Overview of Biomass Utilization in

Seksan Papong1, Chantana Yuvaniyama1, Pongvipa Lohsomboon2, and Pomthong Malakul1,*

1 Cleaner Technology Advancement Program, National Metal and Materials Technology Center, National Science and Technology Development Agency, Ministry of Science and Technology 73/1 NSTDA Building, Rama VI road, Rajdhevee, 10400, Thailand 2 Thailand Environment Institute, 16/151-154 Muang Thong Thani, Bond Street, Bangpood, Pakkred, Nonthaburi 11120, Thailand * Corresponding Author: [email protected]

ABSTRACT Biomass is an important source of renewable energy in Thailand and currently is the second major energy sources in the country, especially for households and small industries in rural area. It provides basic energy requirement for cooking and process heating in residential and manufacturing sectors as well as for processing in traditional industries. Four major sources of biomass in Thailand are sugar cane, rice, oil palm and wood wastes which yield a total potential of nearly 80 million tons per year. At present, agro-industry is an important source of the biomass due to a large- scale production and expedience collection such as rice mills, sugar mills, and oil palm mills. These mills are producing rice husk, bagasse, and residues from oil palm that consists of empty fruit bunches, fiber and shells. Wood industry is also a major source for biomass energy that includes residues from teak logs, which is mostly concentrated in the northern part of the country, whereas rubber wood and eucalyptus plantations are found mostly in the southern and northeastern regions, respectively. Among these potential biomass sources, waste products from wood and agro-industries apparently are the least expensive. Biomass utilization technologies range from local, well- established technologies, to those in research stage. Major technologies currently used are gasification, combustion, pyrolysis, and biogas. However, many technologies, especially in rural use and in some factories, are considered to be quite old with low efficiency. Constrains of biomass utilization include the assessment and collection of recourses, the biomass characteristics, the availability of land for planting, crop patterns, transportation and storage. This paper will discuss in detail the major potential biomass resources, biomass production, and biomass utilization in Thailand.

Keywords: Biomass, Thailand, Sources, Utilization, Technology

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1. INTRODUCTION Biomass is an important renewable energy source for the rural areas in Thailand. Biomass fuels are not traded, and are mostly home grown. It provides basic energy requirement for cooking and heating in rural households and for processing in traditional industries of Thailand. Many rural small-scale industries still depend on biomass fuel for energy that is used as main source of energy for industries like agro- processing, food processing, wood processing industries, etc. Biomass is still the cheapest fuel available, and it will remain the major alternative to commercial energy sources for the future [1]. In addition, the use of biomass is environmental friendly because the biomass is reduced, recycled, and then reused. Nowadays, in Thailand, biomass materials can be used to generate electricity, heat, or liquid fuels such as ethanol for motor vehicles that have substantially lower environmental impacts than traditional fossil fuels. Ethanol can be used in special

types of cars that are made for using alcohol fuel instead of gasoline. The alcohol can also be blended with gasoline to produce gasohol. This reduces the amount of fuels derived from non-renewable sources such as fossil fuel. This paper presents current data, and information on biomass resources, biomass production, biomass utilization and biomass utilization technologies in Thailand.

2. BIOMASS RESOURCES IN THAILAND A definition of biomass is provided by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, The U.S. Department of Energy [2]: “Biomass is organic matter available on a renewable basis. Biomass includes forest and mill residues, agricultural crops and waste, wood and wood wastes, animal wastes, livestock operation residues, aquatic plants, fast-growing trees and plants, and municipal and industrial wastes.” Biomass is organic materials from various sources, which is the natural source of energy, and can be used to produce energy e.g. wood and wood residues, agricultural crop and residues, agro-industrial wastes as follows [3]: • Agricultural crops such as sugarcane, cassava, corn, etc. that are sources of carbohydrate, starch, and sugar including energy crops can be used for vegetable oil to energy fuel. • Agricultural residues such as rice straw from rice fields, cassava rhizome from tapioca fields, corncobs from cornfields, etc. • Wood and wood residues such as fast-growing trees, wood waste from wood mill, waste from pulp and paper mill, etc. • Waste streams such as rice husk from rice mills, molasses and bagasse from sugar refineries, residues from palm oil extraction plants, municipal solid wastes (MSW), etc.

