Tag Archives: vietnam

Bioenergy Perspectives for Southeast Asia

  By Salman Zafar | April 8, 2012 - 10:38 am | Biofuels, biogas, Biomass Energy, Clean Energy, Southeast Asia
Leave a comment

Southeast Asia, with its abundant biomass resources, holds a strategic position in the global biomass energy atlas. There is immense potential of biopower in Southeast Asian countries due to plentiful supply of diverse forms of wastes such as agricultural residues, woody biomass, animal wastes, municipal solid waste, etc. The rapid economic growth and industrialization in the region has accelerated the drive to implement the latest waste-to-energy technologies to tap the unharnessed potential of biomass resources.

The Southeast Asian region is a big producer of wood and agricultural products which, when processed in industries, produces large amounts of biomass residues. According to conservative estimates, the amount of biomass residues generated from sugar, rice and palm oil mills is more than 200-230 million tons per year which corresponds to cogeneration potential of 16-19 GW.

Rice mills in the region produce 38 million tonnes of rice husk as solid residue which is a good fuel for producing heat and power. Sugar industry is an integral part of the industrial scenario in Southeast Asia accounting for 7% of sugar production worldwide. Sugar mills in Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam generate 34 million tonnes of bagasse every year.  Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand account for 90% of global palm oil production leading to the generation of 27 million tonnes of waste per annum in the form of empty fruit bunches (EFBs), fibers and shells, as well as liquid effluent.

Woody biomass is a good energy resource due to presence of large number of forests in Southeast Asia. Apart from natural forests, non-industrial plantations of different types (e.g. coconut, rubber and oil palm plantations, fruit orchards, and trees in homesteads and gardens) have gained recognition as important sources of biomass. In addition, the presence of a large number of wood processing industries also generates significant quantity of wood wastes. The annual production of wood wastes in the region is estimated to be more than 30 million m3.

The prospects of biogas power generation are also high in the region thanks to presence of well-established food-processing and dairy industries. Another important biomass resource is contributed by municipal solid wastes in heavily populated urban areas.  In addition, there are increasing efforts both commercially and promoted by governments to develop biomass energy systems for efficient biofuel production, e.g. bio-diesel from palm oil.

Biomass resources, particularly residues from forests, wood processing, agricultural crops and agro-processing, are under-utilised in Southeast Asian countries. There is an urgent need to utilize biomass wastes for commercial electricity and heat production to cater to the needs of the industries as well as urban and rural communities.

Southeast Asian countries are yet to make optimum use of the additional power generation potential from biomass waste resources which could help them to partially overcome the long-term problem of energy supply. Technologies for biomass utilization which are at present widely used in Southeast counties need to be improved towards best practice by making use of the latest trends in the waste-to-energy sector.

Biomass Energy in Vietnam

  By Salman Zafar | February 11, 2012 - 5:55 pm | Agricultural Residues, Biomass Energy, Southeast Asia
1 Comment

Vietnam is one of the few countries having a low level of energy consumption in the developing world with an estimated amount of 210 kg of oil equivalent per capita/year. Over half of the Vietnamese population does not have access to electricity. The development of power sources is limited mainly to large central power plants using hydropower and traditional fossil fuels. Vietnam is facing the difficult challenge of maintaining this growth in a sustainable manner, with no or minimal adverse impacts on society and the environment.

Therefore, there exists considerable potential role for promotion of sustainable energy sources like hydroelectricity, biomass and solar power. This includes both grid connection of the larger renewable energy systems, and a considerable market for renewable systems for the many communities and houses that are likely to remain off-grid.

Biomass energy potential is estimated at 1,430 MW by 2002, and could supply 9,020 GWh of electricity annually. The possible major biomass sources likely to be exploited in the near future for power production are paddy straw, rice husk and bagasse. Their estimated potential is 730 MW, and could provide 4500 GWh of electricity yearly. Rice husk and bagasse are the biomass resources with the greatest economic potential, estimated at 50 MW and 150 MW respectively (ENERTEAM, 2003). Biomass fuels sources that can also be developed include forest wood, rubber wood, logging residues, saw mill residues, sugar cane residues, bagasse, coffee husk and coconut residues. Currently biomass is generally treated as a non-commercial energy source, and collected and used locally.

The biogas potential in the country is large due to livestock population of more than 30 million, mostly pigs, cattle, and water buffalo. Although most livestock dung already is used in feeding fish and fertilizing fields and gardens, there is potential for higher-value utilization through biogas production. It is estimated that more than 25,000 household biogas digesters with 1 to 50 m3, have been installed in rural areas. The Dutch-funded Biogas Program operated by SNV Vietnam constructed some 18,000 biogas facilities in 12 provinces between 2003 and 2005, with a second phase (2007-2010) target of 150,000 biogas tanks in both rural and semi-urban settings.