Biofuels to expand mobile coverage in rural India
Last year, a coalition of mobile phone access providers and industry leaders announced they were going to use biofuels to power base stations in the rural areas of developing countries (earlier post). A pilot project in Nigeria, relying on groundnuts for power, is now taken to the world's second most populated country, India.
Indian mobile operator Idea Cellular, Ericsson and the GSM Association's Development Fund have teamed up to use biofuels as a source of power for wireless networks in rural India. In a pilot project in Pune, Maharashtra, the three organizations will begin using biofuels to power mobile base stations located beyond the reach of the
electricity grid.
The first phase of the project, which is testing the feasibility of non-edible plant-based fuels, such as cotton and jatropha, is nearing completion. The second phase of the project will entail setting up a supply chain using locally grown crops to produce biodiesel to power between five and 10 base stations in the Maharashtra region. The goal is to have these base stations powered by cotton or jatropha by mid-2007.
One third of Indian homes are not connected to the power grid, but demand for mobile phones is growing rapidly. As our allies at Worldchanging have often shown, in the hands of the poor and of small farmers, cell phones can have very transformative effects (and here, here and here).
A pilot scheme in west India has been set up by mobile firms and industry body the GSMA development fund. "It is about connecting the unconnected," says Dawn Hartley, development fund manager at the GSMA.
Rural connection
Mobile phone use has exploded across India. In 2003 there were just 13 million mobile phone subscribers. Today, there are nearly 130 million. Much of this take-up has been in urban areas where there is a comprehensive mobile network.
But outside the major towns, where approximately three-quarters of India's 1.2 billion people live, mobile coverage is fragmented. This is in-part because the electricity network, used to power the mobile network infrastructure, is often unreliable and does not cover the whole of the country.
"As GSM operators expand their network coverage into new areas, one of the biggest challenges is to overcome operational issues associated with the lack of basic infrastructure," said Mats Granryd, managing director, Ericsson India.
Remote base stations, which transmit and receive information from handsets, are already powered by conventional fuel generators. But these can be dirty and require a lot of maintenance. They can also be expensive to run requiring weekly deliveries of fuel. Ericsson estimates that half of the cost of a remote base station goes on fuel:
biodiesel :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: jatropha :: cotton :: groundnuts :: wireless :: mobile phones :: rural development :: India ::
Clean running
The pilot scheme, put forward by the GSMA and mobile firms Idea Cellular and Ericsson, hopes to overcome some of these problems by using mobile base stations that use generators running on biodiesel.
The fuel is created by combining plant oils with alcohol, in the presence of a catalyst to speed up the process.
The scheme in India will use oil derived from plants such as cotton, a mahogany-like tree called neem and jatropha.
Jatropha trees are already widely grown across India, specifically as a biofuel crop. The seeds of the plant are a traditional remedy for constipation.
Biodiesel has a lower environmental impact than conventional fuels and crucially, can be grown and processed locally.
Although at pilot stage, the scheme hopes to have up to 10 base stations operating in Pune, in the Maharashtra region of west India, by mid-2007.
The projects build on other GSMA projects operating in Lagos, Nigeria, where the biofuel is derived from groundnuts.
Photo: courtesy of Ericsson - Biofuels to Expand Mobile Coverage, photo series.
More information:
BBCNews: Mobiles switch on with biofuels - Feb. 8, 2006
Kauppalehti (Finland): ERICSSON: Biofuels to be used to extend mobile coverage in rural India - Feb. 8, 2006
Article continues
Indian mobile operator Idea Cellular, Ericsson and the GSM Association's Development Fund have teamed up to use biofuels as a source of power for wireless networks in rural India. In a pilot project in Pune, Maharashtra, the three organizations will begin using biofuels to power mobile base stations located beyond the reach of the
electricity grid.
The first phase of the project, which is testing the feasibility of non-edible plant-based fuels, such as cotton and jatropha, is nearing completion. The second phase of the project will entail setting up a supply chain using locally grown crops to produce biodiesel to power between five and 10 base stations in the Maharashtra region. The goal is to have these base stations powered by cotton or jatropha by mid-2007.
One third of Indian homes are not connected to the power grid, but demand for mobile phones is growing rapidly. As our allies at Worldchanging have often shown, in the hands of the poor and of small farmers, cell phones can have very transformative effects (and here, here and here).
A pilot scheme in west India has been set up by mobile firms and industry body the GSMA development fund. "It is about connecting the unconnected," says Dawn Hartley, development fund manager at the GSMA.
Rural connection
Mobile phone use has exploded across India. In 2003 there were just 13 million mobile phone subscribers. Today, there are nearly 130 million. Much of this take-up has been in urban areas where there is a comprehensive mobile network.
But outside the major towns, where approximately three-quarters of India's 1.2 billion people live, mobile coverage is fragmented. This is in-part because the electricity network, used to power the mobile network infrastructure, is often unreliable and does not cover the whole of the country.
