원문정보
초록
영어
The charcoal industry in Korea is facing a crisis due to a lack of competitiveness from the increase of imported charcoal and material costs. Using traditional charcoal kiln for thermal therapy has problems such as safety and public health. Therefore, we developed a modified kiln for both thermal therapy and charcoal production, and compared the quality of charcoal between a traditional charcoal kiln and a thermal therapy kiln. The results showed that the white charcoal from a thermal therapy kiln had similar quality with that from a traditional charcoal kiln. In this study, we analyzed and compared the characteristics of the white charcoal from a thermal therapy kiln in different month. Calorific value, ash content, volatile matter, fixed carbon, pH, density, refining degree and hardness were examined. Anatomical characteristics were also observed using a scanning electron microscope. There were no considerable differences on the examined contents between thermal therapy kiln and traditional kiln. As a result, the white charcoal from the thermal therapy kiln met the quality standards of wood products of Korea Forestry Promotion Institute. On the other hand, the white charcoal produced in July had a slightly higher moisture content than that in the other months.