Rice hull-powered gasifier cuts irrigation costs

The new rice hull gasifier engine-pump system developed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) helps farmers save on rising prices of gasoline for irrigation pumps and helps reduce environmental hazards.

Arnold S. Juliano, Joel A. Ramos, Leo B. Moliñawe, and Dr. Eulito Bautista of PhilRice developed a local mobile gasifier engine-pump system that reduces irrigation costs up to 37 percent when using gasoline and 44 percent on diesel use.

The team, led by Juliano, said running the engine-pump with ricehull will only cost farmers less than a peso to generate a cubic meter of water while using gasoline-fueled pumps costs about P2.

“A 4 kg ricehull load could run the engine for about 1 ½ h at a maintaining speed of 2000 rpm and discharges an average of 5 L/sec water from a ground water table of 2.15 m,” Juliano said. Field tests also showed the gasifier can endure 100 h cumulative use with minimal problems.

The machine, now made compact, mobile, and affordable, also reduces green house gases emissions as rice hull is converted to power the machine. Juliano said wastes produced after rice hull burning within the system can be used as soil conditioner in seedbed, mulching material, and ingredient in producing organic fertilizer.

“Components of the machines were reduced to 40 percent, which resulted in the significant reduction of weight from 500 to 400 kg, and cost, from P86,000 to P65,000.

By continuously improving the machine, we hope that more farmer cooperatives will invest not only to save, but to help reduce the contribution of burning rice hull in global warming,” he said.

In using the machine, Juliano advised that the rice hull load should be clean and dry to produce quality gas that can run the engine with high speed and maintain good water pumping performance. Oil should also be changed after an 80-h operation.

The study on the development of a mobile ricehull gasifier engine-pump system won best paper during the 24th National Rice R&D Conference at PhilRice Central Experiment Station and 61st Annual National Convention of the Philippine Society of Agricultural Engineers in Zamboanga del Norte.

DA-PhilRice is a government-owned and –controlled corporation that aims at developing high-yielding, cost-reducing, and environment-friendly technologies so farmers can produce enough rice for all Filipinos.

For more information, please visit or contact DA-PhilRice at Maligaya, Science City of Muñoz, Nueva Ecija with telephone number (044) 456-0285 loc 511/512 or any PhilRice station near you. You may also visit their website at www.philrice.gov.ph or text your questions to 0920-911-1398. PHILIPPINE RICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE (PhilRice)