Discarded in heaps along roadsides and riverbanks, rice husks are considered waste in many countries heavily dependent on rice as a staple product. However, the Center for Rice Husk Technology (CRHET) is challenging this notion by creating a rice husk gasifier stove that uses rice husks to provide clean and low-cost fuel. Gas produced from just one kilogram of husk can generate an equivalent of 1,920 kilocalories of energy. These stoves, created and developed by CRHET, are easily constructed by following a free step-by-step manual. Education and training on the construction of these stoves has employment and marketing benefits for the local rural communities. Moreover, the gasification of rice husks not only provides a cleaner option that lowers emission of pollutants, but it does so at an affordable price that can stimulate the rural economic sector
The simplicity of using and self-manufacturing the stoves, coupled with the ability to reach communities located far from the electricity grid, has helped CRHET pave the way for biomass gasification technology in the 21st century. CRHET is unique in that it aims not only to alleviate the welfare of marginalized families but also to address the high cost of energy, mitigate greenhouse gas emission to the atmosphere, and create employment and business opportunities rural communities. Having received the “Betterment of Mankind Award” in 2011 by the Pauchon Research Foundation, CHRET hopes to increase the use of their stoves beyond their current areas of focus in the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, and India.
