Enhanced Rice Straw Biogas

水稻秸秆是世界上第三大生物质资源，仅次于甘蔗甘蔗渣和玉米秸秆。与稻壳（覆盖谷物并被带到碾米厂）不同，稻秆在收获后被留在田地里，而且没有确定它的主要用途，因此在亚洲，每年有超过3亿吨的稻壳被当作废物焚烧。迄今为止，收集并将其用于清洁能源的尝试几乎都以失败告终。2013年，Craig Jamieson召集并领导了一个来自国际水稻研究所（IRRI）菲律宾总部和英国超级生物能源中心的科学家团队，以更好地了解为什么如此巨大的资源被浪费了。IRRI-SUPERGEN“稻草能源项目”由英国政府资助，运行了3年。当该项目于2016年结束时，Craig在Energy Catalyst第四轮融资的共同资助下创办了Straw Innovations Ltd。在Supergen生物能源中心（阿斯顿大学）、南安普顿大学和QUBE Renewables的支持下，由Straw Innovations牵头在菲律宾建立了一个开创性的1000立方米测试设施。这个为期3年的“中期”项目将于2020年2月结束，因此第二个“中期”项目将继续并扩展其工作，重点关注三个关键创新：试验一种使用不同设计的联合收割机同时收获稻谷和秸秆的新方法，并对其进行调整以捕获秸秆。这将比目前的收获方式成本更低，并将通过免费清除秸秆来节省农民在秸秆管理方面的问题。使用生物预处理和生物炭添加来加速沼气的生产，成本低于目前的技术水平。利用秸秆的热量为农民干燥大米，减少损失，并使其能够在以后以更高的价格出售。这些创新将使秸秆生物能源生产的成本减半，使稻农能够以一种新的商业模式获得这种能源，并随时准备扩大规模。全球有1.5亿小规模稻农，这种方法可以将无处不在的废物转化为清洁、可靠和负担得起的能源，供其生产和家庭使用。

Rice straw is the third largest biomass resource in the world, after sugar cane bagasse and maize stover. Unlike rice husks (that cover the grain and are taken to rice mills), rice straw gets left in the field after harvest and few major uses have been identified for it, so across Asia more than 300 million tonnes of it are simply burned each year as waste. To date, attempts to profitably collect and use it for clean energy have almost all failed. In 2013, Craig Jamieson brought together and led a team of scientists from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in their Philippines headquarters and the Supergen Bioenergy Hub in the UK to better understand why such a vast resource is being wasted. The IRRI-SUPERGEN "Rice Straw Energy Project" ran for 3 years, funded under the UK Government. When that project ended in 2016, Craig then started Straw Innovations Ltd with co-funding from Energy Catalyst Round 4. A pioneering 1000m3 test facility has been set up in the Philippines, led by Straw Innovations, with support from the Supergen Bioenergy Hub (Aston University), University of Southampton and QUBE Renewables. That 3-year, "mid stage" project ends in February 2020, so this second "mid-stage" project will continue and extend its work, focusing on three key innovations:Trialing a novel way to harvest rice grains and straw simultaneously using a different design of combine harvester and adaptating it to capture the straw. This will be lower cost than current harvesting options and will save farmers problems with straw management by removing it free of chargeUsing biological pre-treatments and biochar addition to accelerate biogas production at lower cost than current state of the artUsing heat from the straw to dry rice for the farmers, reducing losses and enabling it to be sold later at a higher price, sharing those profits with the farmersThese innovations will halve the cost of rice straw bioenergy production, making it available to rice farmers in a new business model, ready for scaling up. There are 150 million small-scale rice farmers globally and this approach could convert a ubiquitous waste into a source of clean, reliable and affordable energy for their productive and domestic use.