Every year, the world eats more than 600,000 metric tons of cashew. Every single cashew nut comes from its own cashew apple, which are grown on cashew trees and thrive in tropical climates. The nuts are then collected, dried, shelled, peeled, graded, and roasted.
Cashew nuts are among the most nutritious nuts in the world. Cashews are low in fat, have zero cholesterol, are high in protein, and include a large amount of important vitamins and minerals.
Cashew Nut Shell Liquid & Kernel Processing
Cashew was introduced in India by the Portuguese four centuries ago mainly to prevent soil erosion. It has been cultivated in several countries for a long time, but the credit for launching into commercial production and export of cashew kernels goes to India. At present India has a processing capacity over 1 million tonnes from 1098 processing units generating employment to over 0.5 million people in farms and factories. Three main cashew products are traded in the international market raw nuts, cashew kernels and cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL).
Activated Carbon from Cashew Nut Shell
Carbon is probably the most widely distributed element in nature. It occurs in two allotropic crystalline forms, viz. Graphite (hexagonal system) and diamond (isomeric system), the former is soft and black where diamond is hard and transparent. Charcoal coke and carbon black classified as amorphous carbon, are considered by same to represent a third form, they are said to be composed of very minute crystals of graphite by others. Carbon is an essential constituent of all vegetable and animal matter in which constituent and other elements in immense variety of oxygen and other elements in immense variety of compounds.
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