles;
electronic scales - 5 thousand rubles.

Settlement part

To determine the feasibility of a business, it is necessary to draw up a plan of income and expenses. So, the expenditure part will consist of the following items:

marketing, advertising, transport - from 50 thousand rubles;
raw materials - 1200 rubles / m3;
staff salary - 120 thousand rubles. in year;
purchase of equipment - 400 thousand rubles;
rent of production and storage facilities - 200 thousand rubles. in year.

In total, about 770 thousand rubles will be needed to start. Finished products can be sold at 17-10 rubles / kg. You can earn 80 thousand rubles per month from the sale. The project will pay off in about a year.

How to start a charcoal business?

Perhaps it is difficult to come up with a business more necessary and more efficient than the production of charcoal. This is how you can solve the energy problems that exist in all countries due to the small amount of energy raw materials.

Every day a person uses heat and electricity, and every day its consumption is growing, and, consequently, the need for fuel is also growing. In addition, such fuel is a renewable resource, since trees have the ability to grow. Also, this fuel belongs to a biological species, which is environmentally friendly and safer for the general state of the atmosphere.

The production of charcoal is an old Russian occupation. In ancient times, charcoal was used for furnaces in forges. Therefore, you will not just open a business, but will be engaged in a native Russian business.

Before considering starting a business in this area, you need to understand what it is. Charcoal is a high-carbon substance obtained by pyrolysis of wood in a vacuum environment, that is, without air access. That is, to open such a business, you will need to do pyrolysis, which consists in the primary combustion of wood. The flame is created by burning gases (volatile products of pyrolysis), and not by burning wood.

In simple words, wood is charred at three temperatures of 450-500 degrees Celsius. In addition to charcoal, pyrolysis also produces acetic acid, acetone, methanol, resins and other products. Therefore, you can additionally engage in the production or sale of other combustion products. But if liquid products are produced in small quantities, it is not profitable to process them, so it is better to use them for heat generation, thereby reducing costs in this area.

The world produces 9 million tons of coal per year. Brazil holds the first place in the world in the production of charcoal. In Russia, despite the abundance of forests, only 100 thousand tons are produced per year, so the country lacks this type of fuel. This product is imported to us from Ukraine, Belarus and China. You can take your place in this niche, as a domestic product is more popular, especially if it is of good quality.

Charcoal production technology

First you need to decide on the technology for the production of charcoal and the structure of raw materials. If you decide to produce "white" coal, you can export it to Japan, where it is in great demand. For private houses where there are fireplaces, people buy "red" coal. It is produced at a low temperature and soft charcoal. For production, you will need wood or wood waste. It is preferable to use hardwood. Recently, coniferous, shrubby trees and aspen have been collecting waste.

When making preliminary calculations and when calculating the payback, remember that in reality the yield of coal may turn out to be much less than you thought. This is due to the fact that oxygen enters the apparatus and contributes to the direct combustion of wood. You must organize a clear production structure and technology that will reduce losses, as well as avoid marriage: unburned, resin-smelling, cracked coal.

To start production, you will need to purchase special devices for charcoal burning. There are a lot of charcoal making equipment, but you should choose one that can be used on an industrial scale and with the ability to process forest waste. Your factory should be close to wood production and the equipment should be suitable for the amount of waste generated.

You can also build your factory near the logging site. The proximity of raw materials is the main condition for production, which reduces transportation costs. Therefore, the purchased equipment must be transportable and follow the logging production. Also important is the environmental friendliness of production in order to reduce emissions into the environment. The simple design and operation method make it easy to use and repair in case of malfunction.

Stages of charcoal production

All production consists of three stages. The first is to dry the wood for subsequent work with it. As you know, a wet tree will not smolder. The second stage includes pyrolysis. This stage is the most important in all production. The third stage includes calcination, during which resins and excess gases are separated from the harvested coal. How is the production of charcoal, you can watch the video.

The furnace in which oxygen-free pyrolysis is carried out is equipped with a retora - a closed vessel that is heated from the outside, and the combustion process under the action of gases begins in a chamber from which air has been previously pumped out. Vapor gases are separated through the branch pipe, which are separated from the liquid in the device for condensation. Charcoal stoves are simple to make but very efficient. The production process is manual and rather laborious, therefore it requires special physical training.

