Syedia Rice Mills !

Rice milling industry generates a lot of rice husk during milling of paddy which comes from the fields. This rice husk is mostly used as a fuel in the boilers for processing of paddy. Rice husk is also used as a fuel for power generation. Rice husk ash (RHA) is about 25% by weight of rice husk when burnt in boilers. It is estimated that about 70 million tones of RHA is produced annually worldwide. This RHA is a great environment threat causing damage to the land and the surrounding area in which it is dumped. During milling of paddy about 78 % of weight is received as rice , broken rice and bran .Rest 22 % of the weight of paddy is received as husk . This husk is used as fuel in the rice mills to generate steam for the parboiling process . This husk contains about 75 % organic volatile matter and the balance 25 % of the weight of this husk is converted into ash during the firing process , is known as rice husk ash ( RHA ). This RHA in turn contains around 85 % - 90 % amorphous silica. So for every 1000 kgs of paddy milled, about 220 kgs ( 22 % ) of husk is produced, and when this husk is burnt in the boilers, about 55 kgs ( 25 % ) of RHA is generated.

RHA is a carbon neutral green product. Lots of ways are being thought of for disposing them by making commercial use of this RHA. RHA is a good super-pozzolan . This super-pozzolan can be used in a big way to make special concrete mixes . There is a growing demand for fine amorphous silica in the production of special cement and concrete mixes ,high performance concrete , high strength, low permeability concrete, for use in bridges, marine environments , nuclear power plants etc. This market is currently filled by silica fume or micro silica , being imported from Norway, China and also from Burma . Due to limited supply of silica fumes in India and the demand being high the price of silica fume has risen to as much as
US$ 500 / ton in India .