Analysis of Thermal Properties of Rice Husk-A Local Energy Resource in Energy Security

Locally available agricultural and agroindustrial residues play an important role in meeting the energy security as the main or alternative fuel for rural or semi-urban population. It is well known that the energy obtained from agricultural wastes or agricultural residues is a form of renewable energy and in principle, utilizing this energy does not add any extra carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, to the atmospheric environment in contrast to fossil fuels. Due to lower sulfur and nitrogen contents in biomass waste, its energy utilization also creates less environmental pollution and health risk than from fossil fuel combustion. To have better understanding about the thermal properties of rice husk as a fuel, ultimate analysis, proximate analysis, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) Analysis of rice husk have been done and the results are discussed here.