Hazelnut Shell vs Coconut Shell

Short answer

Hazelnut shell. Both are hard nut shells, but the standard coconut shell carbons imported into Türkiye are in practice the lowest grade available: 600–700 mg/g iodine number and roughly 10% ash and moisture — below what European buyers will accept. Hazelnut shell carbon delivers far higher performance and far higher purity.

The difference in numbers

With its high lignin content and dense cell walls, hazelnut shell yields a micropore-rich carbon that resists attrition. The measurable expression of that is the iodine number — more on iodine number explained.

Standard imported coconut: 600–700 mg/g iodine, ~10% ash, ~10% moisture. Akarbon hazelnut shell: 800–1000 mg/g iodine specified to order, 2–3% ash, 3–5% moisture. That gap in ash and moisture is working carbon: for the same tonnage you receive substantially more active material.

Supply and sustainability

Supply and currency. Coconut shell comes from Southeast Asia; its price follows freight and exchange rates and lead times run into weeks. Hazelnut shell is an indigenous residue — Türkiye generates 300,000–400,000 tonnes of it every year.

Sustainability. Hazelnut shell is a harvest residue; unused, it is burned or discarded. Turning it into activated carbon converts waste into a high-value industrial product.

Which should you choose?

If your requirement is defined by iodine number and methylene blue, hazelnut shell carbon is a direct substitute for imported coconut — at a higher iodine number and far lower ash and moisture. Add lead time, currency exposure and local sourcing, and the gap widens further.

Our products: granular (0–10 mm) and powdered (<150 µm). For the process see technology, for the feedstock see hazelnut shell activated carbon.