2. Epilogue
This study considers the environmental
assessment of power generation from rice husk,
a waste product in rice mills.
3. LIST OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION
2. RICE HUSK
3. PROCESS DESCRIPTION
4. RESULTS
5. CONCLUSION
6. REFERENCES
4. INTRODUCTION
ā¢ Utilization of fossil fuels has caused serious
environmental impacts such as global warming
caused primarily by COX and acidification by SOX
and NOX.
ā¢ Unlike fossil fuels, biomass can be used to reduce
greenhouse effect because trees absorb CO2 as
they grow and this carbon is released when the
biomass is combusted.
ā¢ To confirm whether energy production from
biomass has lower emissions than conventional
fuel production, an environmental assessment is
done in this study using the life cycle assessment
methodology.
5. Rice Husk
ā¢ Rice hulls (or rice husks) are the hard
protecting coverings of grains of rice. In
addition to protecting rice during the growing
season, rice hulls can be put to use as
fertilizer, insulation material, or fuel.
ā¢ Use: A number of rice-producing countries,
(e.g., India, Thailand), are currently
conducting research on industrial uses of rice
hulls.
7. Process Description
ā¢ System boundary of the study is set for doing
the environmental assessment using the Life
Cycle approach.
ā¢ Raw material, electricity and resource
consumption, electricity generated, waste and
emissions generated have been considered
within the boundary.
ā¢ List of all flows ā Water, Flue gas, Steam,
Electricity and ash.
8.
9. Results
ā¢ SO2, NO2 and CO2 emissions from the process are
studied and they are found to be less than the other
production methods which we are using presently.
ā¢ Dust emissions from rice husk power plant are higher
than coal and gas power plants, but slightly less than
oil power plants.
ā¢ It is known from previous research that rice husk
combustion produces significant amounts of
particulate matter.
ā¢ However, the rice husk power plant has multi-
cyclone and electrostatic precipitator for dust
removal.
10. CONCLUSION
ā¢ In India, a large portion of the electricity production
is from fossil fuels causing concern for energy
security as well as environmental emissions of CO2,
SO2 and NOX.
ā¢ Biomass has been proposed as one of the
alternative (renewable) energy sources of energy
which can, to extent, offset the use of fossil fuels.
ā¢ This is especially suitable for India since it is an
agricultural country.
ā¢ However, it must be ascertained whether electricity
production from biomass is really benign.