Overview of Biomass Utilization in Thailand

Biomass is an important source of renewable energy in Thailand and currently is the second major energy sources in the country, especially for households and small industries in rural area. It provides basic energy requirement for cooking and process heating in residential and manufacturing sectors as well as for processing in traditional industries. Four major sources of biomass in Thailand are sugar cane, rice, oil palm and wood wastes which yield a total potential of nearly 80 million tons per year. At present, agro-industry is an important source of the biomass due to a largescale production and expedience collection such as rice mills, sugar mills, and oil palm mills. These mills are producing rice husk, bagasse, and residues from oil palm that consists of empty fruit bunches, fiber and shells. Wood industry is also a major source for biomass energy that includes residues from teak logs, which is mostly concentrated in the northern part of the country, whereas rubber wood and eucalyptus plantations are found mostly in the southern and northeastern regions, respectively. Among these potential biomass sources, waste products from wood and agro-industries apparently are the least expensive. Biomass utilization technologies range from local, wellestablished technologies, to those in research stage. Major technologies currently used are gasification, combustion, pyrolysis, and biogas. However, many technologies, especially in rural use and in some factories, are considered to be quite old with low efficiency. Constrains of biomass utilization include the assessment and collection of recourses, the biomass characteristics, the availability of land for planting, crop patterns, transportation and storage. This paper will discuss in detail the major potential biomass resources, biomass production, and biomass utilization in Thailand.