Rice-straw powered biowaste to energy 

Partners: Carnot, Pyrogenesys, Straw Innovations

Country: Indonesia

Technology: Smart green grids, including mini and main grid technologies

Stage: Mid 

Stage: 9

This consortium, let by Carnot Ltd, seeks to develop the world’s first profitable rice-straw bioenergy demonstrator for a rural community in Lombok Island, Indonesia. Straw Innovations has created innovative technology that overcomes the barriers to harvesting it in all weathers, unlocking a potential 300Mt of rice straw generated in Asia every year.

PyroGenesys have developed a lower-temperature pyrolysis process which can convert rice straw into Biochar, a carbon-sequestering fertiliser that can be used by the rice farmers, and biofuel. The carbon sequestered can be traded on carbon removal markets. Surplus biofuel not used to generate electricity can be sold. Electricity is a low-value commodity and renewable electricity projects will typically require very large scale to be profitable and attract funding required from investors. PyroGenesys’ process solves this problem by opening up two very high-value revenue streams.

Carnot is developing ceramic engine gensets with double the efficiency of state-of-the-art diesel gensets, capable of operating on all fuels. These will provide electricity to the rice mills as their base load as well as electricity to a rural community. Integrating Carnot’s gensets enables revenues generated by biofuel sales to be maximised.