Biomass as an alternative to coal

In Nepal, biomass is the primary source of energy for many households in the rural areas. Statics say that around 60 per cent of energy need is taken from biomass – mainly firewood. Others are fodders, agricultural residue and animal dung. Some small and medium industries are also use firewood for heating materials.

The traditional method of burning firewood and others cause health hazards indoor air pollution it creates and also damage environment by haphazardly falling trees and utilising fodders without proper management.

To manage such reasons, Government of Nepal had distributed improved metallic cookstoves and assisted build mud brick improved cookstoves. Those were successful in improving the health and environment conditions. However, they were short lived, so could not produce desired results for long time. Moreover, they produce smoke at a reduced scale.

Using briquettes or pellets made using biomass components are more healthy and environment friendly. So, in the later phase, briquettes and pellets become desirable alternatives.

At the time when small, medium or big industries found briquettes and pellets as the source of energy for heating or boiling materials as an alternative to coal. Likewise, brick kiln owners are also looking for a cheap and best alternative to coal. Other coal users are also expecting the alternatives to support climate actions.

In Nepal, a few briquette and pellet industries have been opened. They are producing alternatives to coal. The products are efficient in producing good results.

Nepal’s forests occupy roughly 5.96 million hectares of landmass.

Community based forest management has been mainstreamed in Nepal’s forest management after the endorsement of Master Plan for Forestry Sector in 1988. By this time, community forests occupy nearly 2.3 million hectares – about a third of Nepal’s forest cover – and are managed by over 22,000 community forest groups comprising 3 million households.

Moreover, pellets and briquettes produced by using forest residue, agricultural residue and waste materials are to be used as heating source for industries to replace use of coal. Due to price rise of coal in the international market and labeled as one of the polluting elements contributing to climate change effects, coal needed to be replaced.

For the industrialists, Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) and various authorities including ministers and secretaries ask to use electricity in lieu of coal burning. But there are few things that the users are yet to be confident on using electricity. Firstly, the machines and equipment used for heating like boiler and accessories need to be replaced by new set of electrical equipment which cost considerably high that many industrialists are not finding themselves to offer. Similarly, quality and consistent supply of electricity is also another big thing for the users as electricity can go out any time without any prior information that makes big loss to the users.

The pellets and briquette producing industriesare doing well in the sense of demand of their products. As the raw-materials for such industries are abundantly available in the country, concerned government institutions should push the technology to develop rapidly providing financial and technical supports.     

Experts say that fodder and waste produced naturally in one hector of forest can be made one ton of briquette. Another thing they mention is a whole some of energy produced by a cylinder of LPG (14.2 kg) can be recovered from 30 kg of briquette.

Collections and management of fodders and wastes also is an effective instrument to avoid risk of forest fire. So the methodology applied by some clever locals who take benefits from community forest should be replicated. They collect the fodders and waste from forest, put them in a pit, sprinkle water over the collected matter, cover it well and fire. That turns charcoal like substance which is sold to briquette factories. Thus, this methodology if applied, 172,000 hector supposed to be destroyed by forest fire in dry season (March to May) may be saved. Remarkably, the community who are applying this method has saved their forest from fire for last 10 years. That means, supporting briquette making industry by supplying waste materials of forest is both saving forest from fire and also it generating income. That act also provides employment to some locals as well.

Knowing Pallets and Briquettes :

Pellet fuels (or pellets) are bio-fuels made from compressed organic matter or biomass. Pellets can be made from any one of five general categories of biomass: industrial waste and co-products, food waste, agricultural residues, energy crops, and virgin lumber. Wood pellets are the most common type of pellet fuel and are generally made from compacted sawdust and related industrial wastes from the milling of lumber, manufacture of wood products and furniture, and construction. Other industrial waste sources include empty fruit bunches, palm kernel shells, coconut shells, and tree tops and branches discarded during logging operations. So-called “black pellets” are made of bio-mass, refined to resemble hard coal and were developed to be used in existing coal-fired power plants, Pellets are categorized by their heating value, moisture and ash content, and dimensions. They can be used as fuels for power generation, commercial or residential heating, and cooking. Pellets are extremely dense and can be produced with a low moisture content (below 10%) that allows them to be burned with a very high combustion efficiency.

Biomass briquettes are a bio-fuel substitute to coal and charcoal. Briquettes are mostly used in the developing world, where cooking fuels are not as easily available. There has been a move to the use of briquettes in the developed world, where they are used to heat industrial boilers in order to produce electricity from steam. The briquettes are cofired with coal in order to create the heat supplied to the boiler.

Biomass briquettes, mostly made of green waste and other organic materials, are commonly used for electricity generation, heat, and cooking fuel. These compressed compounds contain various organic materials, including rice husk, bagasse, ground nut shells, municipal solid waste, agricultural waste. The composition of the briquettes varies by area due to the availability of raw materials. The raw materials are gathered and compressed into briquette in order to burn longer and make transportation of the goods easier. These briquettes are very different from charcoal because they do not have large concentrations of carbonaceous substances and added materials. Compared to fossil fuels, the briquettes produce low net total greenhouse gas emissions because the materials used are already a part of the carbon cycle.