China’s coconut shell activated carbon industry has a production capacity of 100,000 tons but faces many threats

Coconut shell activated carbon is a microcrystalline carbon material prepared through a series of process operations such as carbonization and activation of coconut shell raw materials. Coconut shell activated carbon is black in appearance, has different pore structures inside, has a large surface area and is rich in surface chemical groups. Coconut shell activated carbon is mainly prepared by the secondary molding process. The coconut shell carbonized material is first ground and then mixed with a corresponding proportion of binder to prepare a molding material. Then, carbonization is performed to prepare carbonized material. Finally, it is activated with water vapor to prepare coconut shell activated carbon.

​​Coconut shell activated carbon has an extremely rich pore structure, and the product adsorption can achieve both physical and chemical adsorption properties. Therefore, the product is very suitable as a carrier for impregnated carbon in the field of protection. In the domestic market, coconut shell activated carbon is widely used in water treatment, gold extraction, food, petrochemicals, mining and other fields, among which water treatment and gold extraction are the most important application areas.

In recent years, stimulated by market demand in downstream application fields such as water treatment and gold extraction, the production capacity of China’s coconut shell activated carbon industry has continued to increase. According to the “2023-2027 Coconut Shell Activated Carbon Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report released by the Industrial Research Center, In 2022, China’s coconut shell activated carbon production capacity will reach about 100,000 tons.

The domestic production of coconut shell activated carbon shows an obvious industrial cluster. Enterprises are mainly distributed in Hebei Province in North China, Henan Province and Guangxi Province in Central and South China, and Jiangsu Province in East China. There are relatively few enterprises in other regions. At present, the domestic large-scale coconut shell activated carbon manufacturers mainly include Mulinsen Activated Carbon Jiangsu Co., Ltd., Hainan Xingguang Activated Carbon Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Youhuada Environmental Protection Materials Technology Co., Ltd., Fujian Sensen Carbon Technology Co., Ltd., and Anguo Chengze Activated Carbon Manufacturing Ltd.

Industry analysts said that coconut shell is the main raw material of coconut shell activated carbon. Due to the small area of ​​domestic coconut tree planting, the domestic Most of the coconut shells need to be imported from abroad. In addition, the domestic coconut shell activated carbon industry standards are still incomplete and industry supervision is lacking. Due to the high market price of coconut shell activated carbon, some manufacturers often sell coal-based activated carbon as coconut shell activated carbon in order to seek profits, which has seriously affected the development of the coconut shell activated carbon industry. The most important thing is that the production process of coconut shell activated carbon will produce waste water and waste gas, which if not handled properly will pollute the surrounding environment. In recent years, domestic environmental protection policies have become increasingly strict, and coconut shell activated carbon companies’ investment in environmental protection has continued to increase, weakening the profitability of the industry. In this regard, coconut shell activated carbon companies should improve the basic research capabilities of coconut shell activated carbon products, improve the technical level of coconut shell activated carbon products, and guide the production of coconut shell activated carbon products to develop towards green, environmentally friendly, and energy-saving development.