2.1 Agricultural and agro-industries based resources Three major potential sources of the biomass from agriculture-based industries in Thailand are sugar cane, rice, and oil palm sectors. Sugar cane and rice are mostly concentrated in the northern and northeastern regions of the country, while the oil palm is found in the southern region [4-5]. Table 1 shows the national production trends in tons of sugar cane, paddy, and oil palm from 1997-2003 [6].

Table 1: National production of sugarcane, paddy, and oil palm (Unit: 1,000 Tons) Crop year Sugar cane Paddy Oil Palm (Fresh Fruit Bunches) 1997/98 46,873 23,580 2,681 1998/99 50,332 22,999 2,465 1999/00 52,813 24,172 3,514 2000/01 49,563 25,844 3,256 2001/02 60,013 26,523 4,089 2002/03 74,263 26,057 4,001 2003/04 70,101 26,841 4,903 Average 57,708 25,145 3,558 Source: Office of Agricultural Economics (2004)

Sugar cane Sugar cane is grown mostly in the central region of the country, and some productions are found in the northern and northeastern region. Sugar cane production over period from 1997/98 to 2003/04 has an average value of about 57.7 million tons per year. In the country, there are 46 sugar mills, which in crop year 2000/01 processed

about 99% of the sugarcane produced. Most of residues from sugar cane processing can be found at the mills except the sugar cane tops (stumps and leaves, etc.) that are usually harvested in the fields by farmers.

Rice Rice is grown in every region of Thailand. Paddy production over period from 1997/98 to 2003/04 has an average value of about 25 million tons per year. The cropping pattern for paddy consists of the major rice growing during the rainy months of May to September, and the second rice cultivating during the dry months of November to February. In 2000, the National Energy Planning and Policy estimated that more than 40,500 rice mills existed in the country. Most of the paddy fields in Thailand are in small size. However, there are 215 mills that have capacities ranging from 100 to 2,000 tons of paddies per day [4].

Oil palm The southern region of the country is the major area of the oil palm planting, while the eastern region has only small area for the oil palm planting and palm oil production. The oil palm production over period from 1997/98 to 2003/04 has an average value of about 3.6 million tons per year. In 2002, there were 50 palm oil refineries located close to the oil palm planting areas. Currently, there are 26 mills that ranked as the large-sized factories. The raw material for the palm oil industry is fresh fruit bunches (FFB), which is harvested from oil palm trees [7].

Other agricultural sources Two other biomass sources in the country that should be mentioned are coconut and tapioca. The coconut is a traditional crop in Thailand, which is grown for the domestic market. The coconut residues e.g. husk and shells have been used for the production of higher value added products in the local and export markets since 1998. For tapioca, it is grown almost in all areas in the northeastern Thailand. In tapioca fields, there are a lot of residues which are not utilized. However, these residues are difficult to collect because they usually scattered all over the fields [4].

2.2 Wood and wood industries based resources Saw mills and plywood mills are the main sources of biomass from wood industry. Most of logs for wood processing are imported from foreign countries. The main local logs of the country are from rubber woods in the southern region of Thailand. The rubber trees have rotation period of 25-30 years. After they have been harvested for latex, rubber trees are cut down for re-plantation. At present, wood from rubber tree, apart from harvesting the latex, is both used as fuel and as timber. Timber is an important source for the furniture industry. Eucalyptus is another source of wood-based biomass. It is the most common fast growing species for pulp and wood fuel production. Eucalyptus plantations are found mostly in the northeastern region of the country. It is easy to manage and will sustain to a period of 3-4 rotations for 25-30 years [4]. In 2003, there were 599 sawmills, which processed sawdust and wood wastes.

