Bio-Energy Utilization in Developing Countries: Past Experiences and Future Challenges

A.K.M. Sadrul Islam

Department of Mechanical & Chemical EngineeringIslamic University of Bangladesh (IUT), Dhaka, Bangladesh

Low Carbon Energy for Development: Past Experiences and Future Challenges, 4-5 April 2012, Loughborough University, U.K.

Bio-Energy Use• Biomass currently supplies about a third of the

developing countries’ energy varying from about 90% in countries like Uganda, Rawanda and Tanzania, to 60% in Bangladesh, 45% in India, 30% in China and Brazil and 10-15% in Mexico and South Africa.

• More than 2.5 billion people (83% rural and 23% urban) are solely depended on biomass energy [WEO 2006].

• The increasing demand of energy implies that biomass energy will be with us forever.

2

Applications of Bio-energy• Mostly used as cooking fuel in developing countries• Industrial use: heating and steam generation• Electricity generation• As Transport Fuel

Boiler operation in rice mill Cooking in household 3

Bio-energy share of global final energy consumption in 2009

Source: www.ren21.net4

GLOBAL BIOENERGY SCENARIO

Sources of Bio-energy

• Agro-residues• Waste biomass• Energy crops• Municipal Solid waste(MSW)• Virgin wood from forest• Aquatic biomass (Algae)

5

Agro- residue&

Waste biomass

6

Agro-residue and waste biomass as traditional fuel in Bangladesh (million tonne)

Source: BBS 2008

Improved Cook Stove

8

Impact of the use of traditional stoves • Traditional stoves cause serious indoor air

pollution and the smoke is hazardous to health (e.g. eye ailment, bronchial diseases, headache, even cancer).

• According to the WHO Report, 2004 acute respiratory infections from indoor air pollution (IAP – pollution from burning wood, animal dung and other biofuels) are estimated to kill a million children annually in developing countries, inflicting a particularly heavy toll on poor families in South Asia and Africa.

• Wastage of fuel (efficiency: 5% - 10%)• Consumption of biomass

Household: 5 kg/day Bangladesh: 40 – 50 million tons/year

9

Improved cook stove (ICS)

Efficiency: 26%-29% Significant fuel saving: about 50% Reduction of indoor air pollution, especially for ICS with chimney Reduction of GHG emission (1.8 ton/ICS/year) Affordable to people High acceptance level as there is no need to change cooking habits, cooking utensils and cooking fuel Usable for all types of biomass available Locally available raw material for stove construction

10

ChallengesRural women are used to using traditional StovesEgo problem: Every woman can build mud stove;

it is difficult for her to accept that other build better stove

Not ready to pay for a similar mud stove that she can make

Some do not accept the technical aspects Climbing on the roof to clean chimney is difficult

and not well seen by the traditional society.Further improvement of stove will reduce the fuel

consumption and improve IAQ.11

RICE HUSK

12

World Rice Husk Production in 2009

• Total husk potential is 137 million tonnes

Source: FAOSTAT 13

Uses of Rice husk

• Boiler operation for parboiling• Briquette fuel• Electricity generation• Cooking

14

Comparison of traditional and improved rice parboiling boiler

Consumes 120 kg husk to boil each tonne of paddy

Consumes 49 kg husk to boil each tonne of paddy

Challenge: About 2 million ton of rice husk could be saved every year in Bangladesh if the rice millers would adopt this improved rice parboiling system. In doing so about 3.0 million tonne of CO2 abatement could be achieved.

15

Traditional Boiler Improved Boiler (GiZ)

Potential of electricity generation from rice husk

Steam Turbine Gasification2010 2030 2010 2030

Reference 2134 3391 1366 2170 Scenario-1 2644 8356 1692 5348 Scenerio-2 2922 9704 1870 6210 CO2 abatement (million ton)Reference 1.28 2.03 0.82 1.30

In GWh

Source: A.K.M. Sadrul Islam and M. Ahiduzzaman, 2012

Scenerio-1: 90% of traditional boilers are replaced by efficient ones.Scenerio-2: Scenerio-1 plus 50% rice are unparboiled.

16

Bagasse

17

Bagasse Production

18*Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugarcane, 8.3.12

• World – Sugar cane production: 1.7 billion tonne*– bagasse production: 422 million tonne

• Bangladesh – Sugar cane crushed in mills 2.6 million tonne– Bagasse production : 0.8 million tonne– This bagasse is used for cogeneration (for process

heat and electricity).– In 14 sugar mills about 49 MWh electricity is

generated per year.

