Remains :
- The charcoal itself, composed of at least 80%
of carbon for good charcoals,
- Volatile materials for about 12% of the total
product,
- Humidity for about 2.5% of the total product,
- Ash for less than 1%.
The carbon rate is the best indicator of the charcoal
quality
A Good charcoal must :
- Be pure: with a carbon rate above 82%.
- Be easy to light: it is beast attained when volatile
materials are at about 12% and humidity is at the
lowest possible level.
- Burn hot and for a long time, due to a good balance
between carbon and volatile materials.
- When you buy our charcoal, you subscribe to the
guarantee of buying a charcoal of the highest standards!
A Balance between carbon rate and volatile
materials
A carbon rate above 86% makes it hard to light the charcoal
while a low carbon rate means either a lot of ash, humidity
or volatile materials. An important presence of any
of these three elements means a charcoal that does not
burn well or burn too quickly. Such a balance is difficult
to obtain. Only by heating the wood at a very high and
even temperature (550° C) can this be done.
We strive to constantly maintain it by keeping our production
facilities at their most efficient level, invest to
improve our material, and constantly control our production.
Carbonisation processes
In High Antiquity, Charcoal was obtained by burning
wood in large earthen ovens. This process is still used
in some countries in Africa, Asia and South America.
Its main disadvantages are a low carbon rate and a lot
of wood that has not finished its combustion process
due to the oven relatively low temperature. Most of
the natural wood tars are also still in the charcoal.
These charcoals can be found in France, but they do
not enter in the NF standard. Most serious distributors
refuse to sell it.
Eventually, the earthen oven were replaced by “marmites”,
ovens made with iron sheets. In these ovens the wood
burns more thoroughly, but it is very difficult to keep
a high en even temperature. Productivity is low and
the charcoal quality is quite uncertain. Moreover, qualified
staff to run these production facilities is hard to
fine, as the tuning of the oven must be made solely
by human judgement, with almost no help to be have from
measurement tools.
Finally charcoal is obtained in industrial ovens invented
in the 20th century. The “Lambiote oven”
is the most used and insure the best results. Its main
advantages is a thorough combustion of the wood and
the use of precise tools to control charcoal quality
constantly. It is the process we are using.
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