Gliricidia wood could replace fuel in energy generation
 

by Irangika Range

The Ministry of Science and Technology, the Coconut Research Institute and the Bio Energy Association of Sri Lanka have developed a sustainable system to grow Gliricidia wood locally and to use it to replace expensive fossil fuels in the generation of industrial heat energy and electricity.

The ever increasing cost of petroleum fuels and the high cost of Auto-Diesel based electricity generation in Sri Lanka have stretched the industrial sector in Sri Lanka to the limit of non-viability.

Only 8 percent of electricity is generated using oil all over the world, but in Sri Lanka 70 percent of electricity is generated from oil and it is a huge problem in here, said Harsha Wickramasinghe, General Manager and CEO of the Energy Conservation Fund at a seminar on the topic of national perspectives and social benefits.

The seminar was organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce under the theme of use of biomass (gliricidia wood) to reduce energy cost in the industrial sector recently.

Many industries such as tea, ceramics, rubber and desiccated coconut use petroleum based fuels to generate heat energy required for the production operations. Such petroleum fuels could be replaced with relatively cheap Gliricidia wood to generate the required heat energy.

The capital cost of converting a heat generating facility from petroleum fuels to wood fuel could be recovered within a relatively short period. Every titre of fuel oil can be replaced by 5-10kg of fuelwood depending on the application while preservation of national economy and foreign exchange are also high.

Every litre replaced will provide 5-10 man minutes of opportunity for rural labour to participate in a mainstream economic activity. Every litre will also allow Rs. 5-10 to precipitate to farmer and Rs.10-20 to rural economy in general.

President, Bio Energy Association and Director, Haycarb Ltd, L. P. Jayasinghe said that Gliricidia wood is the best possible way to get energy. Continuous haversting during the year and it has identified as the most promising species for SRC energy plantation in marginal degraded lands in all districts in Sri Lanka.

Thirteen sites have been established to check the potentials of gliricidia trees and it was successful. Gliricidia provides 20 to 30 tones per hectare per year while it has 4000 to 5000 MW potential. Gliricidia is a good bio fuel and it has several market potentials.

Fuelwood is the best electric generation while the heat can be used in the machinery industry replacing petroleum fuels. It boosts the local agriculture by local production of urea equivalent. It also boosts the local production of milk by using foliage as forage for cattle. It is a good employment generating avenue as a well as a good transport fuel in the transport and related service.

Many projects to produce energy by using bio fuels will be done in Puttalam, Badalgama, Matale, Walapane, Kantalai, Polonnaruwa, Dehiattakandiya, Girandurukotte, Monaragala and Hambantota.