PCCL, The Gambia — cashew shell burner on a steam boiler
Our first commissioned installation.
A 900,000 kcal/h cashew shell burner fires the steam boiler at Premium Cashew Commodities Limited in The Gambia. The steam serves the cashew processing factory, and the fuel is the empty shell the factory produces itself — a residue that would otherwise need disposing of, at 4,800 kcal/kg and under 3 % ash.
This is the loop described everywhere else on this site, closed on a real site: the residue from shelling becomes the fuel for the process that produced it. The factory neither buys that energy nor disposes of that waste.
The installation on film
Two sequences: delivery and positioning on site, then the burner and boiler running.
The installation
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Site | Premium Cashew Commodities Limited (PCCL), The Gambia |
| Equipment | Cashew shell burner |
| Rated capacity | 900,000 kcal/h |
| Application | Firing a steam boiler |
| Steam duty | Cashew processing factory process steam |
| Fuel | Empty cashew shell, arising on site |
| Fuel calorific value | 4,800 kcal/kg |
This table describes the installed configuration. We do not publish efficiency, steam output or fuel consumption for this site: those belong to the operator, and we will publish them only if they authorise it.
Why cashew shell, at this site in particular
A cashew processing factory produces shell continuously and in volume, and that shell is a bulky, acidic, awkward waste to dispose of. It also carries 4,800 kcal/kg at under 3 % ash — a better fuel than most of what can be bought in.
The difficulty is not the energy value but the cashew nut shell liquid, which is corrosive and lays down tar in an ordinary firebox. The burner is engineered around that fraction specifically, and that is what makes the residue usable on site rather than something to be carted away.
What this installation proves, and what it does not
It proves the burner works at industrial scale, on cashew shell, on a customer site, in the region. That is the part of our offering which is proven.
It proves nothing about drying. PCCL is a boiler application: we have not yet built a drying line, and every drying figure on this site remains an engineered design target rather than a measured result. A mango demonstration unit is planned in Burkina Faso; we will say so here when it is running, and not before.
Explore further
- Cashew shell burner — the equipment installed at this site.
- All 27 biomass fuels — what the burner accepts beyond shell.
- Mango drying — the application the Burkina Faso demonstration is intended to prove.
- Design configurations — costed scenarios, clearly identified as not yet built.
Frequently asked questions
How many installations have you commissioned?
One: the 900,000 kcal/h burner firing the steam boiler at PCCL in The Gambia. That is a boiler application. We have not yet built a drying line, and a mango demonstration unit is planned in Burkina Faso — we will announce it here once it is running.
What fuel does the PCCL installation run on?
Empty cashew shell produced by the factory itself, at 4,800 kcal/kg and under 3 % ash. It is the burner’s design fuel: the residue from shelling powers the process that created it, which removes an energy purchase and a disposal cost at the same time.
Do you publish measured performance from this site?
No. We publish the configuration — 900,000 kcal/h, steam boiler, empty cashew shell at 4,800 kcal/kg — because every part of it is checkable. Efficiency, steam output and fuel consumption belong to the operator rather than to us, and we will publish them only with their agreement rather than estimate them here.
Discuss a similar installation
Tell us about your site, your heat demand and the residue you have available, and we will tell you what it means for the burner, the grate and the handling.
Request a quote