Techno-Market survey on Technologies for use of rice husk as source of energy in rural area

1.1 With the fast depletion of non-renewable sources of energy i.e. coal, oil, etc. the importance and relevance of biomass which is a renewable resource of energy is increasing day by day.

1.2 Rice husk is a by product of rice milling. It constitutes about 20% of paddy by weight, has a calorific value of about 3500 k cal /kg., low bulk density of 110 kg/m3, ash content of 16.5% and high silica content of 15%.

1.3 In India approx. 110 million tonnes of paddy is produced annually, yielding about 20 mt. of rice husk. If utilized as fuel, this can replace about 10 mt of coal or about 5 mt of oil. Major rice producing states include West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab.

1.4 Techno-Market Survey – Objectives

The techno-market survey report on Technologies for use of Rice Husk as Energy Source in Rural Areas covers the following:

The relationship and importance of selected subset of technology (gasification, briquetting etc.) to the broad one to which it belongs (Energy: Rice husk)
Assessment of technologies and options available to India.
Assessment of associated environmental pollution, Socio-economic aspects of technologies.
The economic aspects of technologies their feasibility and preferred options.
Forecast and impact of preferred options, linkages to broad area of technology and spin-off.
Suggested action plan for promotion and greater dissemination of technologies in rural areas and identification of relevant agencies. Individuals etc.

1.5 Techno-Market Survey – Methodology

i) Desk Research

An initial desk research was done through published sources, government sources (DNES), organizations (TERI etc.). to gather information on biomass programme of Government of India, major rice husk generation states and sources (modern mills, hullers, shellers etc), present utilization of rice husk for energy related applications ( India & Abroad), major technology/equipment suppliers (India & Abroad), R&D Organizations, Association etc.

ii) Field Survey

A detailed field survey was conducted with the help of pre-tested structured questionnaire, contacts were included R&D organizations, equipment manufacturers, experts, government departments, etc.

iii) Mail Survey

Indian organizations who could not be contacted personally and foreign organizations, were contact through mail survey with the help of structured questionnaires.

iv) Total Contacts

In all about 33 Indian organizations and 21 foreign organizations were contacted.

v) Report Preparation

The information/ data obtained through desk research, field contacts, mail survey was collected, edited and analyzed. Since thrust is on rural area’s technological options, which were economically feasible and offered other advantages like ease of maintenance, easy to replicate, generation of gainful employment, improvement of standards of living in rural areas, were given preference for determination of preferred options.                                                                                      Back