Integrated system of rice production and electricity generation

Research and development of approaches to improve energy efficiency in the rice industry can help stakeholders to make informed decisions. In this study, an enhanced integrated system of both rice production and power generation was proposed. The integrated system mainly consisted of superheated steam drying, husking, polishing, torrefaction, steam gasification, and power generation. In addition, suitable technology options for power generation and rice production processes for increasing the energy efficiency were also investigated. Furthermore, to contribute to minimization of the exergy loss, recovery was performed by combining the concept of heat circulation and process integration. Results show a considerably higher energy efficiency of the proposed integrated system. In a single rice production system, processing of 200 t rice grain d−1 can generate surplus electricity of about 3.4 MW with an electricity production efficiency of about 32%. A high economic benefit could be achieved by synergetic integration in the rice industry.