Haycarb scouts for coconut shells

To supplement activated carbon production:

Harshini PERERA

Activated carbon manufacturer Haycarb has embarked on a new project to collect domestic coconut shells from residential and populated areas to produce charcoal to supplement their activated carbon production.

Sri Lanka produces 2,000 to 4,500 million tons of coconuts a year and 50 percent of coconut is domestically consumed while only 40 percent of it is used for the commercial purposes.

Activated carbon

A large number of coconut shells are wasted yearly without a proper mechanism to collect them, Haycarb Raw Material Purchasing Senior Executive S.D. Fernando told Daily News Business.

Due to the scarcity of charcoal, industrialists at times have to import raw materials from other countries to cater to the activated carbon demand in the international market.

"Implementing this new project can save foreign exchange Sri Lanka has to spend to import raw materials," Fernando said.

"We have already received 450 inquiries from down south and the Kegalle district which is not in the Coconut Triangle. We have received several inquiries from Ampara but face a transport problem when bringing coconut shells to the collection centres," he said. Haycarb exports activated carbon worth over Rs two billion annually with its 10,000 metric tons of production to various destinations in the world.

Europe, the United States of America, Japan, South Africa and Asia are few among the countries Haycarb exports its activated carbon to.

There is a severe competition in the market for charcoal as there are many companies into activated carbon but the production of raw materials are low and the competition more severe. The demand for activated carbon remains strong but cautioned that the very high charcoal price would continue to challenge the margins of Haycarb's largest manufacturing base in Sri Lanka.

Copra manufacturers and Desiccated Coconut Mills have been the main dealers supplying charcoal for Haycarb.

The environmental pollution has increased due to outside burning by these dealers.

Thus, Haycarb has decided to start producing charcoal for activated carbon in an environment friendly manner.

Production of charcoal will be done with minimum impact to the environment while producing energy to its manufacturing process.