Additional information on emissions from transportation of rice husk
Summary

In Ayeyarwady region, total maximum input of rice husks that would be used for a ricehusk power plant, whose power generation capacity and efficiency are 15 MW at most and16.0 % at least respectively, could be collected from rice mills located within an 83 km
radius of the project power plant.

Emissions from transportation of rice husks to a project power plant can be neglectedconsidering the transportation distance is unlikely to exceed 200 km.

I.

General information

Rice production in Ayeyarwady regionAyeyarwady region is known as a rice-producing region, where a large number of ricemills exist and produce about a third of Myanmar’s total rice production. As a result of the rice
milling, the annual production of rice husks amounts to 1.4 million tons.
Table 1 Rice and rice husk production in Ayeyarwady region

ItemValue

Number of rice mills

3,927 unit

Area of region

35,140 km2

Rice production

6,917,007 tons/year

Rice husk production

1,405,955 tons/year

Rice husk consumption

1,057,600 tons/year

Surplus of rice husk348,355 tons/year

Source: New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization1II. Estimation of transportation distance for rice husk
Estimation of maximum input for power generation
To estimate transportation distance for rice husks, the maximum input of rice husks for
power generation needs to be estimated first. To this end, necessary characteristics related to arice husk power plant and the biofuel (rice husk) are defined as shown in the following table.

1“Demonstration Project on Resource Circulation System of Rice Husk Ash (Silica etc.)”
https://app5.infoc.nedo.go.jp/disclosure/SearchResultDetail1

Table 2 Characteristics of rice husk power plant and biofuel
ItemValueSource

Power generation capacity

15 MW or less

CDM standard2

Power generation

16.0 %

Electricefficiency

ofbiomass

CHP,

IEA-ETSAP and IRENA3

efficiency
Heating value of rice husk

14 GJ/t

Net calorific value of rice husk, UN FAO4

Operation hour

8,760 [h/year]

Maximum operation hours for one year

The power generation capacity of rice husk power plant is set to 15 MW or less, so that it falls
into small scale in line with the CDM standard. The power generation efficiency of the plant is
set to 16.0 % or more, derived from the IEA-ETSAP and IRENA publication. Although thepower generation efficiency of biomass CHP indicated in the IEA-ETSAP and IRENA
publication ranges from 16 % to 36 %, the lowest value is selected considering the efficiency
tends to decrease as the power generation capacity does, and the assumed power generation
capacity in

2“CDM project standard for project activities”
https://cdm.unfccc.int/Reference/Standards/index.html
3“Biomass for Heat and Power, Technology Brief”
http://www.irena.org/publications/2015/Jan/Biomass-for-Heat-and-Power
4“Unified Bioenergy Terminology”
http://www.fao.org/docrep/pdf/007/j4504e/j4504e00.pdf

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Table 2 is 15 MW or less.
The maximum input of rice husks that would be used for the rice husk power plant withthese characteristics is calculated as follows.
‫= ݐݑ݌݊݅ ݉ݑ݉݅ݔܽܯ‬15 [MW]
3.6 [GJ/MWh]
×× 8,760 [h/year] = 211,179 tons/year
0.16
14 [GJ/t]

The input of rice husks for the rice husk power plant may not exceed 211,179 tons/year as
long as the power generation capacity of that plant is 15 MW or less, and the power generation
efficiency is 16.0 % or more, which is set as an eligibility criterion of this methodology.

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Estimation of transportation distanceConsidering the number of rice mills in Ayeyarwady region, the area and the surplus ofrice husk, it is assumed that each rice mill is located in every 8.95 km2 and has a surplus of
88.71 tons/year on average. Assuming further that all the rice husks that would be used for therice husk power plant, amounting to 211,179 tons/year, are transported from other rice mills
nearby the project power plant, the rice husks have to be transported from 2,381 unit of ricemills located in the area of 21,310 km2. With an assumption that these rice mills are uniformly
distributed within a circle centered at the project power plant, the rice husks can be assembled
within a radius of 82.38 km, and the transportation distance for round trip becomes 164.76 km.
As for project emissions resulted from the transportation of biomass to a utilization
facility, CDM Methodological tool “Project and leakage emissions from biomass” stipulates thatthe emissions can be neglected if the transportation distance is less than 200 km.5 Therefore, theemissions that might be resulted from the transportation of rice husks to a certain rice husk
power plant are neglected in this methodology, as the transportation distance is assumed to beless than 200 km, and the methodology is applied to a project where the power generation
capacity and efficiency of the rice husk power plant are at most 15 MW and at least 16.0 %respectively.

5“Project and leakage emissions from biomass”
https://cdm.unfccc.int/methodologies/PAmethodologies/tools/am-tool-16-v4.pdf

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