3. BIOMASS PRODUCTION IN THAILAND Thailand is a nation rich in agricultural and forestry resources, which provide potential sources of biomass. Table 2 shows the biomass residue availability of Thailand in 2004 based on Crop-to-Residues-Ratios (CRR) and surplus availability factor for sugarcane, rice, and palm oil residues. The total residues and unused residues of these crops have been estimated to be about 75 and 50 million tons, respectively.

Table 2: Biomass residues from rice, sugar cane, and palm oil in 2004 (Unit: 1,000 tons per year) Type Production [6] Agricultural CRR [7] Residues Surplus [7] Available residues availability unused factor residue Sugar 70,101 Bagasse 0.291 20,399 0.207 4,223 cane Trash 0.302 21,171 0.986 20,874 Rice 26,841 Rice husk 0.230 6,173 0.493 3,044 Rice straw 0.447 11,998 0.684 8,207 Oil 4,903 EFB 0.250 1,226 0.584 716 Palm Fiber 0.147 721 0.134 97 Shells 0.049 240 0.037 9 Fronds 2.604 12,767 1.000 12,767 Total 74,695 49,936 Remark: EFB = empty fruit bunches Sources: Office of Agricultural Economics (2004) Department of Alternative and Efficiency (2003b)

In addition, the wood industry is also a major source for biomass energy that includes residues from teak logs, which is mostly concentrated in the northern Thailand. While, the rubber wood and eucalyptus plantations are found mostly in the southern and northeastern regions, respectively. In 2000, wood residues including sawdust have been estimated to be about 5.8 million tons, but the availability unused residue were only 1.8 million tons [5].

Plantation biomass The Thailand Agricultural Statistics are published annually by the Office of Agricultural Economics. They provide statistical data of the Thai agriculture for each crop year including important data such as yields and harvested areas. Harvested areas of rice, sugarcane, and oil palm over period from 1997/98 to 2003/04 have average values of about 61.4, 6.2, and 1.4 million rai, respectively. Table 3 shows trends of the national harvested area of rice, sugarcane, and oil palm fields from 1997-2003 [6].

Non-plantation biomass In addition, non-plantation biomass, including agricultural residues, animal waste, municipal solid waste, wastewater, black liquor, etc., can be estimated at 475, 716 and 880 Petajoules (PJ) for the years 1997, 2005, and 2010, respectively [8].

Table 3: National harvested areas of sugarcane, rice, and oil palm

Crop year Planted area (x1,000 rai*) Harvested area (x1,000 rai*) Sugar cane Rice Oil Palm 1997/98 5,897 61,955 1,097 1998/99 5,735 59,447 1,129 1999/00 5,862 62,312 1,247 2000/01 5,481 61820 1,303 2001/02 6,320 63,283 1,457 2002/03 7,121 60,335 1,644 2003/04 7,120 61,025 1,799 Average 6,219 61,454 1,382 Source: Office of Agricultural Economics (2004) * 2.5 rai = 1 acre

Land use for plantation In 1999, Thailand had an area of about 320.7 million rai consisting of forest land (25.14%), farm holding land (40.95%), and unclassified lands including degraded national forest reserves, swamp lands, sanitary districts, municipal areas, railroads, highways, real estates, public areas, etc. (33.91%) [6].

4. BIOMASS UTILIZATION Biomass energy in Thailand is mainly consumed in 2 economic sectors: residential and commercial sector and manufacturing sector. In 2002, approximately 56% of biomass energy was used in residential and commercial sector and the rest (about 44%) was used in manufacturing sector. Charcoal and fuel woods are mainly used for cooking and process heating in residential and commercial sector while bagasse, paddy husks and fuel woods are used mostly for processing heating in manufacturing sector. The biomass consumption during 1998-2003 indicated that the trend of biomass demand has increased at the moderate rate of 2-3% per annum [9, 10].

