Tackling Energy Issues in Rural India

2017

Majority of total energy consumption in Nepal is provided by biomass. It is mainly used in combustion processes for cooking and space heating. One of the efficient ways of using biomass is through gasification technology. Gasification for thermal purposes has been successfully implemented in several process industries in Terai region of Nepal whereas electrification through gasification is at initial stage. There has been some efforts in research and development of gasification system at Kathmandu University since 2010 in addition to the installation of gasifier for rural electrification purpose in Madhubangoth, Sarlahi of 11 kW implemented by AEPC/RERL in 2011. In Nepal, all of the installation use either woody biomass or rice husk as feedstock. This paper summarizes the technical aspects and supply chain management issues of wood as well as husk based gasifier power operating in Nepal. It also identifies appropriate gasification technology for a rural site depending upon types of ...

Energy demand is increasing continuously due to sharp growth in population and industrial development. The development and installation of energy sources are not keeping pace with spiraling demand of energy. Although energy production has increased manifold but still there is big gap between production and demand. The major energy demand is met by conventional energy sources like coal, petroleum, diesel, and natural gas etc. This causes depletion of fossil fuel reserve and environmental pollution. The use of fossil fuel not only causes environmental impact but also energy security problem. Energy from biomass is renewable energy, being looked at as an alternative of fossil fuel. One of the biomass energy sources is rice husk, which is a very promising renewable energy source as it is indigenous and has environmental benefits. However, the environmental and financial profiles of the electricity generation from biomass must be assessed to ensure reduction in greenhouse gas emission and positive cash flow. Environmental impact potential from rice husk is generally lesser than fossil fuel plants. A dual fuel diesel engine-generation of 800 kW, using rice husk gasifier, is considered for the analysis purpose. Introduction Biomass is one the most important energy sources amongst renewable energies. It is third among the primary energy sources after coal and oil [1]. In India, rice is a major cereal which is nearly 40 percent of total food grain cultivated, and cropped in over 30 percent of its area. India's share in world rice production is nearly 21 percent. Rice hull/husk and rice bran are by-products when its edible form of paddy is processed. Rice bran is used for oil extraction and in feed formulations, whereas husk is generally used as fuel to generate heat for parboiling of paddy and in other applications. The use of husk in industries involves difficult handling and bulky transportation because of its low density of 112-44 Kg/m 3 [2]. Onsite use of rice husk in industries may be achieved to avoid transportation and carriage as average husk production from rice mills is 187 kg/ton [3]. Techniques of conversion of husk into electricity and heat energy at relatively higher efficiencies are available. The potential of biomass is well known to meet the global energy demand. Foreign exchange on import of fossil fuel and conservation of limited supply of fossil fuel widely depend upon utilization of all other indigenous fuel energy sources. Therefore, biomass has become an alternate energy source for developing countries like India, where economy is based on agriculture and forestry. Biochemical and thermo-chemical processes are used to extract energy from the biomass. Biochemical process is used for bio-methanization of biomass whereas thermo-chemical process involves combustion, pyrolysis and gasification. Researchers and entrepreneurs are taking keen interest in generation of energy by biomass [4]. In USA, according to Department of Electricity, electricity generation from biomass accounts for the largest source of nonhydroelectric renewable generation. It is expected that by the year 2025, biomass will continue its dominant role of electricity generation and electric capacity addition among renewable energy sources [5]. Indian Railways has already started using biomass in the form of biodiesel in its engines and is aiming to replace up to 10 percent of its diesel with biodiesel [6]. In northern China, a 'four in one' model of biogas is successfully developed in households. It typically includes: a greenhouse in the courtyard; a piggery and a toilet beside the greenhouse; and a biogas digester below the piggery and toilet. Then the four components – greenhouse, piggery, toilet and biogas digester – constitute a 'Four in one' model [7]. The output of gasifier is a combustible gas, which may be burnt in a burner for the purpose of saving fossil fuels like fuel oil, light diesel oil, high speed diesel etc. In this study an attempt is made to evaluate the viability of saving fossil fuel, economical production of energy using rice husk biomass in dual fuel diesel engine-generator for onsite energy requirement, to reduce green house gas (GHG) emission, and to judge financial feasibility. For this purpose Ret Screen software is used to make energy model of the project.

