A critical look on rice husk gasification in Cambodia: engineering and sustainability

Rice husks are the indigestible coatings of grains of rice. They are produced in large quantities by the rice milling industry, more than 1 million ton per year in Cambodia. In recent years, Cambodian enterprises have installed gasifiers, which burn rice husks to generate electricity. This is a two stage process: the biomass is first fed into a gasifier which produces syngas and ashes, then the syngas is cleaned and burned into an engine where it saves diesel fuel. Our study describes the sustainability challenges for deploying these technologies: how much does it depends on government intervention and on the state of the electricity market? What are the impacts of the gaseous, liquid and solid wastes? What are benefits for the local companies in term of profits, jobs and technology transfer?Rice husks are the indigestible coatings of grains of rice. They are produced in large quantities by the rice milling industry, more than 1 million ton per year in Cambodia. In recent years, Cambodian enterprises have installed gasifiers, which burn rice husks to generate electricity. This is a two stage process: the biomass is first fed into a gasifier which produces syngas and ashes, then the syngas is cleaned and burned into an engine where it saves diesel fuel. Our study describes the sustainability challenges for deploying these technologies: how much does it depends on government intervention and on the state of the electricity market? What are the impacts of the gaseous, liquid and solid wastes? What are benefits for the local companies in term of profits, jobs and technology transfer