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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
In India, annually about 27 lakh tonnes of jute stick is produced which is mostly underutilized. The jute stick charcoal production potential is around 7.56 lakh tonnes annually which has wide range of uses, e.g., environmental protection, water purification, various industrial uses, building heat preservation, medicine, agricultural uses and so on. The production and export of jute stick charcoal and the return from its fibre counterpart together will strengthen the ever sick jute farmers’ economy. Biochar was made from jute and mesta stick in Kon-Tiki-Kiln, in open earth pyrolysis process at ICAR-CRIJAF, Barrackpore, Kolkata, WB. The earth kiln is a circular cone hole in the ground about 1 m deep with 45° angles and an upper diameter of about 2m.Charcoal production efficiency from mesta stick was 34% and for jute it was 28%.The pH for jute and mesta were 9.87 and 9.34, respectively. Bulk density was 0.0908 g/cc and 0.132 g/cc for jute and mesta, respectively. Maximum water holding capacity of mesta biochar was 637 % and 673 % for jute. Biochar prepared from jute sticks contained higher phosphorus (5.5 g kg-1) and potassium (11 g kg-1) as compared to mesta but total nitrogen content was more in mesta (5.8 g kg-1). In In eastern India, in winter months (December to February) as the air temperature remains very cool, the atmospheric temperature will not be affected due to heat arising out of the burning flames of the open earth pyrolysis process. In these months it can be done in the dried up retting tanks only giving it a desired shape as described. Trenches of similar depth and side walls can also be for open earth pyrolysis process.