Charcoal preparation from jute stick: A new approach for sustainable economy

An investigation had been done to produce quality charcoal at different temperature ranges on a laboratory scale. A proximate analysis had been carried out to determine the percentage of moisture, volatile matter, ash, and fixed carbon in charcoal by standard methods. The jute sticks were carbonized at a range of 250oC to 750oC temperature in an electric muffle furnace. Higher yields, 40-45% were obtained at 250oC, and yields decline (8-10%) with increasing temperature up to 750oC. The yield of charcoal was calculated after the determination of moisture, where the average moisture of jute charcoal is about 9.88%. The carbon purity of jute charcoal is identified from FT-IR analysis. Thermogravimetric analysis revealed that thermal decomposition of the analyzed charcoal occurred in three main phases where the thermal decomposition of the charcoal occurred in the range of 340-550°C where the weight loss was 75% and the rest 1% of inorganic materials become ash.