Aston works with Asian partners to tackle rice crop emissions

Rice farming accounts for around eight per cent of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions around the world. The flooded fields in which it is grown produce large quantities of methane, as organic waste decays in the absence of oxygen. When rice is harvested, its straw then becomes a source of waste, 300 million tonnes of which is burned across Asia each year.

The RICE (Renewable, Inclusive Carbon-negative Energy) project will see Aston working with UK company Straw Innovations and Indian SME Takachar to cut rice emissions. Takachar’s biochar technology converts agricultural waste into higher value products such as fertilizer blends, chemicals and biofuels.

The Indian firm is now developing a larger scale version that is suitable for rice mills, with the potential for the heat created by the biochar process to be harnessed for drying rice. This machinery will be deployed by Straw Innovations in the Philippines and by Takachar in India, with farmers exploring a variety of business models.