4.1 Biomass consumption ! Rice husk Rice husk is produced from paddy milling that constitutes about 23% of the paddy weight. In each year, the 25 million tons of paddy products can produce 5.75 million ton of rice husks. Rice husk is traditionally used as an energy source through direct combustion in the large rice mills, or as fuel in the production of charcoal from wood [9]. Nowadays, rice husk can be used as fuel to generate electricity that is a 1 MW of electricity using 9,800 ton of rice husks. The utilization of rice husk is shown in Figure 1.

Residue and Other Use in process 30.8% 38.0%

Soil conditioner 2.4% Fuel 8.8% Fertilizer Feed 17.7% 2.3%

Figure 1: Percentage of the rice husk consumption [10].

Potential residue availability of rice husks, assuming an annual paddy production of 25 million tons and a residue collectivity of 76% [4], the availability of this resource is estimated at 2.71 million tons per year.

! Bagasse Bagasse is the residue after sugar cane has been processed to remove the sugar juice. From the milling statistics, bagasse constitutes 29% of the cane. Therefore, sugar cane amount of 57.7 million tons can produce 16.7 million tons of bagasse. The

traditional use of bagasse is as a fuel in the sugar mill, to produce steam for the process and electricity for mills. At present, sugar mills can sell the excess electricity to the grid. The other usage of bagasse is as a raw material in particleboard and pulp industry. Typically 7% of the cane weight remains as excess because of the large amount of bagasse used for steam and power supply in sugar mills. The annual availability of this resource is estimated at 4.04 million tons [4, 9].

! Residues from palm oil production The fresh fruit bunches (FFB) consist of fruit stems or commonly known as empty fruit bunches (EFB) and fruits, which contain crude palm oil, fiber, and nuts. The nut portion of the fruit can be processed to produce palm kernel oil. Solid residues from palm oil mills are EFB, fiber, and shells account for 44% of the FFB weight [5]. The traditional use of the palm oil residues is as a fuel to generate the steam and power of the mill [9]. In general, most of the shell and fiber from the processing operations are used as fuel in the mill. Figure 2 shows the utilization of by products from palm oil mill.

Empty Fruit Fiber and Shell from Fruit Bh Fuel Fertilizer Residue 3.0% 0.3% 17.8%

Fertilizer 30.9% Sell Residue 8.8% 58.4%

Other Fuel 7.7% 73.1%

Figure 2: The utilization of by products from palm oil mill [7].

! Wood residues Wood residues include chip, bark, and sawdust that produced within various wood-processing industries including sawmills, furniture factories, and other industries. Rubber wood from old age rubber trees is a main source of domestic wood in the southern region of Thailand. The averaged residue production of the wood wastes is 53% of sources. In general, charcoal and fuel wood are the main used for cooking, process heating, and rural industries [9]. In 2003, total final energy demand of fuel wood was about 3.493 million tons of oil equivalents (mtoe) with an increasing rate of 4.5% from the past year.

Table 4 shows the biomass energy consumption in Thailand during 1998-2003. It indicated that the trend of biomass demand has increased of 4% per year [9, 10].

Table 4: Biomass energy consumption in Thailand during 1998-2003 (Final Energy: ktoe) Source 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Fuel Wood 3,188 3,279 3,258 3,265 3,342 3,493 Charcoal 3,188 2,218 2,277 2,286 2,307 2,357 Paddy Husk 778 733 828 903 896 996 Bagasse 1,665 2,092 2,236 1,989 2,498 2,905 Total 7,885 8,322 8,599 8,443 9,043 9,751 Source: DEDP/Thailand Energy Situation 2003

