Energy source

SCIENCE CITY OF MUÑOZ, Nueva Ecija – Rice husks as energy source? Why not? Government scientists and researchers are now working on it in the hope of making a substantial contribution to the country’s power supply.

Dr. Leocadio Sebastian, executive director of the Philippine Rice Reseach Institute (PhilRice) based in this city, told The STAR that the institute, in partnership with the ASEAN Center for Energy (ACE) and the European Communities ASEAN Energy Facility (EAEF) is now spreading the gospel of rice husk as a viable energy source.

Sebastian said the technology, which is used in Japan, is environment-friendly.

The ACE, which is based in Jakarta, Indonesia of which the Philippines, is a member, has surveyed 832 rice mills in major rice-producing provinces across the country. The rice mills generated an average of 845 kilograms of rice husks an hour, which could generate up 480 kilowatt-hours of energy, enough to supply the daily energy requirement of a rice mill.

The survey was part of the PhilRice-ACE-EAEF project entitled "Enhancing the Energy Self-Sufficiency of Rice Mills" in the Philippines which aims to promote appropriate and more efficient use of energy from rice husks.

The EAEF is a program of cooperation between the European Communities and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to facilitate partnerships in developing specific joint projects in the energy sector.

Launched in March 2002 and which will last until February next year, among the EAEF’s objectives are to increase the security of energy supply of ASEAN countries and Europe; increase economic cooperation between the European Union and ASEAN countries and facilitate the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation up to 2009.

Sebastian said utilizing rice husks as energy source carries a lot of promise since a ton of rice husks is generated out of five tons of palay produced in the country.

In 2004 alone, government statistics show that 3.14 million metric tons of rice hull had been generated, representing 22 percent of the total paddy production of 14.25 million metric tons.

Studies said this is equivalent to 1,600 gigawatt-hours (gWh) of potential energy, which can light a highly urbanized city for a year.

And to think that rice husk disposal is one of the growing concerns in the country where it releases greenhouse gases and pollutes the air as it decomposes.

According to researches, rice husk, when burned in open fields, wreaks more havoc to the environment than could be imagined. Open burning husk emits unfiltered smoke, carbon dioxide and other gases that deplete the ozone layer. Over-carbonized rice husk or the ash, on the other hand, impedes the growth of rice planted in the area where it is burned, preventing water from reaching the plant roots and thus, hampering its productivity.

Worse, burning kills beneficial microorganisms in the topsoil and dispenses trash that could be used to improve soil conditions.

According to PhilRice, stocks of fossil fuels had been a global concern, notably oil over the last 45 years, natural gas (65 years) and coal (200 years).

Dr. Bernardo Tadeo, the designated project coordinator of the PhilRice’s rice biomass utilization, and chief of its environmental standards and systems office, said the use of rice husk to generate electricity is now the fad in the US, and in neighboring Malaysia and Thailand.

Tadeo said the institute is now embarking on the conduct of feasibility studies for the establishment of rice husk-fired co-generation power plants in 10 selected sites in the country. These power plants, with generating capacities of 1.5 to 10 megawatts, are being eyed in this city, San Jose City and Talavera town, all in Nueva Ecija. Similar projects are being studied in Iloilo, Palawan, Isabela, Camarines Sur, Bohol, South Cotabato and Occidental Mindoro.

Tadeo said these power plants could cost roughly P3.4-billion worth of investments with project life-cycle cost of P4.30 to P5.95 per kilowatt-hour.

The feasibility studies would be completed by August to be followed by a series of development seminars and investment forum to encourage millers to form themselves into groups and build rice husk-generated power plants.

The concept of power generation through rice husks has drawn strong support from Sen. Edgardo Angara, who vowed to pursue the project in his home province of Aurora.

During a project briefing at the Claro Recto Hall in the Senate recently, Angara said the project could be pilot-tested in Ma. Aurora town where a rice mill operates and also in the capital town of Baler, his hometown, where an integrated Rice Processing Complex (RPC) funded by the Korean government is under construction.

"This is a boon to employment in Aurora," the senator, a former agriculture secretary, said.

Tadeo said they can fast-track the completion of a feasibility study for the construction of a rice husk-powered plant in Aurora, which was endorsed by presidential adviser on jobs generation Arthur Yap for its possible impact on employment in the province.

Among those who graced the Senate briefing were Dr. Ricardo Cachuela, director of the Bureau of Post Harvest and Extension (BPRE), Dr. Manuel Jose Regalado, supervising scientist, Rizal Corales, senior scientist; Hazel Alfon, Evelyn Bandonillo, and Dr. Alan Dale Gonzales, business development expert of the Asian Institute of Technology.