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Rice Husk Cogeneration in India
Project Overview
This project helps to reduce reliance on fossil fuels at textile mills in India by using biomass waste to generate thermal power and electricity. At the same time, the project provides additional income for local farmers.Textile mills in India require relatively large amounts of energy, both to produce process steam and to generate electricity to run plant equipment. In most cases, plant operators burn polluting coal or heavy fuel oil to produce heat for steam, and import electricity from India’s fossil fuel-dominated transmission grid. As a result, the textile industry, while an important driver of economic development and employment across India, also contributes to India’s rapidly growing carbon footprint.
This project was the first of its kind in Punjab state to use rice husks to provide thermal energy and electricity.
Project Detail
Rice husks are produced in large quantities by local farmers, and are traditionally burned in the field. This project makes use of a locally occurring resource to fire the textile mill’s boiler and produce process steam. By installing a cogeneration system, this steam also runs a turbine that generates electricity. As a result, the textile mill has been able to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and imported electricity to power its operations, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by thousands of tonnes of CO2 per year.Great care was taken in the project’s design phase to ensure that the initiative provided broader environmental benefits beyond reducing carbon.
Precipitators have been installed to capture dust, smokestack collectors for fly ash, silencers to reduce noise pollution, and a cooling water system has been employed to minimize thermal water pollution.
Local elected representatives were included in the stakeholder consultation process and were in favour of the project because of the added income to local farmers from the sale of their rice husks.
The project owners supply clothing to the local market, as well as major international brands including The Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, and Marks & Spencer.
Expert Comment
DR MICHAEL HOLLAND BSc, PhD; Member of the European Association of Environment and Resource Economists"This is a great example of a project that has benefits well beyond reducing emissions of greenhouse gases:
- Unlike many biomass projects, the plant will reduce local air pollution - partly because of the abatement equipment fitted to it and partly because wastes are no longer burned in the fields. This will benefit the health of the local community.
- The use of cogeneration technology greatly increases energy efficiency at the plant. And there is potential for it to be seen as a ‘show case’ project that could be of wider interest in India and encourage others to go down the cogeneration route. It is worth noting that the use of cogeneration in the UK could lead to a significant fall in our own carbon emissions!
- There are further benefits in terms of energy security; plant operators will be less vulnerable to the extreme fluctuations seen in fossil fuel prices in recent years"