4.2 Biomass energy using industries Manufacturing sector according to Thai Industrial Standards, is divided into 9 sub-sectors of which 4 sub-sectors use biomass as an energy source in their production process to produce heat, steam, and power. They are food and beverages, non-metal, chemical, and wood and furniture. Food and beverage industries are the major biomass energy using industry. The types of factory that use biomass energy consist of sugar mills, rice mills, oil palm mills, food cans, etc. These factories use biomass residues as fuel for production by using in heat, steam, and power for the processing such as: ! Sugar mills use bagasse as fuel for production of thermal energy for the distillation process. Some mills are using steam from combustion of bagasse in steam turbines for , while some others are using steam from bagasse combustion in steam engines for operation of the rollers used to extract the cane juice. ! Rice mills commonly use the rice husks as fuel for drying of the paddy. The rice husks also generally use as fuel for further processing such as parboiling and production of rice noodles. ! Oil palm mills often use the fiber and shells from fruits as fuel for producing thermal energy to the sterilization of the fresh fruit bunches. In addition, most oil palm mills are provided with backpressure steam turbines and diesel generators for electricity generation to the palm oil production. ! It is a common practice for pulp and paper mills to use wood waste and black liquor as fuel for production of thermal and electricity. Non-metal, chemical, and wood and furniture sub-sectors are small biomass energy consumption industries. Types of factories are for example lime making, brick making, rubber curing and tire. Furniture factories use wood wastes and sawdust in steam boiler for wood processing.

4.3 Biomass conversion technologies [12] The development of biomass utilization can be considered from its sources and technology for transformation and utilization. Biomass is mainly collected from residues or by-products of crops, food, and other production especially agro-industry, which has generated a fairly large biomass resource base of nearly 80 million tons per year that could be utilized for energy purposes. Technologies for transformation and utilization of biomass cover a wide range, from local to well-established technologies, or to research level technologies. The biomass conversion technologies have been concentrated on gasification technology, combustion technology, pyrolysis technology, and biogas technology. The varieties of biomass and its preparing procedures offer a lot of options for the biomass utilization. There are also several technologies for biomass conversion such as technologies for producing heat, electricity, and fuel (solid, liquid, and gas). Modern applications of biomass energy resulted from a wide range of different technologies that can be divided in to 4 groups as follows: biomass-fired electric power plants, liquid fuel, biogas production, and improved cookstove and kilns technologies [4, 11]. Biomass-fired electric power plants Small rural industries engaged in power production from biomass can sell their excess energy generation back to the electrical grid through the Small Power Producers (SPP) Program initiated by the National Council [5]. In 2004, SPP from biomass has sold power to the grid for more than 300 Megawatts which come from 38 plants [9]. The general energy conversion technology from biomass is a thermo- chemical process. Examples of conversion systems for burning biomass fuels in Thailand are as follows:

! Mass burn stoker boiler. ! Stoker boiler (stationary sloping grate, travelling grate, and vibration grate). ! Fluidized bed boiler (bubbling and circulating). ! Gasification with combustion in a closed-coupled boiler. ! Pulverized fuel suspension fired boiler. Each technology mentioned above has advantages and disadvantages. These systems are commercially available and have been operated in Thailand. Stoker boiler is widely in use, but it is not always the most appropriate choice, for example, the rice husk is more easily burned in fluidized bed or gasifier boilers because of its low operation temperature that help prevent aggregation of ashes. Rice husk can be burnt in Stoker or Suspension fired boilers, but the aggregation of ashes must be minimized. In general, fluidized bed boiler is the most suitable choice because it can tolerate different moisture from biomass materials and it has various sizes. Gasification may be an interesting choice, but it lacks of technical- and commercial- acceptance. Suspension fired boiler is not suitable for most biomass sources because they need to be ground before putting into the boiler. Liquid fuel technologies Liquid fuel, e.g. bio-ethanol and bio-diesel, the pyrolysis technologies can convert biomass into liquid (bio-oil), gaseous, and solid fraction. Bio-ethanol technologies are varying widely in states of development and extent of need for government action. Bio-oil can be converted to bio-diesel by using extraction and esterification techniques [7]. Recently, the Thai government announced plans to start the commercial use of ethanol to replace MTBE in the 95-octane gasoline for the whole kingdom beginning in 2006. In Thailand, ethanol is produced from many crops, including sugarcane, cassava, and maize [10]. Biogas production technologies A large-scale of industries and animal farms have been interested in biogas plants because treatment of wastewater was in their concerns due to more stringent environmental regulations to be imposed. In 2002, 14 biogas plants of 3000 m3 each were used in distilleries. More than 10 biogas plants, 1000 to 4000 m3 each, were demonstrated projects in pig farms to solve their pollution problems. The National Energy Policy Office (NEPO) has set a target to support the establishment of biogas plants of 40,000 m3 in total in pig farms for heating and power production, which implemented by Chiangmai University during 1997-2002 [11]. Improved cookstove and kiln technologies In the rural areas, cooking is the most energy consuming activity in the household sector. The conventional cookstoves are inconvenient to use because they create a lot of smoke and have low energy conversion efficiency. Therefore, the Department of Energy Development and Promotion (DEDP) in corporation with the Royal Forestry Department (RFD) have developed improved wood and charcoal cookstoves [11]. In rural industries (e.g. brick, lime, palm, sugar, noodle and pottery), wood is used as a major fuel. In 1996, the Faculty of Engineering, Chiangmai University received budget from the DEDP to study energy use in rural industries, and to develop kilns that have more energy efficiency for them. In 2002, the DEDP prepared a master plan to promote highly efficient biomass combustors for small- and medium-scale rural industries [11].

5. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ON BIOMASS UTILIZATION 5.1 Research and development organizations Government • Ministry of Energy • Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives

• Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment • Ministry of Science and Technology such as National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), etc. Universities • Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) • King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) • Chulalongkorn University (CU) • Kasetsart University(KU) • Chiang Mai University (CMU) • The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment (JGSEE), etc. NGOs • Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) • Energy for Environment Foundation (EfE), etc.

5.2 Main research and development areas Policy research • Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency (DEDE) • Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives • Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, etc. Energy and environment research • Universities: AIT, KMUTT, CU, KU, CMU, JGSEE, etc. • Government: DEDE, NSTDA, etc. • NGOs: TEI, EfE, etc. Other biomass utilization • Universities: AIT, KU, etc • Government: Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Ministry of Science and Technology, NSTDA, etc.

5.3 Government policy [9], [12] The Seventh Five-year National Economic and Social Development Plan (NESDP) (1992-1996) formulated various energy policy issues related to biomass energy utilization. It emphasized on developing domestic energy resources and encouragement of efficient use and conservation of energy. The Eighth NESDP (1997-2001) was also stated the promotion of biomass utilization in Small Power Producer (SPP) scheme especially power production from biomass, and encouraged using of green energy sources in order to reduce the environmental impacts causing by green house gases (GHG). The Ninth NESDP (2002-2006) is aiming to promote on research and development of renewable energy especially on commercial technology, and to encourage public participation in setting the guidelines of energy utilization for sustainable development. Recently, Thai government has set a target to increase the share of renewable energy from the present level of 0.5% to 8% by the year 2011.

6. PROBLEM OF BIOMASS ENERGY UTILIZATION [9] The major limitations of biomass utilization in Thailand are difficulty in assessment of resources, inconsistent production, inappropriate properties such as low bulk density and high moisture content, problems of collection, transportation and storage, and availability and reliability concerns. In general, barriers in the development of biomass utilization in Thailand can be classified as follows: • Institutional barriers: Poor coordination among government agencies and especially with the private sector.

• Policy barriers: The government policy to support renewable Energy SPPs through bidding process has drawn interest and private sector investments, but this measure seems to bias in favor of large scale and low power production cost SPPs. • Technical barriers: Lack of standards on bioenergy systems and equipment. • Information barriers: Lack of awareness/confidence in available new and renewable source of energy (NRSE) technologies and applications.

7. CONCLUSION Biomass is a major contribution to energy needs in the fast-growing country like Thailand. It is an essential source of energy for energy production particularly for saving the environment of the country. There are many potential biomass energy resources, which are suitable for energy production in both industry and residential sectors. Various technologies for biomass utilization are currently used, ranging from local made to imported technology. Still, many technologies used, especially in rural use and some factories, are considered to be quite an old technology with low efficiency. While there are several constrains still to be overcome, it can be clearly seen that there are enormous opportunities for promoting the utilization of biomass and improving an efficient and most promising biomass technology.

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