World Grain - January 2007 - 60

RICE QUARTERLY: USING RICE HUSK AS A HEATING SOURCE

This photo of a husk burner shows husk feeding
devices, air mixing pipe entrances and water piping to cool down ashes.

areas with direct-fired units.
To reduce ash dragging, some burners
have been equipped with ample settling
chambers. Handling and disposal of
burned ash may be somewhat difficult in
some areas. In Colombia, ash not completely burned (with some half-burned
husks) is in high demand by flower
growers replacing imported soils used
for seedbeds (turba).

If a burner is used for at least several
months per year, heat production costs
may be significantly reduced. It has been
calculated that to produce heat equivalent to one diesel gallon using a cyclonic
burner, it would cost around 20 cents,
providing the unit is used 150 days per
year during a 10-year period. Costs may
vary depending upon factors such as the
availability of rice husk and the type of
conveying system used.
STEAM PRODUCTION
In Brazil, rice husks and other kinds
of biomass are commonly used to produce steam. In Brazilian rice mills, it is
common to see husk-fired boilers producing steam for parboiled rice plants
and drying paddy from the field with
heat exchange radiators.
But parboiled plants are just one of
the many facilities in Brazil that use
husk-generated steam. It is also used

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in vegetable canning plants and textile
plants. For the past 15 years, it has also
become common to generate electricity
with husk-fired boilers.
Based on current petroleum prices, a
good financial result may be obtained
generating more than 800 kilowatts per
hour, which translates to approximately
6,000 kg of steam per hour consuming
1,700 kg of husks per hour.
Total investment for such a plant would
be around U.S.$1 million, with boilers,
generators and electrical systems acWG
counting for most of the cost.
Dr. Alvaro Castillo-Niño is the director of
Ediagro (www.ediagro.com), a Bogotá,
Colombia-based rice milling consultancy active
in Latin America, Asia and Africa. For more
information, he may be reached
at ediagro@colomsat.net.co.
We want to hear from you - Send comments and
inquiries to worldgrain@sosland.com. For reprints of
WG articles, e-mail reprints@sosland.com.

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For more information, see Page 70.

60

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#ROSS
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Three Cross-Yoke Plansifters with a capacity
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For more information, see Page 70.

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World Grain - January 2007

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