Jo Clayton - Director Rice Straw to Biogas Project …...QUBE Renewables Ltd design and build small...

Jo Clayton - Director

Rice Straw to Biogas Project Philippines

QUBE Renewables Ltd design and build small scale local embedded biogas energy generating systems

QUBE views biodegradable wastes not as a

problem but as a valuable resource

Our History

• 2011 MOD requested a solution for Forward Operating Bases in Afghanistan

• Fuel costs over $200 per litre

+ =

Our History

• 16 systems built to date and operating from Canada to Cambodia

R2B project – Rice Straw to Biogas

QUBE Renewables Ltd in partnership with Straw Innovations Ltd

University of Southampton University of Manchester

Innovate Funding – Energy Catalyst Round 4

• Rice is the world’s number one food crop - 200 million small scale rice

farmers worldwide

• Each year globally 300 million tonnes of rice straw are burnt as waste

or left to rot in the field producing around 8.4 giga tonnes of carbon a

year.

• A wasted resource – rice straw has massive GHG emissions and

burning it causes chronic pollution

The Problem

• Reduce fuel poverty – 3 billion people (41% of the world’s population)

still rely on solid fuels for cooking.

• Improve health, productivity and quality of life - cooking with solid

fuels is one of the five biggest killers in developing countries. (WHO, 2012)

• Sustainable Development Goals – Sustainable Agriculture, Education,

Environment, Health, Women and Children Issues.

The Benefits

The Key Questions

• Could we make biogas (energy) from Rice Straw to reduce the problem

of rice straw burning?

• Could we increase the value of Rice Straw through processing?

• Could we make this a viable business?

From This to This? (Biomethane powered bike)

• Harvest both the STRAW and the

rice, bringing them back centrally

• VERY QUICK to BUILD (less

than 2 weeks)

• Modular and COST EFFECTIVE

fabric digesters

• Add value to the biogas by

making various PRODUCTS for

cooking, running generators or

upgrading as a fuel for vehicles

• Create a fertiliser with the spent

rice straw and use that for the

next rice crop

The Innovation

• Create a market selling raw or

upgraded biogas - Value &

Service Proposition

• Subsidise the costs of fuel up to

30% by trading the Carbon

Credits, associated with clean

fuels and reducing fugitive

emissions

• Roll out a large number of these

simple digesters as a social

enterprise - local energy and

fertiliser

The Business Potential

640 tonnes of

rice straw

processed

per batch

System capital

costs $200,000

2,000 tonnes of

CO2e savings per

batch processed,

value $32,000

Biogas fuel produced

each batch = 1.2million

kWh with a value worth

$111,000 (LPG

equivalent price)

One

tonne of

rice straw

therefore

now has

a value of

$173

Fuel subsidised

by 30%

Payback less than 6

years allowing for

labour, fuel inputs, land

• We are at an early to mid stage investment level in our development

• Our model is to Build-Own-Operate dryQUBEs, running a team in country

to support

• We are seeking an investment of $6 million to support the capital

investment, to deploy 30 units and roll out over the next 3 years

• We would like to speak with people involved in social enterprises, climate

mitigation/adaptation funds and corporate CSR sponsorship schemes.

Thank You

+44 (0) 1984 624989 www.quberenewables.co.uk

jo@quberenewables.co.uk

QUBE Renewables Ltd, Higher Ford, Wiveliscombe, Somerset,

TA4 2RL England