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Pilot and Demonstration Activities
Production of Water Filter from Coconut and Palm Oil Shells

The rural poor of Thailand’s Tap Sakae district are rich in coconuts, but have little technical know-how on more efficient and profitable, yet environmentally friendly, ways of using coconut residues for water filtering and pollution control. This PDA boosted Tap Sakae’s coconut industry and offered a simple solution to water pollution.

  
PDA SNAPSHOT
Project Site Prachuab Khiri Khan, Thailand
Cost Estimate $49,200.00
Status Completed
Approval Date 2007/11/07
Completion Date 23 May 2008
Category Rural Services
Type Appropriate Technology
Proponent Hubert Jenny, Southeast Asia Department
Partners Centre for Energy Environment Resources Development
Thierry Lefèvre, Director

BACKGROUND

Coconut plantations cover a substantial part of the Tap Sakae district in Thailand’s Prachuab Khiri Khan province, serving as important livelihood to rural communities. Tap Sakae farmers have depended on the so-called Tree of Life and its byproducts for years. Besides its fruit, most parts of the coconut tree have some use:

  • Coconut water is collected and sold
  • Coconut meat is used for making coconut cream or coconut oil
  • Pressed cake from the coconut oil production is used as animal fodder
  • Coconut shells are used to make charcoal briquettes
  • Coconut fiber is exported for furniture cushions

But the processing of coconut residues, while a potentially lucrative business, is often considered a not-so-profitable activity because of the lack of technology. Though a major coconut producer, the Tap Sakae district is also one of the poorest. Most of the coconuts that are not processed locally are sold at low prices and transported to central Thailand for further processing.

This PDA will assessed more efficient uses of coconut residues locally, specifically for water filter products, to boost the local coconut industry. Tap Sakae local authorities and the Centre for Energy Environment Resources Development, a Bangkok-based nongovernment organization that supports environmentally-sound sustainable development projects, partnered in this PDA to fast-track socio-economic development in the province.

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OBJECTIVES

This PDA aimed to

  • Determine the pre-feasibility of an “activated carbon manufacturing factory” to produce activated carbon from coconut and palm oil shells that can be used for industrial water pollution control and low-cost water filters
  • Define a public private partnership business model based on cooperatives

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EXPECTED RESULTS
  Outputs     Outcomes     Indicators  

  • Identification of potential raw material suppliers (coconut shells, coconut fiber residues and/or palm oil shells, etc.)
  • Identification of potential buyers of activated carbon
  • Technical pre-feasibility report for preparation of final technical design and project implementation
  • Financial pre-feasibility report
  • Evaluation of institutional, legal, and environmental frameworks
  • Project implementation plan
  • Preliminary environmental impact assessment

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REPORT CARD

This PDA was completed on 23 May 2008. Read the Final Report [PDF].

  Achievements     Recommendations  

This PDA

  • Determined and analyzed the legal, institutional, technical, economic, and environmental issues related to the establishment of an activated carbon plant in Tap Sakae District, Prachaub Khiri Khan Province, Thailand. The plant is meant to produce activated carbon from coconut and palm oil shells that can be used for industrial water pollution control and low-cost water filters
  • Defined an appropriate public-private partnership business model involving various stakeholders for operating and maintaining the activated carbon plant

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