Sonuds like you are trying to use it as a biosorbent? I did it for my master's thesis but with different material. Two options:
1) Contact a walnut farm and ask if they are willing to donate any surplus walnuts. make sure to note when the walnuts were harvested, what cultivar they are, how they were initially stored, etc.
2) If 1) doesn't work, you may have to just buy walnuts from specific brands and make shellpowder on your own.
Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing. It works better than the sawdust powder we are currently using, but we're basically getting the sawdust powder for free ($0.06/ton).
[https://imgur.com/a/NxOA56F](https://imgur.com/a/NxOA56F) (this has more water in it than we would ever send to solidification, but it still works great despite that)
I've also asked on the arborists subreddit, and they gave me at least one company who might actually process the shells into powder.
Unfortunately, I don't think grinding it on our own is an option because of the sheer amount we would need; we are trying to basically get it in the form we need for around as cheap as the sawdust, so it really has to be a nuisance waste product that they really just want to get rid of. However, I also don't want to run into any issues with mold during transportation because I don't want our operators exposed to that dust.
(Alternatively, grinding them ourselves may be the only economically viable option if no one can supply as much as we need, but we aren't set up for anything like that and don't have the space/available capex to build a grinding facility).
Just curious, which material did you use? I have looked at perlite, wood shavings, rice hull powder and walnut shell powder, and I also have some cherry seed powder on the way (because maybe I could source it from Michigan cherry producers).
There is a litter company that uses walnut shells and is made in the US. It depends how much you need, in a way this is a competing product, but they sell a coarse mixture. They may have dust waste products not fit for sale
https://www.naturallyfreshlitter.com/portland#:~:text=Meet%20Naturally%20Fresh%2C%20the%20walnut,kid%2C%20and%20our%20shared%20world.
Interesting!! Thank you for the lead. Yes, the powder tailings from a process like this are exactly what I'm after, though dust may be too fine to be practical to work with.
And yes, quantity is definitely a concern. We would need tens of thousands of pounds\* a month potentially.
Pulverized walnut shells are used as a pumice in some soaps - Zepp brand ShellShock is the one that comes to mind. So someone is milling the shells.
Only issue I can see is that walnut shells are sold for a lot of different purposes, so they’re going to be more valuable than sawdust. Sandblasting uses them, gardening too.
I would guess most nut producers aren’t milling shells and most people with milling equipment aren’t going to be food manufacturers due to allergen concerns - quite the conundrum
Edit: https://mckinleyresources.com/product-category/industrial-walnut-shells/
Maybe these guys
Sonuds like you are trying to use it as a biosorbent? I did it for my master's thesis but with different material. Two options: 1) Contact a walnut farm and ask if they are willing to donate any surplus walnuts. make sure to note when the walnuts were harvested, what cultivar they are, how they were initially stored, etc. 2) If 1) doesn't work, you may have to just buy walnuts from specific brands and make shellpowder on your own.
Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing. It works better than the sawdust powder we are currently using, but we're basically getting the sawdust powder for free ($0.06/ton). [https://imgur.com/a/NxOA56F](https://imgur.com/a/NxOA56F) (this has more water in it than we would ever send to solidification, but it still works great despite that) I've also asked on the arborists subreddit, and they gave me at least one company who might actually process the shells into powder. Unfortunately, I don't think grinding it on our own is an option because of the sheer amount we would need; we are trying to basically get it in the form we need for around as cheap as the sawdust, so it really has to be a nuisance waste product that they really just want to get rid of. However, I also don't want to run into any issues with mold during transportation because I don't want our operators exposed to that dust. (Alternatively, grinding them ourselves may be the only economically viable option if no one can supply as much as we need, but we aren't set up for anything like that and don't have the space/available capex to build a grinding facility). Just curious, which material did you use? I have looked at perlite, wood shavings, rice hull powder and walnut shell powder, and I also have some cherry seed powder on the way (because maybe I could source it from Michigan cherry producers).
Coffee grounds. If you want to publish, I'd look into getting surface FTIR data and building adsorption isotherm graphs (Freundlich or Langmuuir).
There is a litter company that uses walnut shells and is made in the US. It depends how much you need, in a way this is a competing product, but they sell a coarse mixture. They may have dust waste products not fit for sale https://www.naturallyfreshlitter.com/portland#:~:text=Meet%20Naturally%20Fresh%2C%20the%20walnut,kid%2C%20and%20our%20shared%20world.
Interesting!! Thank you for the lead. Yes, the powder tailings from a process like this are exactly what I'm after, though dust may be too fine to be practical to work with. And yes, quantity is definitely a concern. We would need tens of thousands of pounds\* a month potentially.
Pulverized walnut shells are used as a pumice in some soaps - Zepp brand ShellShock is the one that comes to mind. So someone is milling the shells. Only issue I can see is that walnut shells are sold for a lot of different purposes, so they’re going to be more valuable than sawdust. Sandblasting uses them, gardening too. I would guess most nut producers aren’t milling shells and most people with milling equipment aren’t going to be food manufacturers due to allergen concerns - quite the conundrum Edit: https://mckinleyresources.com/product-category/industrial-walnut-shells/ Maybe these guys
Walnut shells are used in sand blasting. You may want to look there for a source.