Challenges

• Replacing the existing inefficient low pressure boiler turbine by high pressure Rankine cycle for combined CHP using condensing-extraction steam turbine would yield twice power. [ Zahid 2006]

• Use of wet bagasse reduces the burning efficiency.• Improved design could save feed stock and generate

more electricity.• CO2 emission can be brought down to half with the

improved design.

19

Biogas

20

Biogas in Bangladesh

• Total no. installed 38, 765 family–sized [ Dr. Eusuf 2011; New Age 29 Feb 2012]

• Size: 5 – 6 m3• Fixed dome technology• Mostly used for cooking purposes. A few are

used for electricity generation.

21

Biogas potential in Bangladesh

Raw materials Organic Fertilizer (million

tons)

Yearly gas production (million

cubic meter)

1. Cow/Buffalo dung2. Poultry droppings3. Human excreta4. Garbage5. Water hyacinth6. Pressed mudTotal

60.202.0532.851.7210.000.07

2971.10191.60

1226.40115.00740.00384.00

3628.10

http://www.buet.ac.bd/ces/nonconventional-energy.htm, accessed on 20.03.12

22

Challenge: Lack of proper biogas engine at local market of Bangladesh

• Old Toyota car engines of 1500 cc capacity with a dynamo is used to produce electricity from biogas.

• The maximum output: 7.5 kW. • Biogas from the digester is fed

into the engine only through a moisture filter unit to remove the moisture content in the gas.

Source: Ashraf 2008 23

Biofuel

24

Second generation biofuel

In Bangladesh and some other developing countries have a great potential of Second generation biofuel (non-food crop).

Some non-food crops are:– Jatropha (Botanical name: Jatropha cucas L)– Castor (Botanical name: Ricinus communis )– Pithraj (Botanical name: Aphanamixis polystachya )– Karoch (Pongamiya pinata L.)

25

Potential of Biofuel in Bangladesh

• Railway side, road side and some barren land can be used for plantation of trees for biofuel.

• 1.76 million ha is available for this (Aminul Islam 2008)

26

Potential Bio-diesel Production

Available land is 1.76 million ha. If 50% of this land is used for energy crop, then estimated production is [ Aminul Islam 2008]:

• Jatropha : 1.19 mil ton/year• Castor: 0.15 mil ton/year• Pithraj: 1.04 mil ton/year• Karoch: 0.8 mil ton/year [M M Rahman 2011]

27

Challenges

• Land crisis and population pressure.• Food security.• Lack of awareness.• Lack of technical know-how.

28

Rice Husk Briquette

29

-First introduced in 1990; now there are over 1000 m/c-It replaces fuel wood and improves IAQ.

Restaurant Tea stall Street food stall

Household use

2.5 kg/day

12 kg/day16 kg/day114 kg/day

1 kg densified fuel = 1.63 kg wood

30

Biomass Briquetting in Bangladesh

Improvement of rice husk briquette production technology

Existing die heater is replaced by briquette stove to reduce electricity consumption in briquette production

Briquette is coming out from new die-heater

Briquette prepared using die-stove instead of electric heater

31Ahiduzzaman 2011

Improvement of rice husk briquette production technology

Briquette production rate, kg/h

Briquette consumption in

die stove, kg/tonne

Electricity consumption, kWh/tonne

CO2 abatementin comparison to wood fuel

Existing system

86 to 90 0 152 1110kg/ton

Improved system

88.87 75.77 79.33 1154kg/ton

32Ahiduzzaman 2011

Challenges

• Maintenance of briquette machines is a problem. The screw head needs frequent repair.

• It needs electricity that can be optimized by improved design.

33

Wood fuel production and consumption

34

Global production of wood fuel

Source: FAOSTAT35

Population and deforestation in Bangladesh

Source: World Bank 2012, NFA 2007, FRA 2000, FAOSTAT 201136

Population and deforestation in Philippines

Source: J.C. Elauria et al (2003)37

Challenge: How to combat deforestation?

