VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese and Japanese researchers are working on a joint project to harness the potential of biomass, a new and clean renewable natural resource.

The five-year project, titled Sustainable Integration of Local Agriculture and Biomass Industries, will last from October 2009 to September 2014 and will mainly be conducted by HCM City University of Technology (HCMUT) and University of Tokyo (UT).

Funded by both governments, the project aims to develop technologies that can produce biofuels, specifically ethanol, from agricultural waste products and by-products called biomass, said Dr Phan Dinh Tuan.

Tuan, who is also HCMUT's vice-rector, was speaking at a seminar to announce the project last week in HCM City.

Biomass is a clean alternative energy, given that fossil fuel like oil and coal are depleting and their consumption emits carbon dioxide, contributing to global warming.

Tuan said biomass-derived fuel would also release carbon dioxide, which, however, would settle in plants and trees as part of a natural ecological cycle.

"If technologies are used to convert biomass into energy from which carbon dioxide is generated, then a closed cycle of carbon dioxide has been created," he said.

As a result, the process to turn biomass into energy would not increase the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere, Tuan said.

Tuan said he hoped the technology developed from the project would help create a "biomass town" in which a certain agricultural area would be zoned off, and agricultural waste and by-products would be converted into energy.

The energy would be used for domestic consumption and production, and the fuel would also be used to operate tractors and buses, among others, he added.

Tuan, however, said biofuel could not be used entirely as an alternative energy source because only 5-7 per cent of biofuel could be used in the next decade.

"If there is less reliance on fossil fuels, then this will serve as a basic step towards a sustainable soziety."

Professor Akiyoshi Sakoda, of Japan's Institute of Industrial Science and the University of Tokyo, said that biomass was a renewable energy and that Viet Nam had abundant biomass resources.

He said it could be used for different purposes, such as heat, electricity, fuel and other materials.

"Biomass can help produce biofuels and bio-based materials for local consumption; preserve and improve regional environments and ecosystems; enhance food production ability and motivation; and create new jobs in rural communities," he said.

Dr Phan Minh Tan, director of the HCM City Department of Science and Technology, said that searching new renewable energy sources was one of the country's research development priorities.

He said in 2004 half of the country's domestic energy consumption came from oil, with the remainder supplied by hydropower, coal and natural gas.

Viet Nam's energy consumption grew by 11.2 per cent over the 1990-2004 period, 1.5 times higher than the country's GDP growing rate, Tan said, adding that consumption was expected to increase by 8.1 per cent a year from now to 2020.

He said the country's socio-economic development showed an ineffective use of energy.

Citing the Prime Minister's Decision 177 on the development plan of biofuels to 2015 and vision to 2025, Tan said HCM City was a leader in the field of biofuels.

He said the city's interest in renewable energy sources had also contributed to the launching of a science and technology programme between 2006 and 2010 that included renewable energy.

"The department would continue to offer timely policies to encourage and support research and development in renewable energy," Tan said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News