All you need to know about Egypt's 1st village to have environmentally-friendly charcoal composter

CAIRO - 19 October 2022: The village of Al-Talin, in Egypt’s governorate of Al-Sharqia in Delta, implemented the first environmentally friendly charcoal composter without exhaust or harmful fumes, as an alternative to the harmful traditional method.

Coal blasters using the traditional method are one of the most dangerous sources of air pollution, due to the emission of harmful gases, which cause dangers to the environment in general, and to the citizens residing in the region in particular.

Salim Raafat, the owner of the idea of the environmentally-friendly charcoal composter, and explained that it is an integrated system that produces high quality charcoal and treats the gases resulting from charring and converts them into synthetic gases used as fuel.

He said that he started his working life as a merchant and exporter of Egyptian coal, which finds it a very difficult competition because of some coal-producing countries that are environmentally friendly “while we manufacture it in the traditional way, which depends on setting fires in wood and leaving it until it is completely extinguished and coal comes out of it. 

The locally produced coal also lacks quality features, in addition to the contribution of this method to environmental pollution and exposing its workers to severe risks, due to the emissions of fumes that continue for 40 continuous days in the air, which affects the health of citizens in the vicinity due to the inhalation of harmful raids, and their infection with diseases as well as damage environment due to the contribution of this method to air pollution.

He says: "I settled in Egypt more than 10 years ago, and started to establish a coal pile, I refused to implement the primitive model that still exists, because of the damage it causes to the environment, and I began to search for models implemented in a number of countries.

He pointed out that the primitive method is based on laying wood, which has been distorted for many months to absorb moisture from it and then set it on fire. The fire continues burning for 40 days, and one ton of it leaves 140 cubic meters of toxic gases such as carbon, nitrogen and others in the atmosphere.

He added that it was not that easy, but it took years of research and preparation of experiments, and many of them failed, until the furnace currently used, which is characterized by the production of large quantities and high-quality specifications that compete in the international market. 

He explained that the percentage of carbon in charcoal produced from environmentally friendly furnaces is high up to to 85%, which is the required percentage in the international market, because it makes the ignition period of coal long and the emissions of fumes from it less. 

He explained that his project has found approval from the Ministry of Environment, since it was implemented in 2015.

The eco-friendly project of Salim Raafat won among the best developed projects from Sharqia Governorate in the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects, which was set up to coincide with Egypt’s preparations to host the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention COP 27 to achieve sustainable development in implementation of Egypt’s Vision 2030.

CAIRO - 19 October 2022: The village of Al-Talin, in Egypt’s governorate of Al-Sharqia in Delta, implemented the first environmentally friendly charcoal composter without exhaust or harmful fumes, as an alternative to the harmful traditional method.

Coal blasters using the traditional method are one of the most dangerous sources of air pollution, due to the emission of harmful gases, which cause dangers to the environment in general, and to the citizens residing in the region in particular.

Salim Raafat, the owner of the idea of the environmentally-friendly charcoal composter, and explained that it is an integrated system that produces high quality charcoal and treats the gases resulting from charring and converts them into synthetic gases used as fuel.

He said that he started his working life as a merchant and exporter of Egyptian coal, which finds it a very difficult competition because of some coal-producing countries that are environmentally friendly “while we manufacture it in the traditional way, which depends on setting fires in wood and leaving it until it is completely extinguished and coal comes out of it. 

The locally produced coal also lacks quality features, in addition to the contribution of this method to environmental pollution and exposing its workers to severe risks, due to the emissions of fumes that continue for 40 continuous days in the air, which affects the health of citizens in the vicinity due to the inhalation of harmful raids, and their infection with diseases as well as damage environment due to the contribution of this method to air pollution.

He says: "I settled in Egypt more than 10 years ago, and started to establish a coal pile, I refused to implement the primitive model that still exists, because of the damage it causes to the environment, and I began to search for models implemented in a number of countries.

He pointed out that the primitive method is based on laying wood, which has been distorted for many months to absorb moisture from it and then set it on fire. The fire continues burning for 40 days, and one ton of it leaves 140 cubic meters of toxic gases such as carbon, nitrogen and others in the atmosphere.

He added that it was not that easy, but it took years of research and preparation of experiments, and many of them failed, until the furnace currently used, which is characterized by the production of large quantities and high-quality specifications that compete in the international market. 

He explained that the percentage of carbon in charcoal produced from environmentally friendly furnaces is high up to to 85%, which is the required percentage in the international market, because it makes the ignition period of coal long and the emissions of fumes from it less. 

He explained that his project has found approval from the Ministry of Environment, since it was implemented in 2015.

The eco-friendly project of Salim Raafat won among the best developed projects from Sharqia Governorate in the National Initiative for Smart Green Projects, which was set up to coincide with Egypt’s preparations to host the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention COP 27 to achieve sustainable development in implementation of Egypt’s Vision 2030.