1111

2
Rice husk – an alternative fuel in Perú
3
4 by Estela Assureira, Director of Biomass and Coal Research Programme, at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del
5 Perú; Av. Universitaria cuadra 18 Lima 32 Perú Email: eassure@pucp.edu.pe
6
7 Introduction mills, and 70% of them are located in
8 This study investigates the usefulness the north of the country. The rice husk
9 of rice husk as an alternative fuel for generated in the milling process repre-
10 household energy. The work included sents about 20% of the rice casing. At
1 an analysis of the production of rice in present, only 5% of the rice husk is
2 Perú, visits to the productive zones, used as a fuel – in brick manufacture
3 evaluation of rice husk, development in Piura – the rest is burned or thrown
4 and test of rice husk briquettes and the into the river.
5 stoves that use them as fuel. An analysis of the rice husk pro-
6 duced in northern Perú show that
7 Rice husk in Perú volatiles comprise nearly 60% of the
8 total residue mass, with carbon
Currently, in Perú, the use of the agri-
9 accounting for over 30% (Table 1).
cultural wastes as fuel is limited and
20111 Maximum calorific values are sim-
inefficient. In 1999 a study was imple-
1 ilar to wood and other agricultural Figure 2 Rice husk briquettes
mented to identify those agricultural
2 wastes. However, the low density of
wastes with the most useful energy wet process allows lower pressure
3 the husk makes it difficult to store and
potential within Perú; rice husk, black equipment, but a binder must be used.
4 increases the cost of transportation.
coffee husk and cotton stalks were In this project, cylindrical briquettes
5 Around 380 000 tonnes per year of
found to be best. This conclusion was were made using mechanical compres-
6 rice husk are produced, which could
reached through a study of the fraction sion and including a binder in the mix
7 provide 120 000 TOE (tonnes oil
of the wastes produced, and where (Figure 2). The mixture comprised
8 equivalent) per year of available
they had been produced in the previ- well-rotted husk with a binder of clay,
9 energy. Of this, 60 % is very accessi-
ous seven years. Other factors inclu- bentonite or yucca starch. The use of a
30
ded the distance between the users and ble because of its concentration and its binder allowed lower pressures to be
1
the point of waste generation, the eco- proximity to local markets. used. The briquettes could be made in
2
3 nomic and environmental advantages small quantities, and the skills needed
and disadvantages of its elimination,
Rice husk briquettes to operate the equipment were easy to
4
5 the use of the waste in non-power Briquetting is a technology which uses learn. In addition, the binders selected
6 applications, and the registered world- either a dry or a wet process to com- are available in the market, are not
7 wide experience of its use. press rice husks into different shapes. expensive and provide a strong bond.
8 The species of rice that is cultivated The dry briquetting process requires The rice was ground to a fine powder
9 in the Perú is oryza sativa. Between high pressure and does not use a in a hammer mill, then the binder and
40111 1992 to 2001, production reached binder. This process is expensive and water were mixed with the rice husk to
1 1900 kilotonnes per year, as shown in recommended only for high produc- form a paste, which was put into a bri-
2 Figure 1. Rice is processed in 471 tion levels. On the other hand, using a quetting machine. Finally ‘the bri-
3 quette’ was dried to reduce the humid-
4 ity. This could be done either directly in
5 the sun or in electrical drier. The pilot
6 briquetting plant at the PUCP used a
7 hammer mill, a vibratory sieve, a man-
8 ual press machine and an electrical
9 drier. Its production capacity is about 30
50 kg per hour.
Tonnes ⫻ 103

1 The physical and thermal character-

2 istics of rice husk briquettes are pre-
3 sented in Table 2.
4 Combustion efficiency is an impor-
5 tant characteristic as it express the
6 quality of combustion. It is calculated
7 as the total burnt material (initial
8 weight – weight of ash left) divided by
9 the theoretical maximum of com-
60 bustible material (Eq.1 and Eq. 2). The
6111 Figure 1 Rice production in Perú results are given in Table 2.