There are two production technologies: pit and heap. Heap burning requires only wood, water, and turf, with heaps being made upright or lying down. But the main thing is to process wood in a pile of the same density.

In addition to special equipment, space and raw materials, you will need a highly qualified professional who, by external signs, will be able to determine the progress of production and its completion, since there are no specific parameters and instruments that determine the readiness of coal. Therefore, we need a person who will have a good eye in this matter, and who will follow the safety rules so that a gas explosion or spontaneous combustion of the produced coal does not occur.

Sales of charcoal

The consumption of charcoal in Russia is extremely small, so you need to focus your efforts on exporting finished products abroad, where its consumption is high, for example, Japan or Europe. But, despite the small share of charcoal consumption in our country, one should not forget about domestic sales, since it is still not enough in the country. It is worth looking for buyers among energy companies and individuals who heat themselves.

In his advertising campaign you should focus on the environmental performance of this type of fuel, since this problem is now acute in the world. At the same time, charcoal corresponds to the characteristics of known fuels, such as rolled coal and peat. Also, the combustion of this type of coal is smokeless, but it gives the appropriate temperature. Its heat transfer is 31000 kJ / kg, and a long time of heat preservation. Charcoal pressed into briquettes gives 1.5 times more number and burns even longer.

Also, charcoal meets all safety requirements, as it is not capable of spontaneous combustion. There is practically no waste from combustion, since it does not contain any harmful impurities.

Charcoal is used not only in closed ovens, but also in barbecues, open fireplaces and bonfires. Another unusual but pleasant property of coal is that it absorbs unpleasant odors, so if you heat your fireplace with such fuel, then you will always have a pleasant smell in the room and you will feel better.

If your production will be directed to the sale not in private hands, but in large manufacturing companies, then you also need to indicate how safe and environmentally friendly the production will be if charcoal is used to obtain the necessary thermal or electrical energy.

You can find partners in smelters, forges and pharmaceutical companies. In production, this fuel is used as a reducing agent. For example, in the production of cast iron, which, thanks to charcoal, becomes more durable and indestructible. In addition, it is used for melting valuable non-ferrous metals.

With the right approach, this type of business can be well promoted and profitable quickly enough if you take into account all the requirements that are required for production and cost reduction. You are able to win fans all over the world, as charcoal is a versatile fuel that solves many everyday problems.

Video showing the process of charcoal production:

All production is not as difficult as it seems at first glance, so anyone can do this business. In addition, this niche of production is new, there are many empty seats in it and you can take the best among them in the front row.

A person uses various types of energy every day, and its consumption is growing exponentially, so the need for fuel is also growing, thanks to which it is produced and which is usually referred to as renewable resources, because trees grow.

In addition, this type of fuel is biological, which means that it is environmentally friendly and safe for the atmosphere. That is why many may be interested in a business plan for the production of charcoal.

Features and characteristics

The production of charcoal in Russia has been practiced since very ancient times - it was used in forges for furnaces. Therefore, by drawing up a business plan for the production of charcoal and engaging in its implementation, you will not only open your own business, but continue a centuries-old tradition.

Before deciding to open own production in this area, it is necessary to understand its main nuances. Charcoal is a substance with a high carbon content, which is obtained by pyrolysis of wood in a vacuum environment, that is, without any access to oxygen.

This means that you will need special coal burning furnaces where the primary combustion of raw materials will take place. The flame in this case is created through the use of gases, that is, volatile pyrolysis products, and not through the process of smoldering wood.

If to speak in simple words, then the charring of raw materials is carried out at a temperature of 450-500 degrees Celsius. As a result of pyrolysis, not only the main product is obtained, but also acetone, acetic acid, resins, methanol and other products.

Therefore, the charcoal production business plan should include the possibility of producing additional products. However, if the production of liquid components is carried out in small quantities, which are completely unprofitable to process, then it is better to use them for generating heat, which will significantly reduce costs in this area.

