Home Solar Charcoal Distiller

Charcoal has been used for fuel for millenia. Produced by heating wood in the absence of oxygen, it is nearly pure carbon, without the water or volatiles that cause smoky,uneven combustion in wood. As currently done, charcoal production is wasteful, burning some charcoal to produce more. Many operations also pollute heavily, discharging the tar and turpentine distilled from the wood into the air.

The Solar Charcoal Distiller allows you to make your own charcoal at home, without bathing your neighbors in clouds of turpentine. The SCD kit (from BUNGCO!) comes with a large plastic Fresnel lens and a special top designed to fit on a standard Weber Kettle. Simply load your Weber with branches and sticks from your neighborhood, put on the special lid, close those air intakes at the bottom, and set up the Fresnel to bathe your grill in concentrated rays (you will want to remove the wooden handles first). Already painted black with heat resistant paint, it will only be a few moments before your kettle glows cheery red and your wood begins to cook. Cook it all day, and then when the sun gets low you will have a kettle full of warm charcoal, ready for grilling dinner!

The special lid is fitted with a metal hose on the top. Place the end of this hose in a bucket of water. Operating on the same principle as a hookah, the steam and volatiles cooked off the wood are cooled and left in the water, for you to use later as you see fit. In our test runs here at BUNGCO we used a lot of eucalyptus and pine - the distilled products proved excellent for treating the bottom of the BUNGCO yacht!