Boiling Point No 48 2002 35

1111 Table 1 Analysis of rice husks
2
Mass Dry
3
4 Carbon (%) 34.61 38.43
5 Hydrogen (%) 3.79 2.97
6 Nitrogen (%) 0.44 0.49
7
Oxygen(%) 41.58 36.36
8
9 Sulphur (%) 0.06 0.07
10 Volatile matter (%) 55.54 61.68
1 Fixed carbon (%) 14.99 16.65
2
Ash (%) 19.52 21.68
3
4 Humidity (%) 9.95 0.00
5 Calorific value (kJ/kg) 13 800 15 324
6
7
8 mi ⫺ mf Item Cost/Quantity
␩combination = ––––––– Eq. 1 Plant production 30 Tonnes/month
9 mcb
Capital investment US$10,000 Figure 3 The Voila 2 stove

mcb = 冤mrice(1 ⫺ %ash)兴 +

Research & development

(approximately)
Eq. 2
冤myucca(1 ⫺ %ash冥 Fixed cost for US$1550 per
maintenance and month
Briquetting the residues improves operation
their burning characteristics and also The plant is mainly manually oper-
produces fuel pieces that are similar in ated, to create employment in rural
size and weight. At the same time, areas. Based on the above mentioned
problems of dust are reduced during fixed operating costs, which would
handling, transportation and combus- include the cost of employing six peo-
tion and handling and storage prob- ple each working an eight hour per day,
lems are alleviated. the manufacturing cost for the bri-
quettes is US$50 per tonne. This
Cost of briquetting assumes that capital was available for
The technical study on rice husk bri- the equipment and no depreciation on
quettes has been completed, and work the machinery.
is now being done on the economical
20111 aspects. Although the final production Rice husk stoves
1 costs, and selling price are not yet Using information from the Inter-
2 determined, indicative manufacturing national Rice Research Institute in
3 costs are given below. Philippines (IRRI), some models of
4 rice husk stoves have been developed
5 Stove testing
6 The testing procedures developed are
7 Table 2 Technical characteristics of rice husk briquettes
8
Briquette code BR1 BR3 BR7 BR8 BR10 BR12
9
that use rice husk and rice husk bri-
quettes as a fuel.
In 2001 the Voila 1 rice husk was
built, similar to RHS-STD-001 IRRI
stove. A further development, the Voila
2 rice husk stove (based on the Voila
1), consists of an open cone made of
cast iron, with holes at the bottom, and
an ash tray under it (Figure 3). A cylin-
drical flame guide, made of a refrac-
tory material, is placed into the cone.
Pots are supported on the stove on
three ledges welded onto the wall of
the cylinder. To light the stove crum-
pled paper is placed at the ashport
before filling with husks.
In operation, the flames and gases
first heat the base of the pot and then
the walls. Table 3 presents the main
characteristics of the stove.
in accordance with the International
Standards for Testing of Woodburning
Cookstoves. The efficiency of stove

冦
30 Rice husk(%) 100 70 70 60 85 85
Clay (%) 0 0 10 0 15 15 is defined as the ratio of the energy
1 Composition
Bentonite (%) 0 20 0 40 0 0 transferred to the water, divided by the
2 Yucca starch (%) 0 10 20 0 0 0 energy liberated by the burning fuel.
3
Shape Cylindrical For the Voila 2 stove, the efficiency
4
Diameter (mm) 40 40 40 40 40 50
was found to be 20%.
5
6 Height (mm) 40 40 40 40 40 40 Table 3 Voila 2 – a rice stove model
7
Pressure (PSIG) 6430 3570 5000 3570 5000 8000 Dimensions Diameter = 505 mm
8
9 Bulk density (kg/m3) 562 803 667 965.5 800 760 High = 520 mm
40111 Time of ignition (min) 8 18 8.5 18 10 12 Weight (kg) 12.4
1 Max. calorific value (MJ/kg) 13 800 8280 13 000 13 000 11 730 11 730 Materials Iron and clay
2
Combustion efficiency (%) 97 94 91 80 97 98 Fuel Rice husk
3
4
5 36 Boiling Point No 48 2002