The sustainable economic development of a country stands on the sufficiency of electrical energy. So, to compete with the rest of the world, Bangladesh should have sufficient electricity facilities to carry on its economic development. To make a country a developed one, the facilities of electricity should be reached from door to door. As Bangladesh is an agricultural country, several kinds of agricultural wastes are available here. So, this huge amount of agricultural waste can be a source of electricity generation in Bangladesh. Rice husk is one of the potential agro wastes which can be used as raw material to generate electricity, only if it can be processed properly and systematically. The purpose of this paper is to make available an idea of electricity generation from rice husk in the rural areas of Bangladesh. The rice husk based small & medium power plants are very much useful to generate & supply electricity in the rural areas. In this paper the availability of rice husk in Bangladesh, the different feasibility studies and the main process which can be used to generate electricity from rice husk are discussed. The main purpose of this paper is to assist the journey of Bangladesh towards development. This paper will help both the Govt. & private sector to establish rice husk based power plant in rural areas of Bangladesh. Finally it is hoped that this paper will be a suitable guideline to mitigate the huge demand of electricity in the rural areas of Bangladesh.

The utilization of rice husk as an alternative fuel for the power plant in Indonesia is still under study. In present, steam power plants in Indonesia are still using coal fuel. This study was conducted to obtain data on the development potential of rice husk within 12 years duration. The potential of rice husk for each province was obtained by analyzing the rice production of 22 provinces that have rice production greater than 1 million tons per year. The study shows that the potential of rice husk and potential electrical energy increased by about 36.8% within 12 years or an average increase of around 3.1% per year. For the potential of rice husk in 22 provinces, the total gain was estimated 12.76 × 106 tons which is equivalent to 6.62 × 106 tons of coal or equivalent to 3.68 × 106 tons of oil. The available capacity of power plants is around 5,664 MW with the potential of electric energy is around 49,622 GWh. This potential is equivalent to 50% of the energy needs of coal in Indonesia in 2011, which was about 99,312 GWh. In conclusion, rice husk is indeed potential to be used as an alternative fuel in power plants thanks to its increasing yearly production and ability for distribution to all provinces in Indonesia.

Kenya generates about 20 metric tonnes of rice husks which currently presents a burden to the environment in its disposal. Disposal usually is by burning or used to fill potholes or thrown by the roadside. With the foregoing, positive utilization of the rice husks in a gasifier stove as a fuel energy source will present a cheap, environment friendly and renewal alternative. The rice husks properties were determined from samples collected from Mwea rice mills (MRM). A gasifier stove to suit the fuel properties and the energy needs of a family of six in Mwea was then developed using locally available materials. Performance of the stove was tested using Water Boiling Test (WBT) and Controlled Cooking Test (CCT). The results of one-way analysis of variance at 5% level of significanceshows no significant difference in moisture content of fresh rice husks samples (p>0.05) while there is a significant difference in the bulk density (p<0.05). The gasifier stove performance and operating conditions was good with a thermal efficiency of 25.67%, Specific fuel consumption of 121g/liter and cooking time of 22mins. The resulting char has a calorific value of 7810kJ/Kg which can be used to make energy briquettes, as a propagation media for rice or as a soil additive.

Andalasian International Journal of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology

Currently, the use of fuel is increasing, it is feared that fossil fuels will run out in the near future and the national energy policy make the target of the new renewable energy to reach 23% in 2025, especially those most widely used for electricity fuel. Energy from vegetable waste is one of solution to produce new biomass energy an alternative energy to replace fossil fuels. The potential of biomass energy at Indonesian, especially in the West Sumatra area is very large, one of which is solid waste from rice husk agricultural products. In this article, use the rice husk gasification downdraft method to produce synthetic gas to internal combustion engine and coupled with electric generator. The results of rice production at West Sumatera in 2021, which is total of 1.361.769 tons of dry unhulled rice (GKG), will produce 272.353,8 tons of rice husks or about 20% of the total rice production, and mass syngas is 235.335,47 tons, the energy potential electrical 118.924,82 MWh per year...

Bangladesh is currently facing power crisis which has become worse in recent years. The cost of power generation is increased drastically with an unprecedented surge in international fuel price. The rising cost of fuel is the reason to seek the alternative source of fuel. Rice husk, which is a by-product of rice processing, is identified as an important and potential alternative fuel source for generating power. Bangladesh is an agricultural country which is dominated by paddy cultivation. Bangladesh has reportedly over fifty thousand Rice mills -small, medium, large. They process paddy collected from rural areas. The Rice mills use the thermal energy of steam generated in boilers are fired by Rice husk which is globally well known as very convenient source of dry biomass energy of reasonable heat value. In Bangladesh context out of 38 million tons of total biomass produce from agro-residues, Rice husk contributes about 28% by mass. Rice husk is considered to be an environmentally friendly fuel because it can mitigate CO2, SO 2 and NOx emissions when compared with conventional fuel. In this research four major rice processing districts were selected to estimate potential husk available for electricity generation. The selected rice mill clusters are located at Dinajpur, Bogra, Rajshahi and Rangpur. Over hundred numbers of rice mills were surveyed in this research to know about annual paddy processing capacity and surplus amount of husk from the five selected rice processing zones are analyzed. Based on collected data, potential power capacities are estimated in four selected districts considering the steam turbine technology. A systematic approach can give birth to a new industrial sector of Rice husk power production in Bangladesh.

