Project Name : Eco Friendly Electricity
Project Theme: Community Health & Environment
Aim: To produce Eco friendly electricity in rural areas and Extract Silica for industrial purposes
Materials Required: Rice Husk, Bio mass Gasifier, Electric Generator, Silica Precipitator, Filters
Scientific Principle Involved: Rice husk can be used as a source of electricity through:
→Biomass Gasification – Process in which biomass is heated to very high temperatures in an atmosphere of < 1% oxygen where it does not burn
in flames, but turns into a ‘producer gas.’
→Large piles of rice husk are used for feeding the machine, and the solid waste produced is black rice husk ash (RHA).
→Next to the gasifier are filters for cleaning, and a generator in which the producer gas is used to drive a turbine and create electricity.
→So, electricity is generated from the rice but solid waste is produced in the form of RHA
Workings/Findings:
→Among the different types of biomass used for gasification, rice husk has a high ash content varying from 18 – 20 %.
→Silica is the major constituent of rice husk ash.
→With such a large ash content and silica content in the ash it becomes economical to extract silica from the ash, which has wide market and also takes care of ash disposal.
→Silica is the major constituent of the rice husk ash. Experiments have been carried out successfully under lab scale to extract the silica from the rice husk ash.
→Despite the loss of 10-20 % of ash on ignition, this not only provides value addition but also solves the problem of large amount of ash disposal.
Utility/Scope:
→Several rural households can have access to electricity 24×7.
→Cheaper than using conventional methods.
→Highly environment-friendly as compared to fossil fuels.
→Huge source of silicon as a semiconductor for chip production and other products.
→Name of the School: AECS Magnolia Maaruti Public School, Bangalore.