Big Picture

The world produces nine million tons of coal annually. Brazil holds the first place on the planet in the manufacture of this type of fuel. In Russia, despite the fact that there is an abundance of forests, only 100 thousand tons of coal are produced annually, so there is a strong shortage of it in the country.

That is why coal produced in Belarus, Ukraine and China is constantly imported. Any entrepreneur may well take his place in this niche, since a domestic product of good quality is in great demand among consumers.

Charcoal production technology

Before you start your business, you need to decide on a number of very important points. First of all, you should decide which charcoal production technology will be used, as well as what structure the raw material will have. If you are interested in the production of "white" coal, you can export it to Japan, where it is in great demand.

Owners of private houses that have fireplaces usually purchase "red" coal. Its production is carried out with soft charcoal and at a low temperature. And now we come close to the question of what charcoal is made of. For this, wood or its waste is used. It is worth giving preference to hardwoods. Recently, wastes of coniferous, shrubby trees, as well as aspen are increasingly used as raw materials.

The essence of the production process

So, if you have drawn up a business plan for the production of charcoal, then, when making preliminary payback calculations, take into account the fact that in reality it may turn out that the output of coal will be much less than you expected.

This is due to the fact that oxygen enters the apparatus, due to which the direct combustion of wood occurs. That is why you must organize a clear production structure and technology to reduce losses, as well as prevent rejects in the form of an unburned product with cracks and a smell of resin.

The working process

To start the activity, you will need special equipment for the production of charcoal. There is a lot of it, but you should choose one that can be used on an industrial scale for the active processing of forest waste. The factory should be located in close proximity to the wood production, and its equipment should correspond to the scale of waste.

You can build your production next to the felling. If the raw materials are located as close as possible, then you can reduce the costs associated with its transportation. Therefore, equipment for the production of charcoal must be transportable - this will allow you to follow the logging production.

It is important that the manufacturing process is environmentally friendly, which will reduce emissions that cause considerable harm to the environment. If the charcoal burning stoves have a simple design, then it will not be difficult to use and repair them, in case of any malfunctions.

Manufacturing process

All production includes three stages. At the first stage, the drying of wood is carried out, with which subsequent work will be carried out. Everyone knows that wet raw materials will not smolder. At the second stage, the pyrolysis process begins. In all production, this step is the most important. At the third stage, calcination is carried out, during which excess gases and resins will be separated from the harvested coal.

The furnace, intended for the production of oxygen-free pyrolysis, is equipped with a retort, which is a closed vessel heated from the outside. The combustion process is carried out first in the chamber, from which the air is previously pumped out.

It may seem surprising, but despite the fact that the history of mankind's use of fire goes back thousands of years, the coal obtained by burning wood has long been considered waste. And only in the last century, the production of charcoal as an additional source of energy used for industrial and domestic purposes, was, as they say, put on stream.

Brief business analysis:
Business setup costs:350-500 thousand rubles
Relevant for cities with a population: with no restrictions
Situation in the industry:high competition
The complexity of organizing a business: 2/5
Payback: 3 – 6 months

Moreover, the demand for this product shows such increases every year, and the production of charcoal is such a simple process that it would be a gross mistake not to pay attention to this type of business for serious entrepreneurs.

The use of charcoal in industry and daily life

Some applications of charcoal are well known to everyone - heating private houses and use for cooking. What's a picnic trip without a sack or two of charcoal? But as it turns out, charcoal has found its way into other industries as well:

in the metallurgical sphere as a reducing agent in the smelting of some rare and valuable metals;
in glass business - in the manufacture of glass and crystal;
in agriculture - as a fertilizer and an additive in some types of animal feed;
in the production of welding electrodes, semiconductors;
in the construction industry - as an insulator in the construction of houses;

Some "by-products" obtained during the production of charcoal are also used, from which they receive:

turpentine;
some types of solvents for paints;
acetic acid;
methyl alcohol.

Having gained an idea of where charcoal is used and used, it becomes clear where exactly you should look for distribution channels for finished products.

