Building a new activated carbon plant, for plenty of investors, that’s a good idea. As we all know, in recent years, more and more activated carbon uses are developed, and activated carbon become popular on the market, then, there is a hot topic – making money with activated carbon plants.
Activated carbon is a kind of carbon adsorbent after the carbonization and activation of carbon-containing materials. The raw materials for its production are easy to obtain. Coconut shells, fruit shells, coal, etc. can be used to produce activated carbon, activated carbon also has wide applications, such as food, medicine, water treatment, chemicals and etc. gradually making the activated carbon production line a popular investment project.

As a manufacturer of activated carbon production equipment, AGICO is also an activated carbon production solution provider, we often receive inquiries from customers who are interested in investing in the preparation of activated carbon. For example, how much is the investment in the activated carbon plant? Which machines are included in the whole set of the activated carbon production equipment? Today, I will sort out the answers for you in detail.
Once you want to start an activated carbon business, the first consideration will be the activated carbon manufacturing plant cost, so, how much does it cost to start an activated carbon plant?
Here is a general answer to the above question: the average cost to build an activated carbon plant is about $15,000 to $1.5 million, this is mainly decided by the scale and process selection of the activated carbon plant.
Factors affecting activate carbon plant cost
Before we start, it’s essential to invest in the factors affecting activate carbon plant cost. We list a full guideline for new beginners in the activated carbon production business. including equipment cost, raw materials, processing, labor, additional cost, etc.
- Raw materials
- Labor
- Costs for machinery, construction options
- Additional costs for incurred services such as security, water, and electricity use

Raw materials
The activated carbon plant has a lot of options for raw materials, such as coal, wood, coconut shell, bamboo, palm kernel shell, sugarcane bagasse, groundnut shell, sawdust, waste plastic, etc. In general, when we start an activated carbon plant, raw materials are absolutely easy to obtain, in other words, activated carbon is one kind of resource-intensive industry. so raw materials cost is the first consideration before starting your activated carbon business.
- Wood-based activated carbon: activated carbon made from wood chips, charcoal, etc;
- Fruit shell activated carbon: activated carbon made from coconut shell, walnut shell, apricot shell, etc;
- Coal-based activated carbon: activated carbon made of lignite, peat, bituminous coal, anthracite, etc;
- Regenerated carbon: it refers to the regenerated activated carbon with the used waste carbon as the raw material for reactivation.
Capacity
The total investment is based on your scale of activated carbon plants, the daily output of activated carbon range from 1t to 80t, The larger the scale of the activated carbon factory, the higher the plant cost.

Activated carbon equipment
The activated carbon plant needs to start with the most critical piece of equipment. The rest of the manufacturing process will be designed around that.
A complete activated carbon production line has several necessary sections, including raw materials preparation, carbonization, activation, finished production processing, etc. some solutions require deep processing of activated carbon, and there will be sections of pickling and washing drying. Every section needs some equipment, the core equipment is the activated carbon rotary kiln, which is used in the carbonization process and activation process of activated carbon.
Now that you have the core activated carbon equipment- rotary kiln, you design the manufacturing flow around it. Do you need a conveyor belt? Dust collector? Cooling stations? Based on your activated carbon production and capacity you can plan around each of those.






Additional cost
Some other costs may also need to be considered and factored into your budget, such as location, labor, construction cost, water, electricity, and so on. It’s a complex calculation, so we suggest you find a reliable EPC project provider, all costs can be calculated by engineers and give the best solution according to your real condition.
The Bottom Line: Assume It Is More Expensive Than Estimated
Finally, there is a last suggestion: once you have added all these costs together, add 10% to the costs. That 10% is to cover any unforeseen issues that may come up. These can range from problems with the design, and installation, price increases on essentials, delays, training, etc.
This FREE guide can assist you with understanding the cost of your activated carbon plant. If you have any confusion, please contact us, and we will calculate the basic costs of operations for your activated carbon plant and possible operations over the course of 1 year.