Study of the feasibility of a rice husk recycling scheme in Japan to produce silica fertilizer for rice plants

Abstract

Abstract Rice husks are resources that should be recycled in a sustainable way, thus creating a win-win relationship between stakeholders, consumers, and society. Silica is a very valuable material and used for many industrial purposes. A Rice husk contains 20% of silica by weight, and can therefore be considered a biological silica ore. To recycle rice husks in a sustainable way, the ash produced from burning rice husks must also be used as a resource. In this study, based on the concept that rice husk ash should be recycled as silica fertilizer, we compared the economic feasibility of two recycling systems: Heat recovery from hot water and generation of electricity from hot water. Questionnaires were also conducted regarding farmers’ expectations of silica fertilizer made from rice husk ash. We found that the system involving heat recovery from hot water was sustainable; however, generating electricity from hot water was cost-prohibitive. It must be noted that the validity of this result might be limited to Japan, where electricity generation is highly regulated. On the other hand, areas that already struggle to dispose of their rice husks should consider using rice husks to produce energy.

Keywords

• Rice husks
• Silica
• Fertilizer
• Energy recovery
• Recycling