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INTEGRATEDCOIRPROCESSING
UNIT
Introduction
Coir, which is environment friendly, is an important product in the industrial, construction and
household sectors. Coir products from India are exported mainly to USA, European Union, Canada,
Japan, New Zealand and United Arab Emirates. Kerala is the hub of Coir products in India with
Alappuzha district being the hive of activity. It provides livelihood to nearly 3.50 lakh people,
out of which women constitutes 76 per cent. Among the states in India, Kerala is the largest
producer of coconuts contributing as many as 45% total production but only a meager portion of
husk is being used for producing Coir fibre. Kerala government is giving more emphasis on Coir
industry by considering the special features and problems being faced by it and the possibility for
providing greater employment to the people especially rural women.
The Coir industry is important to both labour and economy of western region of Haripad
constituency. Even though not much value added based Coir industry exists in the constituency
region, the employment in Coir sector is a vital economic activity in the Panchayats of
Aratupuzha, Chingoli and Thrikkunnapuzha. Raw materials for Coir industries are now sourced
from Tamil Nadu and quality of those procured fiber is low when compared to local fiber. With
the advent of small machinery based raw husk de-fibering units in Tamil Nadu that could replace
skilled labour in Coir industry, there is a possible threat of experiencing shortage in this imported
low quality fiber along with low production of locally retted golden fibre.
Modernization and technology up gradation, encouragement to private investment, better
utilization of husks and Coir pith, adopting scientific methods for collection of husks, focus on
Coir geo textiles , Coir composite boards along with identification of demand of the market will
be the major thrust areas for the improved quality of life for the people depended on Coir
industry.
Considering the above factors and importance for Coir industry in Haripad constituency an
integrated Coir processing plant is proposed to set up at the Thrikunnapuzha Panchayat. This
Coir processing plant will have 3 major units and one minor unit (Coir geo textile) in the later
stage of the development of the unit
A de fibering unit is proposed since the availability of raw material is high in Karuvatta and
Thrikkunnapuzha Panchayats of the Haripad constituency. Setting up of defibering unit will
enhance the coconut husk collection process through the Coir raw material bank that can be
established with support from Panchayats
In the process of extraction of Coir fiber from husk generally about one third of it is obtained as
fiber and two third of it is obtained as Coir waste, i.e. Coir pith. Coir pith when combined with
water hyacinth forms excellent manure. Enriched Manure is produced by Co-Composting: Coir
pith + water hyacinth. Resulted manure will enrich the Humic content in soil and a suitable
application is thus found for water hyacinth which blocks the natural flow of water and is major
problem in many water bodies.
Application of Coir pith
Raw
Activated carbon
Organic fertilizer
Ideal soil re-conditioner, soil structure improver and soil substrate with excellent water
holding capacity.
Coir mattings are made either on traditional handlooms or power-looms. It is mainly used as
floor coverings, runners for furnishing stairs or corridors, wall paneling, ceiling, etc. Available in
Natural, Bleached and Solid colors and a multitude of designs/patterns, made by weave and
colour combinations with or without latex backing.
Coir composite boards consist of properties such as lightweight, corrosion resistance and
other advantages, the proposed Coir composite boards (CCB) of integrated Coir processing plant
will be an important composite material in building and civil engineering fields.
IntegratedCoir
processingunit
5667 million
nuts and 5287 million nuts for the year 2010 and 2011 respectively. The area of cultivation of
coconut was at its peak during 2000-01. During the year 2010-11, the area declined by 8145 ha.
But the cultivation of coconut in the hinterland for our proposed integrated coconut processing
plant i.e. the Haripad and Muthukulam blocks shows no signs of decline.
Block
Year
Area(ha)
Production
(Lakh Nuts)
Productivity
(Nuts/ha)
Muthukulam
2008 - 2009
4964.90
383.77
7730
Muthukulam
2009 - 2010
5169.82
310.17
6000
Muthukulam
2010 - 2011
5296.83
329.36
6219
Average Production
2008 - 2011
5143.85
341.10
6631
Block
Year
Area(ha)
Production
(Lakh Nuts)
Productivity
(Nuts/ha)
Harippad
2008 - 2009
3438.52
316.43
9203
Harippad
2009 - 2010
4048.74
275.57
6807
Harippad
2010 - 2011
4837.14
358.30
7408
Average Production
2008 - 2011
4108.13
316.77
7711
In fact the production area in Haripad constituency increased from 4048 ha (2010) to 4837 ha in
2011. The average productivity of Haripad block is close to the national average of 8400 nuts per
hector per annum. About 25% of the total coconut palms are considered to diseased in Haripad
constituency. These coconut palms have to be replaced immediately with high yielding and
disease resistance palms to improve the productivity. Coconut vegetable integrated cultivation is
the way to be practiced to improve the economics of Coconut cultivation. A major plan support
for integrated farming has been provided during 2010-11 onwards by government of Kerala.
