A large-scale crop stalk biomass gasification project, which owns China's own proprietary intellectual property rights, has had a successful trial run, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Ministry of Agriculture has also fully initiated evaluations on crop stalk resources. Based on this, a national database for crop stalk resources is to be established.

The crop stalk gasification aims to convert crop stalks into biogas, through microorganism fermentation under anaerobic conditions. Raw materials from abundant resources can be utilized and blended together in a flexible way. Stalks from rice, wheat, corn and other crops, as well as rural domestic garbage and organic waste from fruit and vegetables can be used in this project.

China has a large quantity and a vast variety of crop stalks, which are widely distributed across the country, said Bai Jinming, director-general of the Science and Education Department of the Ministry of Agriculture.

China's annual output of crop stalks is nearly 700 million tons. Therefore, fully utilizing the stalks can help save resources, prevent environmental pollution, promote structural readjustment and increase farmers' income. In addition, it can also help to provide raw materials for gasification to farming families that do not raise pigs.

Experimental projects using crop stalk gasification technology have been established in 12 provinces nationwide in recent years. Several major techniques worthy of promotion have been chosen from these trial programs. For instance, a Shandong-based experimental project adopted fermentation technology developed by the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, and can now produce 400 cubic meters of methane in one day for 375 households.

By People's Daily Online