Table 6. Production quantity and energy yield of paddy rice residual biomass in Vietnam per year.
Region Rice Straw Rice Husks Production (t) Energy Potential Production (t) Energy Potential (TJ) (TWh) (TJ) (TWh) Mekong River Delta
53,915,180
762,900
211.92
4,901,400
70,825
19.67
Northern Central area and
Central coastal area
15,531,120
219,765
61.05
1,411,920
20,402
5.67
Red River Delta
13,855,600
196,057
54.46
1,259,600
18,201
5.06
Northern midlands and
Mountain areas
7,442,160
105,307
29.25
676,600
9776
2.72
South East
3,121,580
44,170
12.27
283,800
4101
1.14
Central Highlands
3,035,560
42,953
11.93
275,960
3988
1.11
Vietnam 96,901,200 1,371,152 380.88 8,809,200 127,293 35.36 With regards to residues, there is still a significant lack of data about its availability
and produced quantities. The review by Lim et al. [
31
] summarized the estimated data
of paddy rice residue production on different continents. Furthermore, it showed the
gap of information in the case of individual countries, e.g., Vietnam. According to recent
publications [
8
,
9
], it was predicted that about 72.7 million tons of rice straw could be
available for energy purposes in Vietnam. This number is lower than the quantity calculated
in this study, probably due to the increased paddy yields during the years or bigger residue
ratio, which was taken into account, or reduction in postharvest straw losses. However,
another current study [
16
] stated that approximately 8.55 million tons of rice husks were
generated in Vietnam in 2018, which corresponds to our calculations.
Table
6
shows that the potential of energy stored in rice straw and rice husks consid-
ering its vast production is massive. Furthermore, it illustrates that the energy potential
in husks can be 11 times as much in straw. The average estimated household energy
consumption in Vietnam is 4492 kWh annually, where 74% is electricity consumption and
26% is the energy needed for cooking (liquefied petroleum gas) [
73
]. It implies that the full
capacity of residual biomass from paddy rice could theoretically cover the energy needs of
over 92 million households.
The highest energy potential of paddy residues lies in the Mekong River Delta region
(around 230 TWh), which accounts for more than half of the entire country’s potential.
From rice straw biomass only, the Mekong River Delta could supply up to 47 million
households in the region with energy for a year. Overall, the five top provinces with the
most extensive availability and energy potential of rice straw and rice husks are located in
the Mekong River Delta region (see Table
7
). The most productive province is Kien Giang,
with over 40 TWh per year, greater than that in some regions in Vietnam (like Northern
midlands and Mountain areas region, South East, Central Highlands).