|
Technology developed to get energy from agricultural residues
KARACHI (January 24 2003) : A recent survey indicates that thousands of tonnes of agricultural residues on cultivated land in the country go up in flame after every harvesting season because there seems to no use for it.
Similarly most of the bagasse, the left over of cane after it is crushed and its juice extracted at the sugar mills, is burnt.
All this adds to the pollution of the rural areas as thick smoke hangs over the agricultural land during and after every burning process.
This agricultural residue biomass, which is burnt after every crop, is a rich source of energy.
A technology has been developed to that extent that this rich source of energy can be converted into gas which can be used for heating, cooking and also for generation of electricity.
Biomass is a renewable resource derived from the carbonaceous waste of various human and natural activities.
It is derived from numerous sources including the by-products from the agricultural crops, timber industry, raw material from the forest, major parts of household wastes and wood.
The traditional use of biomass is much more than its use in the modern application.
In the developed world biomass is again becoming important for application such as production of gas and power generation.
Biomass is gaining significance as a source of clean heat for domestic heating and community heating applications.
In countries like Finland, USA, Sweden, China and India per capita biomass energy consumption is becoming higher and higher with the passage of time.
Biomass technology provides an alternative source of energy in rural China and India, specially Indian sugar mills are rapidly turning to bagasse for the purpose of electricity generation.
It is mainly being done to retrieve the energy from waste and reducing down power expenses.
According to a recent estimate in India about 3,500 MW of power can be generated from bagasse in the existing 430 sugar mills.
Around 270 MW of power is already being commissioned and more units are under construction.
Pakistan, being an agricultural country, has an immense potential for production of gas and generation of electricity from biomass right at the doorsteps of the rural communities instead of burning it.
In Pakistan, biomass gasifier and generation system, developed in China as the most sustainable and appropriate equipment for developing country, has been introduced by Business Associates International (BAI) Karachi and Islamabad based company, which represents the manufacturers.
The plants supplied by them is used in several countries in Asia including China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, etc.
Most recently a plant of 200MW has been installed at Eastern Malaysia.
The fuel for these plants are rice husk, cotton stalk, bagasse, empty fruit bunch in coconut trees, etc.
Source:
Business Recorder
|
Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
|
