Biomass Power Plant In Rice Industry

There are two major types of residues of rice plants: rice husk and rice straw. Both of them have great potential as biomass resources. Not only the rice husk and rice straw use as biomass fuel in small boilers, also they can be the attractive source of energy for power plant.

Rice Straw

1 ton of Rice paddy produces 290 kg Rice Straw
290 kg Rice Straw can produce 100 kWh of power
Calorific value = 2400 kcal/kg

Rice Husk

1 ton of Rice paddy produces 220 kg Rice Husk
1 ton Rice Husk is equivalent to 410- 570 kWh electricity
Calorific value = 3000 kcal/kg
Moisture content = 5 – 12%

The benefits of using rice residue technology are numerous. Primarily, it provides electricity and serves as a way to dispose of agricultural waste. In addition, steam, a byproduct of power generation, can be used for paddy drying applications, thereby increasing local incomes and reducing the need to import fossil fuels. Rice husk ash, the byproduct of rice husk power plants, can be used in the cement and steel industries further decreasing the need to import these materials.
Rice straw and husk can either be used alone or mixed with other biomass materials in direct combustion. In this technology, combustion boilers are used in 

combination with steam turbines to produce electricity and heat. The energy content of rice straw is around 14 MJ per kg at 10 percent moisture content. 

Straw fuels have proved to be extremely difficult to burn in most combustion furnaces, especially those designed for power generation. The primary issue concerning the use of rice straw and other herbaceous biomass for power generation is fouling, slagging, and corrosion of the boiler due to alkaline and chlorine components in the ash.

Now many countries are developing the biomass power plant technologies, and some of them, like America, Germany, Denmark have great experience in biomass co-generation and CHP plants.