In the Mekong Delta nearly 4 million tones of rice husk is discharged to rivers and canals each year, causing serious pollution.

Walking along the O Mon River, which runs through Can Tho, the biggest city in the Mekong Delta, one can see masses of rice husks floating on the river. The water of Thi Doi canal, also in Can Tho, has turned black and smells badly because of disintegrating rice husks.

Nguyen Thi Be, who lives near the Thi Doi canal, said: “I can now breathe the air again but around two or three months ago, rice husks flooded the canal and the smell was unbearable”.

According to local people, several years ago, rice husking factories often sold rice husks to brick and sugar kilns as fuel but since brick and sugar kilns were dissolved, rice husks are poured into rivers and canals.

Big rice husking enterprises hire workers to spill rice husks to rivers at the price of 30,000 to 50,000 dong per tonne at night. Smaller enterprises directly discharge rice husk to rivers.

Local official Huynh Minh Hieu said there are 15 rice husking enterprises in Thoi Lai district, Can Tho city. The local government has received many complaints from the local people that rice husking enterprises are polluting rivers by spilling rice husks to rivers. The local authorities have inspected and fined some enterprises but the situation has not improved.

Hieu said the volume of rice husks is huge and their warehouses are full so enterprises are willing to shoulder fines just to get rid of the husks.

“They (rice husking businesses) complained that they don’t know what to do with rice husks. It is also a headache for us (local government),” Hieu said.

According to the Can Tho city authorities, rice husking enterprises discharge around 240,000 tonnes of rice husks a year. A large volume of rice husk goes to rivers and canals like Thi Doi, Dung, Ngang, Bo Ot and the Hau river, causing serious pollution.

Rice husk – huge source of fuel

Previously, some factories using boilers used rice husk as fuel to replace diesel. However, they soon stopped using this fuel because of low economic effectiveness.

“Rice husk is very cheap but the expense of transportation, warehouse and the environment is high, making the total price for rice husk higher than diesel,” said lecturer Van Minh Nhut from the Can Tho university.

Last year, a farmer in Tien Giang province invented a machine that produces rice-husk firewood. This machine can produce two tones of rice-husk firewood per day. Around ten machines of this kind are being used in the Mekong Delta, including six in Can Tho city.

However, if these machines run at their highest capacity, they can process only 7000 tonnes of rice husk a year. Moreover, rice-husk firewood is not popular in the Mekong Delta.

In 2007, the construction of the Dinh Hai thermo-power plant started in the Tra Noc 1 industrial zone in Can Tho, which will use rice husk as major fuel. This factory will be put into operation in late 2009.

Truong Dinh Hai, the owner of this project, said that this plant can consume around 300,000 tonnes of rice husk a year. Hai said more projects to build thermo power plants using rice husks are being discussed. However, if all of these plants become operational, they can use only half of the total volume of rice husk in the Mekong Delta.

VietNamNet/Tien Phong