Forest-based biomass supply potential and economics for the pellet production in Nepal

Kafle, Sagar; Parajuli, Ranjan; Adhikari, Kshitij; Euh, Seung Hee; Oh, Kwang Cheol; Choi, Yun Sung; Kim, Dae Hyun

doi:10.1080/15435075.2016.1171228

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…While the electricity has some price, biomass from forests is almost freely accessible in most rural areas. The common biomasses in Nepal are logging residue, forest cleaning residues (pine needles and cones), timber industry residues (tree bark and sawdust), invasive plants and trees, and agriculture residues (Kafle et al 2018). Another reason is the social factor (e.g., households' welfare and indigenous knowledge) pertaining to the traditional use of biomass for cooking in Nepal (Bharadwaj et al 2021).…”

Section: Results From the Ridge Regressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nepal’s domestic material consumption—projection and causal impact of external financial inflows, services value-added, population, and economic growth

Baniya

Aryal

2022

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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Literature on material flow accounting has increasingly emphasized the need for an equitable resource allocation for least developed countries (LDCs) considering their future growth and the social outcomes (e.g., poverty alleviation) they intend to deliver. This paper aims to project Nepal's domestic material consumption (DMC)-scale and structure for different economic growth scenarios. We also investigate the causal impact of exogenous factors: (1) external financial inflows, such as the remittance and official development assistance (ODA); (2) services value-added; (3) population; and (4) economic growth on DMC by material types (e.g. biomass, fossil fuels, non-metallic minerals, and metal ores). We use the R tools, ridge regression and its machine learning algorithms, the autoregressive-distributed lag approach, and the abovementioned variables' timeseries data between 1993 and 2017 as methodological and data tools. While Nepal's absolute DMC will increase even in the low-growth scenario, we found that the biomass-based DMC prevalent in many LDCs, including Nepal, will be non-metallic minerals-based-a material consumption trait of existing middle-income and emerging economies. Despite this, the United Nations' LDC graduation growth pathway, often assumed to deliver sustainable development objectives by policymakers in LDCs, including Nepal, is material intensive. The increase in the gross domestic product per capita, remittance, and ODA cause a rise in DMC because of their strong correlation and causal relationship. In these circumstances, we suggest policy measures that can leverage present consumption-oriented remittances as a source of investment in up-scaling small-scale modern renewable energy technologies across the residential sector, particularly in rural areas. We suggest this policy measure considering the future rise in non-metallic minerals and the challenges to reduce it because of the rising urbanization.

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Section: Results From the Ridge Regressionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nepal’s domestic material consumption—projection and causal impact of external financial inflows, services value-added, population, and economic growth

Baniya

Aryal

2022

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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“…In 2022, Nepal's total energy consumption reached 640PJ, with traditional sources accounting for 64.17% and fuelwood dominating at 58.53% of total fuel consumption. With abundant agricultural residues and significant forest cover encompassing 45% of its territory, Nepal is wellpositioned for the production and utilization of modern biofuels [7]. However, properly identifying biomass in terms of its energy properties, managing it efficiently, and utilizing it effectively poses significant challenges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Completed Proved of Rapid Nondestructive Prediction Model of Wood Chip Biomass Higher Heating Value Ready for Industrial Updating

Shrestha,

Phanomsophon,

Shrestha

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Nepal, primarily an agricultural country, heavily relies on agricultural residue and fuelwood for daily energy requirements. In 2022, total energy consumption was 640 PJ, with traditional sources accounting for 64.17%, and fuelwood comprising 58.53% of total fuel consumption. The estimated potential supply of agricultural residue is 26 million tonnes, yielding about 442 million GJ of energy in 2021. Biomass trading often emphasizes volume or weight, necessitating a rapid and non-destructive assessment of energy properties for mutual benefit, aiding in the identification, management, and utilization of biomass sources. In this study, 200 biomass samples were collected in two batches (126 and 74 samples) from various locations in Nepal. Using Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR), a model was developed correlating higher heating value (HHV) from a bomb calorimeter and spectral data from Fourier Transform near-infrared spectroscopy (FT-NIRS) (3595 – 12,489 cm-1) sensor. PLSR models incorporated raw spectra, eight preprocessing techniques, the multi-preprocessing five-range method, and a genetic algorithm. Outliers in the first batch were identified, and the first batch divided into an 80% calibration set and a 20% validation set, while the second batch was designated as an unknown sample set. The optimum PLSR model, utilizing first derivative preprocessing, improved accuracy by 6.77%, with coefficients of determination in the calibration set, validation set, and unknown set as 0.9694, 0.9578, and 0.8089, respectively. Root mean square errors were 132.4790 J/g, 189.4800 J/g, and 360.8845 J/g for the calibration set (RMSEC), validation set (RMSEP), and unknown set (RMSEUN), respectively. The prediction to deviation ratio (RPD) for the validation set and unknown set was 4.9 and 2.4, respectively. The cross validation model of combined sample data of every sets showed the R2CV of 0.95 and RPDCV of 4.6 indicating the model could serve as a reliable and swift non-destructive alternative for evaluating biomass HHV using NIRS and ready for updating for industrial use. However, incorporating a larger number of representative samples is crucial to enhance accuracy and develop a more comprehensive global model for predicting biomass HHV.

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Possibilities and challenges for converting waste biomass into fuel, feed, and fertilizer in Nepal

Kafle,

Gyawali,

Adhikari

et al. 2024

Reg Environ Change

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Waste biomass is mainly used conventionally, without being converted into valuable products in developing countries, e.g., Nepal, mainly due to a lack of proper conversion knowledge, infrastructure, and resource data. We assessed the amount of biomass at sub-national (geography, province, and district) levels in Nepal to explore its conversion possibilities and challenges. Our assessment includes waste biomass such as agriculture crop residues, municipal waste, livestock, and human waste. We identified their current utilization practices and discussed their conversion possibilities, focusing on fuel, feed, and fertilizers. We estimated that about 1.7–5.0 million tonnes (Mt) of pellet/briquette and biochar, 1.7–5.1 Mt of feed block, 129–387 million m3 of biogas, and 0.6–1.9 Mt of fertilizer can be produced in Nepal. The conversion of the waste biomass into valuable products can have significant environmental and economic benefits. Our findings can help authorities formulate appropriate policies and entrepreneurs to develop business plans for proper biomass utilization in Nepal at national and subnational levels.

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Forest-based biomass supply potential and economics for the pellet production in Nepal

Cited by 4 publications

References 11 publications

Nepal’s domestic material consumption—projection and causal impact of external financial inflows, services value-added, population, and economic growth

Nepal’s domestic material consumption—projection and causal impact of external financial inflows, services value-added, population, and economic growth

A Completed Proved of Rapid Nondestructive Prediction Model of Wood Chip Biomass Higher Heating Value Ready for Industrial Updating

Possibilities and challenges for converting waste biomass into fuel, feed, and fertilizer in Nepal

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