How Farm Waste Provides Clean Energy for Homes | A Project By UNEP
Posted by Unknown in Bio Gas, Biofuel, Pakistan, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable and Renewable Energy, waste management on Sunday 27 January 2013
A
project backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is
working to make clean energy a reality for households in a rural region
of Pakistan.
Sanghar,
a farming district in Sindh province in east-central Pakistan, is home
to nearly two million people. Wheat, cotton, sugar cane, rice and maize
are grown here, providing livelihoods and food for local communities.
In
the villages and towns of the district, access to reliable sources of
energy is difficult. Indeed, in households all over Sanghar, women
prepare meals and heat water by burning wood or biomass in rudimentary
stoves that release choking, black smoke.
Now
a new project backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
is working to make clean energy a reality for local households.
Realizing
that the district was a rich source of agricultural waste, UNEP's
International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC), based in Japan,
began working on a project to convert agricultural waste left in the
fields into clean, sustainable energy.
As
a first step, the IETC worked with the Mehran University of Engineering
and Technology in Jamshoro to quantify the amount of agricultural waste
in the district. A survey found that 2.5 million tonnes of waste ?
wheat and canola straw, cotton stalks, cotton gin waste, sugarcane tops,
bagasse, rice straw and husks, and banana plant ? was produced in the
district, although not all was available for conversion into energy.
A
subsequent calculation found that the energy potential of the available
waste was equivalent to 1.07 million tonnes of fire wood, or 910
million units of electricity (with a conversion efficiency rate of 20
per cent). If this energy potential was fully realised, the converted
waste could meet the energy demands of roughly 400,000 households (at
2400 units per household).
Further
research was done to determine how agricultural waste was managed and
used, to avoid future conflicts. For instance, it was learnt that 20 per
cent of sugarcane tops was being fed to animals, but 80 per cent was
being burnt in the fields, along with the entire quantity of banana
plant waste and about 70-80 per cent of rice straw. These materials
could therefore be used for energy conversion without impacting on food
supplies or other needs.
The
next step was to decide which technology to use. Several were
considered, but after careful analysis a biogas plant was selected, as
it had the twin benefits of being able to supply clean fuel (biogas) to
surrounding households and produce a good supply of compost, which could
be used as fertilizer. A site was chosen at the back of the Sanghar
Sugar Mills, which agreed to provide the land and funds to build the
plant.
Built
at a cost of two million rupees (about US$ 23,000), the biogas plant
opened on 1 August 2011. It is producing 50 cubic metres of biogas a
day, using 400 kilograms a day of agriculture waste. As well, it
produces 200 kilograms a day of liquid fertilizer and 150 kilograms a
day of solid fertilizer.
The
biogas produced is enough to provide energy to about 20 households,
putting to good use a resource that would otherwise have gone to waste.
For more information, please contact:
Surya Prakash Chandak, Senior Programme Officer, UNEP International Environmental Technology Centre, Email: surya.chandak@unep.org
Moira O'Brien-Malone, UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, Tel: +33 1 44 37 76 12, Email: moira.obrien-malone@unep.org
This entry was posted on Sunday 27 January 2013 at 10:49 and is filed under Bio Gas, Biofuel, Pakistan, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable and Renewable Energy, waste management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.
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