In response to the British Columbia forestry industry’s need for an alternate market for its MPB logs, we conducted a study to determine if allocating this type of wood to the activated charcoal industry is a feasible solution. The study was done via a literature review, telephone calls, and interviews. Our economic analysis showed that local producers can profit from making activated charcoal from MPB wood as long as their costs are no more than three times those of their overseas counterparts.
The present charcoal industry allocates a specific input material to make a charcoal product. Wood-based charcoal cannot produce a hardness number and has fewer micropores than competing materials, which are required for the lucrative bottled water market. Hence, wood is usually restricted to making products that decolorize or apply preliminary effluent treatment. North American and Asian companies employed similar input material/final product combinations.
We did not find a North Amercian-based company that made wood-based activated charcoal. Lower overseas salaries and other expenses were the most obvious reasons for this observation.
Recent overseas cellulose-based activated charcoal research has focussed on minimizing environmental impact and maximizing the quantities of useful by-products that are yielded from the synthesis process.