-Introduction of rice husk briquette with the excess amount of husk can

reduce it.Production of rice husk

biquette, million tonne

Quantity of wood fuel

replaced by briquette,

million tonne

Reduction of

CO2 emission,

million tonne

Reduction of

deforestation, 000 hectare

(ha)

3.00 4.90 7.8 25.41

38Source: M. Ahiduzzaman and A.K.M. Sadrul Islam, 2011

Municipal Solid Waste

39

Methane Emission from MSW landfill in Bangladesh

Urban Centers Annual DOC landfilled, ‘000’ ton

Methane Emission/yr

‘000’ ton CH4 106 m3 CH4

Dhaka cityChittagong cityKhulna cityRajshahi cityOther Municipalities

111.8231.805.544.3834.38

57.4016.322.842.2517.65

80.0922.773.963.1424.63

Total 187.92 96.46 134.59

Source: M. F. Ahmed 2003

In Bangladesh, recovery of biogas from well designed MSW landfills has good potential.

-A supply of substitute fuel-Reduction of GHG-Sound disposal of waste

Aquatic Biomass (Algae)• Algae does not affect fresh water resources, can be

produced using ocean and wastewater, and are biodegradable and relatively harmless to the environment if spilled.

• Algae can yield between 10 and 100 times more energy per unit area than other second-generation biofuel crops.

• But it is very costly (US$5000/ton)• According to the Algal Biomass Organization algae

fuel can reach price parity with oil in 2018 if granted production tax credits.

41

Conclusions

42

Challenges of bio-energy promotion in developing countries

• Traditional use of biomass is often linked to degradation of forests and woodland resources as well as soil erosion.

• Traditional fuels leads to emissions of greenhouse gases and soot (black carbon) due to poor combustion. These emissions are believed to represent on the order of 5% of total global warming derived from human activities*.

• The problems associated with traditional use of biomass are complex, as they are highly correlated with people's income levels, living habits, village structures and gender roles.

• Lack of awareness of bio-energy in public, industry, utility, financial institutions and policy-makers.

*Source:http://www.unep.fr/energy/bioenergy/issues/traditional.htm 43

Challenges……

• Absent of favorable policy. This includes lack of financial incentives, legal regulatory framework for the market-oriented awareness, utilization, and commitment to encourage bio-energy development as well as promotion.

• Lack of standardization and quality control of technology.• Lack of information about bio-energy resources,

technical/economic information about technologies, equipment suppliers, and potential financiers.

• Promising 3rd generation biofuel from aquatic biomass (Algae) is almost absent in the developing counties. How to reduce the cost and transfer the know-how and technology to these countries is a great challenge.

44

References• www.wildaboutwriting.com• Renewable 2010 Global Status Report, REN21: Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century• 2010 Survey of Energy Resources, World Energy Council• EIA, International Energy Outlook 2010• R. Arun Prasath- Renewable Energy in India- in German Alumni Expert Seminar, Jan 5-12, 2012 Dhaka• Md. Monwar Hasan Khan, Status Report on Renewable Energy Development in Bangladesh, MoPEMR, Government of

Bangladesh, SESAM Alumni, University of Flensburg, 08 January 2012• Renewable Energy Status In Sri Lanka, Country Report By P.L.G. Kariyawasam• Indonesia Country Review, by Bayuaji Kencana, Chazaro Gerbang Internasional, PT (CGI), Jakarta, Indonesia• The Potential Of Energy Trees To Produce Biofuel For Combating The Energy Crisis In Bangladesh, By A.B.M. Aminul Islam

2008, Msc Thesis, SESAM, Univ of Flensburg, Germany• Life cycle Assessment of Biofuel from Pongamia Pinnata(Karoch), by M M Rahman 2011, MSc Thesis, CREST, Loughborough

University, U.K.• http://www.sugarcanecrops.com/introduction/ date:11.03.2012• Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugarcane, 8.3.12• BSFIC: Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation• The Potential of Electricity Generation from Poultry Waste in Bangladesh. A Case Study of Gazipur District, by Sheikh Ashraf

Uz Zaman 2007, Msc Thesis, SESAM, Univ of Flensburg, Germany• http://www.mapsofworld.com, 13.12.09• FAOSTAT 2011• GiZ, 2012• Dr. Khursheed-ul-Islam 2009• www.reein.org• World Bank 2012• NFA 2007, FAO 2000 and BBS 2008, • M. Ahiduzzaman, “Studies and Investigation on Extraction of Energy and Value-Added Product from Rice Husk”, Ph.D.

Thesis, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering Dept, Islamic University of Technology, Sept. 2011. • F M Ahmed (2003). Methane Recovery from Municipal Solid Wastes in Bangladesh

46