Overview of Biomass Utilization in Thailand 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, Bangkok 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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