The University of Agriculture Faisalabad has installed 100 kilowatt biomass gasification power plant meant for promoting alternative way of energy to overcome power shortfall touching 5000 MW.

The University of Agriculture Faisalabad has installed 100 kilowatt biomass gasification power plant meant for promoting alternative way of energy to overcome power shortfall touching 5000 MW. UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan inaugurated energy plant established at Punjab Bio Energy Institute, Postgraduate Graduate Research Station, UAF in collaboration with China as an initiative of Punjab Government. Chinese experts Dr Hai Bin Li from Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, China and Dr Xiaobo Wang; UAF Agri Engineering Dean Dr Allah Buksh, Dr Ehsan Ali, Dr Anjum Munir and other notables also spoke on the occasion. Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan said that the country was producing a huge quantity of biomass and crop residue every year that must be converted into electricity as an alternative way. He termed the project a solution to meet the need of the electricity especially at the village level. He said that it is an initiative of Punjab Chief Minister who had invited China to set up biomass plant to promote the technology for which UAF was selected for the purpose. He said the plant converts the agricultural waste into the power through the gasification process. He was of the view that though 100 KW plant, we can provide the power to 50 houses. He stressed upon the need to adopt the model at the every village level. He added that the combination of biogas, biomass, and solar energy would help to become self sufficient in the energy sector. He said in Pakistan, post-harvest losses in fruits and vegetables are 25-40% and 15‐18% in food grains. He said the plant will be used for the Research and Development activities as step towards to reach it out to every corner of province. He said that plant is installed by the China whereas the UAF staff are trained to handle it in this regards.Dr Hai Bin Li said that China is producing 650 million agricultural wastes. Fifty percent of the wastes were being used for producing the energy. He said 40 million rural household biogas digesters were built in China, producing 15.4 billion m3 rural biogas annually. He said that forest waste was also touching 270 million tonnes in China which 30 percent is used for the energy purposes. He said that they are meeting 10 percent of the power demands from the bioenergy. He said that the promotion of such technology would promote the country to meet its energy demands. He said 4,700 scaled land poultry farm biogas plants and 1600 scaled industrial organic waste biogas plants were in operation in China by 2010. Totally about 4 billion m3 biogas was produced each year. Dean Faculty of Agri Engineering Dr Allah Buksh said that in Pakistan, 26 million hectare is under the cultivation. He suggested using the agricultural wastes for the production of energy. He said that reserves of fossil fuels can end up after half a century. Therefore it is the need to find out the alternative way of energy. He said that the University had launched a programme of energy system engineering that would also help to fight the challenge with the help of trained manpower. Dr Anjum Munir said that Pakistan spends 14 billion US$ yearly on import of oils. He said that electricity shortfall was greater than 5000 MW resulting daily load shedding. He said available energy resources are unable to meet the required energy demand of the country. He said that besides the biomass and biogas, the UAF is actively working on solar energy. It has developed solar grain dryer, solar cooker, solar assisted milk pasteurizer, and solar tunnel dryer. Dr Xiaobo Wang stressed the need to utilize renewable energy as substitute of fossil fuels. He said that provision of clean energy would not only improve living quality but also improve the local environment and further to global environment. Dr Ehsan Ali also spoke on the occasion.