Rice is one of the most consumed foods worldwide. An annual production of over 700 million tonnes which generates around 200 million tonnes of waste: rice husk.
This is a global problem, as it contributes to the generation of greenhouse gases due to disposal, open burning or fires caused by accumulation in landfills.
In Chile, the Uniconfort biomass cogeneration plant named “La Gloria” valorises 37 thousand tonnes of rice husk per year by using it as fuel for energy production.
This is the first plant of this type in Latin America, located in the rice-growing area of the Maule region.
Uniconfort has designed a specific solution for this type of biomass as it has particular characteristics such as high volatility and low ash melting temperature.
An example is the technology of the combustion chamber grate, with a very high surface area and special design to obtain the best combustion and avoid accumulations and thickening of fuel. Furthermore, the combustion chamber has many radiant zones to keep the temperature below 700°C. “La Gloria” plant is highly technological: it has automatic management of biomass dosing and feeding system, automated combustion control and diathermic oil circuit serving the cogeneration system. A preventive and corrective safety chain has been set up, which allows the management of the system in a completely automatic manner, without the obligation of the presence of operators at the station.
The objective of installing this plant is to solve the problem of the rice industry and transform it into a sustainable and zero-waste agricultural industry, according to the principle of the circular economy.
Being a sustainable project, it has been awarded internationally among the projects of 17 countries by the JCM (Joint Crediting Mechanism) program of the Japanese government, which certifies carbon credits for 8,572 tCO2/year: it meets the United Nations' sustainable development goals and contributes to the mitigation of climate change.