What is it about?
I am pleased to present a research product from Unillanos to producers in the cacay chain, with raw materials provided by local producers. This article, published in Taylor & Francis's Biofuels magazine (Oxfordshire, UK), addresses bioenergy, sustainable production, biomass, biocatalysts and new sources. The key findings focus on adding value to shells, providing bioeconomic and environmental benefits. Demand for cacay oil in Meta will generate 4,018 tonnes of shells per year by 2035, with an energy potential of 28.5 TJ per year (more than 8% of industrial consumption in 2023). Physical properties: - 72.3% sphericity - 68.4% circularity - 80.9% porosity - 26.41 cm² surface area - Ideal for recovery Technical details can be found in the article.
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Photo by Max Kukurudziak on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Biochar is produced by slow pyrolysis at 500 °C and is activated using NaOH or KOH.
Perspectives
The raw husk has a calorific value of 30 MJ/kg and is highly volatile, making it suitable for fast-ignition bioenergy. Untreated biochar/NaOH has a high calorific value, low ash content and is efficient as a biofuel. When activated with KOH, it exhibits high thermal stability and low ash content, making it ideal as a soil amendment and carbon sequester. Losses of this biomass in regions where it is processed agro-industrially are high. This characterization will allow engineers to determine the size of combustion equipment. It also suggests co-combustion because the high volatile content makes this biomass susceptible to rapid ignition. As a perspective, it is suggested to find uses for activated biochars, according to their conductivity and pH characteristics.
PhD Leonardo Alexis Alonso
Universidad de los Llanos
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Energy potential of Cacay (
Caryodendron orinocense
Karst) shell biomass and its biochar: a complete characterization, Biofuels, February 2026, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/17597269.2026.2628939.
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