How to Make White Charcoal

White charcoal is popular in many cultures because of its wide variety of uses - as a health and beauty aid, as fuel for cooking, to enrich soil in flowerbeds, to remove odor and moisture from the air in basements and other closed spaces, to purify water and for decoration. White charcoal is hard, like steel, and makes a metallic sound when hit. Making white charcoal is a challenging process, taking many days and expertise with using a kiln.

Things You'll Need

• Kiln
• Medium to high density hardwood
• Low grade wood
• Ash, sand and soil mixture

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Instructions

• 1

  Cut the hardwood into pieces 20 cm or less. Dry the wood as much as possible by stacking in the sun for at least two months to ensure high quality charcoal.

• 2

  Use the low grade wood to start a fire under the kiln. Use only two pipes on opposite sides of the kiln. Close vents with pieces of tin. Add the hardwood once the fire is burning evenly. Burn at 100 degrees Celsius until the wood is completely dry.

• 3

  Wood that is carbonizing properly will emit a thick white smoke.

  Carbonize the wood by raising heat to around 250 degrees Celsius. Maintain this heat until wood is completely carbonized. Prepare to spend anywhere from 15 hours to several days carbonizing the wood.

• 4

  Increase heat in the kiln to at least 1000 degrees by opening vents until wood becomes red hot. Wait until the smoke has turned a slightly purplish color, which indicates that the process is almost complete. Close the opening completely once the smoke fades.

• 5

  Allow the kiln to cool. Remove charcoal a little at a time and cover with the moist mixture of earth, ash and sand. Close the kiln in between charcoal removal to maintain the temperature inside and preserve the quality of the remaining charcoal.