Making charcoal as a business has a number of advantages that are extremely attractive for start-up entrepreneurs:

organizing your business does not require significant investments and the presence of any special knowledge about technological process production - a business can be organized both on a large scale and at home;
raw materials for production (as a rule, these are waste from woodworking industries) are available in sufficient quantities in almost any region of the country and cost “mere pennies”, or you can get it for nothing at all;
charcoal as a type of fuel has a high degree of environmental reliability, the products withstand any environmental impact assessment;
finished products have a huge demand (having a seasonal direction) and high profitability.

From 1 cubic meter of wood of the second and third grade, which will cost from 600 to 1400 rubles, you can get up to 350 kg of finished charcoal. Calculating the profit from the sale of the finished product is not difficult.

Varieties of charcoal

The types of charcoal obtained depend on the type of wood used in the production. This information is reflected in the table below:

Type of coal	Used wood	Comment
"White coal	Oak, birch, acacia, hornbeam, ash, elm, and other hard varieties of trees of group I	It is considered the highest quality coal.
"Black" coal	Poplar, linden, alder, willow, aspen - soft varieties of trees of group III	The production of coal from such varieties of trees is considered the cheapest.
"Red" coal	"Red" coal Spruce, pine, and other varieties of coniferous trees of group II	The most common type of coal

There are also GOSTs of charcoal:

grade A - pyrolysis (in this context - the process of obtaining the finished product by combustion with limited oxygen access) of I wood group;
grade B - pyrolysis of I and II groups of wood;
grade B - charcoal burning (natural way of obtaining coal) of wood of groups I, II, III.

How to start your own coal business

As already mentioned, organizing a charcoal business is simple, and anyone can do it.

The charcoal production technology consists of 4 main stages:

After cooling, the finished coal, if necessary, is crushed into smaller fractions and packed in bags or packages.

The degree of wood burning and the temperature of the flame is regulated by special sensors installed in the equipment. At home, the best result is achieved empirically.

The production of charcoal in retort kilns by pyrolysis is shown in the video below.

Charcoal production at home

The production of charcoal at home is not much different from the industrial process. The differences lie in the equipment used and the requirements for the feedstock. To obtain coal in an artisanal way, it is necessary to use only whole wood - firewood, logs, large branches, etc.

As equipment, you can use an ordinary metal barrel with a capacity of 200 liters or more. In the upper part of the barrel, it is necessary to drill holes for the release of accumulated gases. The barrel is tightly closed with a lid, placed over the fire and heated to a temperature of 350-380 ° C. When the specified temperature is reached, the barrel should be above the flame for another 2-2.5 hours, after which it is removed from the fire. The lid opens only after complete cooling.

Instead of a barrel, you can also use an ordinary hole dug in the ground. The lid can be a simple metal sheet. The process of obtaining coal can be viewed in the video:

Production room/site

As a rule, the production of charcoal takes place in an open area. The land plot must have an area of at least 200 sq. meters, cleared of debris and vegetation. In addition to the installed furnaces, a warehouse for raw materials and finished coal, a staff room should be equipped on the site. In addition, the team of workers must have fire fighting equipment.

It would be expedient to place the production site next to or not far from timber processing enterprises, sawmills, etc., in order to reduce costs and time for the transportation of raw materials.

Equipment overview

Charcoal production equipment includes the following:

retort charcoal kiln - stationary or mobile, depending on the format of the business organization. The purchase will cost from 200 thousand to 1 million rubles, depending on the daily output of the furnace. Used equipment can be purchased, for example, on the Avito website for 70-90 thousand rubles;
an electric generator, a power plant (in the absence of the possibility of supplying an electric line to the production site). Cost - from 30 to 50 thousand rubles;
hydraulic wood splitter (can be replaced by manual labor) - from 15 to 30 thousand rubles. A used wood splitter can be bought for an amount of 2-3 thousand;
chainsaw - 5-8 thousand rubles;
packing machine - from 70 to 100 thousand.

An overview of charcoal making equipment is presented in the video below:

The dependence of the volume of finished products on the type of wood and the amount of consumables is presented in the table below:

Using this information, it is possible to regulate the cost of raw materials and the production of finished coal, the volume of which also depends on the type of equipment used.