1 t/h hazelnut shell line, Türkiye — seasonal shell, campaign operation
A hazelnut processor with 4,000 t/year of shell that used to be sold as boiler fuel. The line runs in campaigns of 6–8 weeks rather than continuously, and was designed around that from the start.
The constraint was storage, not tonnage
Four thousand tonnes of shell arrive over about ten weeks. At a 16% overall yield that is roughly 640 tonnes of carbon a year, or 2.1 tonnes a day if spread across 300 days — but the shell does not arrive spread across 300 days.
The obvious design, a 1 t/h line running 300 days a year, would have been idle for most of it. Instead we specified the HL-1200 for campaign operation: full rate for 6–8 weeks, then a controlled shutdown with the lining held above 200 °C using the auxiliary burner for the first three days.
Why the carbonization kiln is smaller than the activation furnace
Carbonization runs 24 t/day while activation runs 24 t/day, but carbonization needs only 4.8 t/h of shell at a 25% yield against 1.7 t/h of char feed. The two units are deliberately not matched hour for hour: char is buffered in a 40-tonne silo so the activation furnace can run at steady state while the carbonization kiln handles the variability of wet shell.
This is the single design decision that made the plant work. Buyers who insist on matching the two kilns one-to-one end up with an activation furnace that inherits every fluctuation in shell moisture.
Result after one season
The plant produced 590 tonnes in its first campaign year, with iodine value between 940 and 980 mg/g and ash at 3.8% — sold into industrial wastewater treatment. The ash level is the constraint on price; the buyer is now evaluating an acid wash circuit to reach the potable water market, which would add roughly USD 95,000 and lift the selling price by 12–15%.
Send the raw material, target tonnage and finished spec. You get a configuration, a utility schedule and a budget range — not a brochure.