2.5–3 T/H Biochar Pelletizer Machine in Philippines

One Coconut Business, Another Product Category

Coconut processing in the Philippines extends well beyond copra.

The Philippine Coconut Authority identifies several distinct value chains, including coconut oil, desiccated coconut, virgin coconut oil, coir, coconut shell, coconut sap and young coconut products. Government industry planning also records companies that produce charcoal and activated carbon from coconut shells.

That industrial structure made the customer's idea credible.

The company did not need to enter an unfamiliar agricultural supply chain just to obtain biomass. Shells were already generated around its coconut-processing activities.

What changed was the intended conversion depth.

Instead of stopping at shell collection, the project created another route:

coconut processing → shell separation → carbonization → biochar preparation → pelletizing → finished carbon pellets.

Pelletizing was therefore one downstream step inside a larger value chain.

Raw Shells Never Enter the MZLH678

This distinction was established before equipment selection.

Coconut shell is a hard lignocellulosic biomass. Coconut-shell biochar is a thermally converted carbonaceous material. They cannot be treated as the same pelletizing feedstock.

Research on coconut residues confirms that coconut shells can be converted into biochar through thermochemical routes and that production conditions strongly influence the resulting carbon structure and properties.

The customer first carbonizes the prepared shells. The resulting char must then cool before downstream handling.

Only material allocated to pellet production proceeds to further size preparation. Coarse carbonized pieces are reduced where necessary, contaminants are controlled, and the prepared char is brought into a condition suitable for mixing and ring-die forming.

The MZLH678 begins its work after those stages.

Why 2.5–3 T/H Made Sense Here

This was not a small demonstration project.

The customer already handled coconut materials commercially and expected a regular shell supply from its processing activities. Once the planned carbonization output and the portion assigned to pellets were considered, a 2.5–3 t/h pelletizing section was appropriate.

ItemPhilippine Project
Equipment	Biochar pelletizer machine
Model	MZLH678
Quantity	1 unit
Main Motor	200 kW
Capacity	2.5–3 t/h
Feedstock at Machine Inlet	Prepared coconut-shell biochar
Original Biomass	Coconut shell
Project Position	Downstream of carbonization
Customer Profile	Integrated coconut processor

RICHI did not calculate this capacity from the number of tonnes of coconuts entering the factory.

Shell represents only one fraction of the whole coconut, carbonization reduces mass further, and not every kilogram of produced char necessarily enters pellet production.

The correct sizing point was the prepared biochar available at the MZLH678 inlet.

The Pellet Recipe Had to Start Again After Carbonization

The customer had experience handling coconut shell, but that experience did not provide a ready-made pellet recipe for shell biochar.

Thermal conversion changes the material.

The carbonized particles have different binding behavior from untreated biomass, so pressure alone cannot automatically be expected to create a sufficiently durable commercial pellet.

Before production, the customer therefore needed to establish an appropriate particle condition, moisture window and binder strategy.

Binder selection also had to follow the finished product.

A material intended for soil-related use cannot simply adopt an additive because it produces the strongest pellet. Likewise, a carbon product intended for another industrial application may impose different requirements on ash, composition and pellet behavior.

RICHI therefore avoided fixing an unsupported universal binder percentage.

The actual char and target product decide that number.

The First Quality Gate Was Before Pelletizing

For this project, quality control did not begin with finished pellets.

It began with the prepared char.

Material entering the MZLH678 needed to meet an acceptable processing condition. If one batch contained unusually coarse particles, uncontrolled moisture or contamination, operators were expected to correct that issue before feeding it into the pelletizer.

This protected production stability.

Once acceptable material entered the machine, controlled feeding kept the pressing chamber supplied. Rollers compressed the prepared mixture through the ring die, and the emerging strands were cut into the required pellet form.

The product then moved through stabilization and screening.

Only after those stages could the customer judge whether pellet integrity was adequate for commercial handling.

MZLH Was Selected From the Product Composition

Coconut is an agricultural crop, but that did not make this an FZLH fertilizer project.

The feedstock entering the machine was predominantly coconut-shell biochar. The customer was densifying a carbon material rather than granulating a formula dominated by compost, manure or other organic fertilizer ingredients.

RICHI therefore selected the MZLH series.

This distinction leaves room for future product development.

If the same Philippine company later combines its coconut-shell biochar with a substantial proportion of composted poultry manure or another fertilizer base, the material characteristics will change. RICHI would then reassess the process and could move the project toward an FZLH fertilizer pellet machine.

One customer can therefore require different machine families for different biochar-based products.

Production Had to Fit the Rest of the Coconut Factory

An integrated processor has another constraint: the biochar section cannot be planned as though nothing else exists around it.

Material routes, vehicle movement, electrical supply, storage and maintenance access already serve other operations.

The MZLH678 installation therefore had to occupy a practical position downstream of char preparation without interfering with the food-processing areas.

Separation was particularly important.

Fine char and carbon dust should not be allowed to migrate unnecessarily toward food-product handling zones. The biochar area required its own appropriate material containment, housekeeping and dust-control arrangements.

That factory-level separation was more relevant to this customer than it would be to a stand-alone carbon plant.

Pelletizing Added a Product Without Replacing Existing Shell Uses

The company did not need every shell to follow the same route.

Some shell material could continue serving existing outlets. Another share could enter carbonization. Within the carbonized output, only the quantity intended for the pellet product needed to reach the MZLH678.

This gave management flexibility when market demand changed.

The pellet machine was not designed to consume shell simply because shell existed. It was there to manufacture a defined product when orders justified that additional processing.

The customer described the strategy in straightforward terms:

"We already process different parts of the coconut into different products. Biochar pellets give the shell another route. The important point is that we can decide how much material enters that route instead of changing the whole factory around one new product."

That was also why the project remained a single-machine-centered retrofit rather than becoming a new complete factory.

The Machine Entered Through Manila

After manufacturing and inspection in China, the MZLH678 was prepared for sea transport from Qingdao Port to the Manila port area in the Philippines.

Before shipment arrived, the customer could work from RICHI's technical information to prepare the installation position, foundation, electrical connection and material interfaces.

Commissioning focused on the real coconut-shell biochar rather than treating factory testing as the final operating recipe.

RICHI also provided guidance covering feeding, machine-load observation, ring-die and roller inspection, lubrication, wear parts and troubleshooting when char condition changed.

For a 2.5–3 t/h unit, keeping the upstream preparation section synchronized with the pelletizer was an important part of stable operation.

Whole-Coconut Utilization Does Not Mean Forcing Everything Into Pellets

The Philippine Coconut Authority's industry planning reflects how many different downstream products can come from a coconut. That same principle applies inside this project.

Pelletization is one option for one prepared carbon stream.

It is not automatically the best destination for every coconut shell, every type of char or every customer.

RICHI Machinery therefore evaluates a Philippine biochar project from the final product backward. The original coconut residue must be identified. The carbonization route has to be known. Prepared-char quantity, particle condition, moisture and binder requirements need to be established. The required pellet form and end use then determine how the machine should be configured.

For this integrated coconut processor, those conditions supported one MZLH678 at 2.5–3 t/h.

The value of the machine was not simply that it could press coconut-shell biochar. It allowed an existing coconut company to add another downstream product while keeping the rest of its established coconut value chain intact.