2012 10th International Power & Energy Conference (IPEC), 2012

Nepal is an agricultural based country having huge potential of rice husk. Out of total electrical energy consumption in Nepal, 22%, 34.76% and 36.58% were imported from India in the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 respectively. Such import can be minimized by generating electricity from solar-rice husk hybrid system. Solar plants have drawbacks of intermittency in day/night cycle and reduced irradiation in winter and cloudy days. Biomass plants have problem associated with continuous supply of seasonal fuel. Those problems can be solved using hybrid system by maximizing the energy potential of these resources, increasing process efficiency, providing greater security of supply and reducing overall cost. The objective of this paper is to estimate electricity generation potential through solar-rice husk hybrid power plant in Nepal and its major paddy producing districts through existing data and forecasting the same for future potential. From existing data, the rice husk growth rate in Nepal was found to be 2.92% and on the basis of that growth rate, future potentials were forecasted. The 20 major paddy producing districts were taken into consideration as 71.15% of total paddy production of Nepal was found to be shared by those districts. The quantity of rice husk was found assuming 20% of paddy converted into rice husk in the mills. The rice husk consumption for cattle feeding was assumed 10% of total rice husk. The electric power from rice husk was calculated assuming 1.3 kg consumption of rice husk for per kWh generation of electricity through steam route and 1.86 kg of rice husk consumption for per kWh electricity generation through gasification route. The average increase rate of land for paddy production and the average increase rate of rice husk production were found to be 0.39% and 2.92% respectively. The electrical energy potentials of Nepal for the years 2015 and 2030 with solar-rice husk hybrid power plant through steam route were found as 100.67 MW and 155.02 MW respectively and through gasification route 70.36 MW and 108.35 MW respectively. The electrical potential for Jhapa district was found the highest values of 7.10 MW and 10.94 MW through steam route and 4.96 MW and 7.64 MW through gasification route for the years 2015 and 2030 respectively. Thus, through solar-rice husk hybrid power plant system, large amount of electricity can be generated locally in Nepal, which in turn can reduce energy import and enhance the better life of the people.

Electricity is the basic requirement to promote socioeconomic development. In recent years, Bangladesh is facing severe power crisis all over the country, but the rural areas are the most vulnerable. This acute electricity crisis along with the conventional fuel crunch is affecting every sector of the country and economy is being crippled. To reduce the dependency on fossil fuels, rice husk which are widely abundant agricultural waste from rice industry could play a vital role in this regards. Bangladesh is an agricultural country and produces huge quantity of rice every year. In the year 2011, the total rice production was around 50.63 million tones. Husk is the waste biomass produce during the rice processing, on average it accounts around 20% of the rice produced on weight basis (10.12 million tones). The potential of power generation from rice husk by gasification is around 310 MWe in Bangladesh. The power plant to be installed near the large rice mills `cluster areas' in Dinajpur, Bogra, Naogaon, Chapainawabganj and Ishwardi with the surplus rice husk. This paper consolidates information from various studies on the availability of rice husk, its characterization and estimates possible power potential that can be realized.

Cognitive Discource, 2014

India's energy d emand is on the rise, driven by high population growth, the modernization of lifestyles, higher electrification rates and a rapidly growing economy. However, India faces a significant challenge in accessing adequate, affordable and clean sources of energy, especially cooking fuel to a large section of the population most of who live in rural areas. A considerable proportion of Indian population lacks access to clean and modern energy, implying that a significant increase of energy d emand is still on the way. And also India's huge energ y demand is depend mainly on hydrocarbons. With serious concern globally and in India on the use of fossil fuels, it is important for India to start using renewable energy sources. It is equally important for India to explore sources that can bring power in a distributed manner and on small scales so that over 60,000 villages that have no access to power can benefit from electricity. This is where biomass power, and especially biomass gasification based power, will come useful. Biomass has always been an important energy source for the country considering the benefits it offers. It is renewable, widely available, and carbon-neutral and has the potential to provide significant emplo yment in the rural ar eas. So this paper focuses on the importance of r ecognizing biomass energy for overall development of rural areas providing with an example of a successful village panchayath by using this biomass technologies.