The main consumable in the process of manufacturing of Coir composite board is the bio
mass required for the thermic fluid heater. The biomass can be coconut shell, Coir waste, fire
wood etc. Local availability of coconut shell and Coir waste makes this process economical. For
the elimination of water hyacinth from the Kuttanad and Onattukkara region Rs. 30 Cr has been
budgeted in the Kuttanad package. Excessive aquatic vegetation like water hyacinth impedes the
flow of water in all kinds of water ways. Another problem in the coastal areas is the dumping of
such as Coir pith, a by-product of Coir industry. By combining Coir pith with water hyacinth in
the production of environment manure environmental problems due to the their pollution can be
averted and excellent manure can be produced
Market potential
Coir exports have registered an increase of 28 per cent in quantity and 30 per cent in value in the
fiscal 2011-12 against the previous fiscal 2010-11. A total quantity of 4,10,853.90 tonnes of
Coir and Coir products valued at Rs 1,052.62 crore was exported from the country during April
2011 to March 2012 against 3,21,016.02 tonnes valued at Rs 807.07 crore achieved during the
corresponding period of previous fiscal. .
During the period, export of Coir fibre, Coir yarn, Coir handloom matting, Coir geo-textile, Coir
rope, curled coir, rubberized coir, Coir pith and others had shown an increase both in terms of
quantity and value when compared to the previous year. Export of Coir fibre increased from
83,393 tonne to 1,19684 tonnes in quantity (44 per cent ) and in terms of value, it increased from
Rs 12,148.55 lakh to Rs 20,323.98 lakh (67 per cent). Coir yarn exports increased from 5,021.96
tonnes to 5,562.87 tonnes in terms of quantity (11 per cent) and in terms of value it increased
from Rs 2,685.34 lakh to Rs 3,140.70 lakh (17 per cent). The Coir geo-textile export item has
increased from 3,266.63 tonnes to 3,680.91 tonnes in quantity (13 per cent) and it increased in
value from Rs 1,823.05 lakh to Rs 2,433.12 lakh (33 per cent). Export of Coir rope increased
from 211.56 tonnes to 792.82 tonnes in quantity (275 per cent) and increased from Rs.86.72 lakh
to Rs 340.99 lakh (293 per cent) in terms of value.
Total Coir fiber exported in the period 2002- 2011 shows a increase 83393.01 tonnes
Coir pith can be used as a soil enriching or conditioner after the removal of toxic elements,
enriching with suitable organic amendments and reducing the C:N ratio to appreciable limits.
Total export quantity of Coir pith in the year 2011 was 157854.93 tonnes, In the period 20112012 the exports increased from 1,57,854.93 tonnes to 2,06,424.57 tonnes in quantity (31 per
cent) and increased from Rs 14,829.02 lakh to Rs 22,150.70 lakh in value (49 per cent). This
is tremendous improvement considering the fact that the quantity of Coir pith exported in the
year 2002 was only 21064.20
Hand loom mats and matting also shown in improved performance except in 2008 2010
period when the export were affected by global financial crisis. For the period 2011- 2012
Handloom matting export increased from 1,406.49 tonnes to 1,473.78 tonne in terms of
quantity (5 per cent) and in terms of value it increased from Rs 1,244.72 lakh to Rs 1,582.83
lakh (27 per cent).
Manufacturing process
Coconut consists of water and copra contained in a hard shell covered with fibrous husk. Fibre is
extracted from coconut husk mechanically and is used in making several products with wide
applications.
Defibering unit
Coir
fibre
Coconut
husk
Crusher
Wetting
De fibering
machine.
Coir
pith
Dried coconut husks are fed into the crusher where the husk will be crushed. The partly crushed
husk are wetted by spraying water for few days and then fed to the de fibering unit. In this
operation, the fibre is separated from residuary material called Coirpith. The fibre is dried and
screened for removal of traces of pith present. The screened fibre is pressed into bales of
appropriate weight.
Coirpith
Binding
material
Dryingand
screening
Block
making
machine
Coirpith
block
Coir pith extracted from de-fibering process is fed into drying and screening chamber. From the
screening chamber Coir pith will be combined with binding material. From the block making
machine Coir pith blocks of required size is obtained.
Washing
with water
Coir
Pith
Drying
Test for
moisture
content
Screening
Removal of
foreign
particles
Removal of
salts
Product
Compaction
Quality checking
The Coir pith is washed several times with water in order to remove the high salt content in the
pith. The washed material is then dried up to the desired moisture content. Screening is
conducted to remove any foreign particles that might have been entrapped during the earlier
processes. After quality checking, the material is sent for compaction into bales or briquettes.
