Natural Solar Drying and Charcoal Production by Pyrolysis of Empty Shells of Cocoa Pods Using a Carbonisation Stove Fitted with a Chimney

The world’s production of cocoa highly has grown since 1960. In West Africa, the production reached about 3,000,000 tons in 2012. More than 50% of the world’s production of cocoa comes nowadays from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire is the biggest producer. After harvesting, the empty shells, considered as non-useful wastes, are abandoned in the fields where they become a source of pollution. That yields millions of tons of biomass that can be converted into charcoal, instead of being sources of pollution. In the present work, the drying kinetics of the empty wet shells were studied. Then, charcoal production by pyrolysis of those empty shells of cocoa pods was performed, using a carbonisation stove fitted with a chimney. The study showed that the empty shells have a high moisture content. The different phases of the drying were observed. The study compared the drying rates and the diffusion coefficients of a small sample and a big sample. Two experiences of carbonisation of the empty shells were successfully carried out. For the first experiment, the pyrolysis temperatures were recorded and the charcoal mass efficiency calculated. For the second experiment, the temperatures were higher and the result was colored charcoals. The colorations disappeared after some hours.