Bamboo power: Indian state of Mizoram to produce electricity from bamboo

Recently we focused on India's bioenergy strategies, and today an interesting development comes out of the same country: a bamboo-fuelled power station is being built in Mizoram state to help meet the energy needs of India's northeast. Bamboo is used on a daily basis by 2.5 billion people in the tropics and subtropics, mainly for food, feed and fiber. But the fast growing, tall grass, is looked at more and more as a fuel to generate green and renewable electricity. Mizoram produces 3.2 million tonnes of it per year, and is now going to use the local biomass resource to counter high energy prices.

Because of its high yields, its high energy content and its good combustion behavior, bamboo makes for an interesting energy crop. Compare it to woody biomass:

• The physico-chemical characteristics of bamboo make it a solid biofuel similar to other woody fuels, with the exception of the mineral content which is higher for bamboo than for wood (2.5 % instead of 1.5 %), but much lower than coal.
• Bamboo is also an interesting material for the production of charcoal. Its mass yield is higher (33 % on initial anhydrous mass) than that of wood wood (29 % on initial anhydrous mass).
• The production of non-condensable gases is also higher (26.5 % vs 18-20 %), while tar production is lower (42 % vs 50 %).
• Finally, bamboo's energy content (net calorific value) is comparable to or higher than other wood species like beech, spruce, eucalypts and poplars - in the range of 18.3-19.7 MJ/kg.

Mizoram's power station will be set up in Sairang village at an estimated cost of Rs 28,5 million (€500,000/US$615,000). "This cost-effective project has been conceived by the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, along with Ankur Scientific Energy Technologies, a private enterprise," said Benjamin L. Tlumtea, project coordinator of Zoram Energy Development Agency (ZEDA) [no website yet, but check here in the future].

"Raw material for the power project is easily available. Once the plan gets going we have plans to use the energy in some industrial units," Tlumtea said. Bamboo would be first harvested and then dried before it is processed for feedstock to produce gas, which would finally get converted to electricity. "With the help of such bamboo power projects and power generation through other non-conventional schemes, the state will surely solve its energy crisis," the official said. An estimated 9,000 sq km area is under bamboo cultivation in Mizoram. India, the world's largest producer of bamboo after China, grows about 80 million tonnes each year, more than half of it in the northeast.

Resources:

• Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore: "Bamboo based gasification system" [*.pdf]
• National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Bamboo: an overlooked biomass resource? [*.pdf]
• BioMatNet: Bamboo for Europe - an interesting EU project aimed at introducing large-scale bamboo production for energy in the EU.
• geniaal.be: Johan Gielis: Future possibilities for bamboo in European agriculture [*.doc]
• BambooNet: Bamboo Information Network
• Times of India: Mizoram to produce electricity from bamboo - August 20, 2006

[Entry ends here]
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: gasification :: bamboo :: India ::