Enchriched manure production using co composting of Coir pith and water hyacinth
Coir pith contains soluble tannin related phenolic compounds (0.032%) and due to high lignin
content (52.3%) its bio degradability is low. On the other hand, the chemical characteristics of
water hyacinth revealed that it contains more than 90% moisture and it is advantages to use the
same along with Coir pith in aerobic composting. In a study conducted by College of
Horticulture, Kerala Agricultural University a standard procedure for co composting Coir pith
and water hyacinth has been adopted for manure production
The standard procedure is as follows
Spread 1 bottle spawn (200gm) of Pleurotus platypus uniformly over the Coir pith layer
On the surface of the second layer water hyacinth was spread uniformly to a height of
2cm.
This process of sandwiching Pleurotus sp and water hyacinth alternatively with 100kg
Coir pith is repeated until the heap reaches 1m height. Avoid the entry of weed seeds into
the composting bulk.
At the end of 30 days the Coir waste turns into black or dark brown mass of compost
Using the suggested eco-friendly method, the enriched manure (organic carbon: 24%, N: 0.94%,
P: 0.5% and K: 1.2) with C.N. ratio 25:1 was produced from the original Coir pith with C/N
ratio112:1. Along with water hyacinth of N content 1.4%, the other organic enrichners also
contributed for this drastic reduction in C/N ratio.
Coir mattings
The yarn is wound as the shaft in number of threads depending on the width of mattings and the
wound shaft is maintained on the loom. The ends of threads of yarn are connected to the bare
shaft on the opposite end through the loom as the loom operates the weaving of the mattings is
done by the shuttler and the mattings gets wound on the bare shaft. As soon as the required
length of the mattings is wound, the shaft is replaced. Coloured mattings are produced using yarn
dyed into different colours. Coir mattings can be made either by handloom and power loom. We
propose a handloom unit for Coir mattings in the Coir processing plant as the labor involvement
will be higher for the handloom unit thus generating more benefits for the local community in
Haripad
Resin Reactors
Cutting equipments
Stack driers
Moulds/Caul Plates
Tunnel drier
The small fibre hairs on Coir mattings (in the form of mat rolls) are removed using flaming and
hair burning process. Then the mats are sprayed with phenol resin in the spray station and then
squeezed in the squeezing section to purge out excess resin. Mats are dried in the tunnel drier,
after that the glued mats are stacked and humidified using autoclave, to compensate the humidity
lost during drying.
The mats along with the needle felt layers are then loaded into the daylight press for pressing.
The sheets are heated and dried vide Thermic Fluid System (TFS) heating. The boards, coming
out of the press at 1400 C are stabilized by spraying water to regain the moisture content.
Samples of the batch produced are tested in the lab. The mats are then cut into the proper sizes
Improve the coconut husk collection and Setting up of raw material bank for Coir
industry
Establishing an integrated coconut processing unit with Coir and other coconut based
products as the value addition industry
So the integrated Coir processing unit established in the Thrikkunnapuzha Panchayat will help in
improving the return generated for local coconut farmers apart from creating various direct and
indirect employment opportunities
Elimination of water hyacinth for co composting with Coir pith will improve the condition of
water bodies. Coir composite board is considered as substitute for wood, consisting of many
technical and environmental advantages. It has been assessed that production of every 40 cubic
meter of Coir composite board would directly save 22 trees from felling.
When the value addition tend to happen in coconut, the collection process will improve and
defibering unit in the Coir processing plant will help in sourcing the fiber need for other Coir
industries in and around Alappuzzha.
1000 Lakhs
Land development
50
Lakhs
180 Lakhs
60 Lakhs
120 Lakhs
240 Lakhs
37.5 Lakhs
22 Lakhs
8.5 Lakhs
C. Coir mattings
24 Lakhs
377 Lakhs
2,00,000
50,000
2,00,000
3,00,000
10,00,000
2,00,000
8.5
50% subsidy to defibering units will be sanctioned and disbursed within one month from the date
of receipt of defect free application through the Project Offices
30% Investment Subsidy to pith processing units will be sanctioned and disbursed within one
month from the date of receipt of defect free application from the Project Offices
Conclusion
The availability of raw material and labour for setting up of a integaretd Coir processing unit
favors all Panchayats in the western part of Haripad constituency. Thrikkunnapuzha Panchayat is
selected based on availablity of coconut and easy tranportation faciltiy to other places via road
and water ways. An integrated coir processing plant is one of the major project suggested by
Panchayat council members of Thrikkunnapuzha Panchayat siting it as an vital step towards the
revival of coir indutry in the region. The Panchayat council aspires to set up a sustainable Coir
product manufacturing unit with the concept of entire processing of a Coconut husk which is
otherwise going out of the Panchayat without any value addition. Sustained technological
interventions will help upgrade the quality, productivity, working environment and wage-earning
structure, which will lead the Coir industry in the Haripad constituency area into a bright future.
The integrated Coir processing unit can be considered as first major step in this view.
Disclaimer:
The findings contained in this Project Profile are based on the initial information collated through
primary and secondary research, which is indicative in nature. Reference herein to any specific
commercial product,process, service by trade name,trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does
not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring byKSIDC or any entities
thereof.