"As GSM operators expand their network coverage into new areas, one of the biggest challenges is to overcome operational issues associated with the lack of basic infrastructure," said Mats Granryd, managing director, Ericsson India.
Remote base stations, which transmit and receive information from handsets, are already powered by conventional fuel generators. But these can be dirty and require a lot of maintenance. They can also be expensive to run requiring weekly deliveries of fuel. Ericsson estimates that half of the cost of a remote base station goes on fuel:
biodiesel :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: jatropha :: cotton :: groundnuts :: wireless :: mobile phones :: rural development :: India ::
Clean running
The pilot scheme, put forward by the GSMA and mobile firms Idea Cellular and Ericsson, hopes to overcome some of these problems by using mobile base stations that use generators running on biodiesel.
The fuel is created by combining plant oils with alcohol, in the presence of a catalyst to speed up the process.
The scheme in India will use oil derived from plants such as cotton, a mahogany-like tree called neem and jatropha.
Jatropha trees are already widely grown across India, specifically as a biofuel crop. The seeds of the plant are a traditional remedy for constipation.
Biodiesel has a lower environmental impact than conventional fuels and crucially, can be grown and processed locally.
Although at pilot stage, the scheme hopes to have up to 10 base stations operating in Pune, in the Maharashtra region of west India, by mid-2007.
The projects build on other GSMA projects operating in Lagos, Nigeria, where the biofuel is derived from groundnuts.
Photo: courtesy of Ericsson - Biofuels to Expand Mobile Coverage, photo series.
More information:
BBCNews: Mobiles switch on with biofuels - Feb. 8, 2006
Kauppalehti (Finland): ERICSSON: Biofuels to be used to extend mobile coverage in rural India - Feb. 8, 2006
Article continues
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Green steel made from tropical biomass - European project
Now Europe too is working on a vast project, named ULCOS (Ultra Low CO2 Steelmaking) (*.pdf, zip format download), aimed at halving CO2 emissions by the steel industry by developing innovative biomass supply and charcoal production processes. The project nicely illustrates the Biopact's 'proposition': produce biofuels in the global South, which can bring economic development and alleviate poverty on a massive scale, and export the green fuels to industrialised countries where greenhouse gas emissions must be urgently reduced to fend off climate change, and where producers are willing to pay high prices.
The French 'Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement' (CIRAD) (English homepage), Europe's leading research organisation involved in sustainable tropical agriculture as a tool for foreign aid in the developing world, is a main partner in the project and is studying [*French] how to replace fossil fuels in the steel industry with biomass from forest plantations in the tropics. Two main points are being addressed: biomass availability from such plantations and the development of more efficient, less polluting processes for converting that biomass into charcoal, which is vital for steelmaking.
CIRAD is contributing to this vast project through research on the production, supply and sustainable use of this woody biomass as a cleaner fuel source. The Institute sees both Brazil and central Africa as good candidates for large-scale biomass production.
To supply such biomass in a sustainable way, without threatening precious native ecosystems or the future food, fiber and fodder needs of rapidly growing populations, it is necessary to assess the areas available for industrial-scale eucalyptus plantations. This fast-growing species could rapidly provide large quantities of biomass. As part of this assessment, the CIRAD researchers conducted a prospective study for the period up to 2050 of the socioeconomic and environmental constraints in various tropical countries.
Vast potential in the tropics
The following candidate countries were chosen to host such plantations, because of their large potential for the sustainable production of biomass:
- Brazil, with 46 million hectares available in 2050: more precisely, the zones concerned are the Brazilian states of Tocantins, Maranhão and Piaui, where the conditions are most suitable for forest plantations.
- Central African countries, with 46 million hectares: the zones concerned are southern Congo, the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, northern and eastern Angola, western Zambia, western and southern Tanzania, northern Mozambique and the western and central parts of the Central African Republic.
These zones have more than 1000 mm of rainfall a year over more than a third of their area, and a population density of fewer than 80 inhabitants/km2. The pressure on this land is thus extremely low.To establish indicators of high, sustained biomass production, CIRAD produced carbon, water and nutrient balances for eucalyptus plantations in Congo:
biomass :: bioenergy :: biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: eucalyptus :: plantations :: energy crops :: poverty alleviation :: charcoal :: steel :: climate change :: CO2 :: Europe :: Brazil :: Central Africa ::
The results showed that after a seven-year rotation, 36.7 t C/ha can be exported, ie the equivalent of 134.5 t of CO2 per ha. The change in land use from grasslands to eucalyptus plantations would enable permanent storage of 28.8 t C/ha (105.5 t CO2/ha) with 24.4 t C/ha in the biomass and 4.4 t C/ha in the litter, but 0 t C/ha in the soil. This change would affect the nitrogen balance, making it necessary to give the eucalyptus plantations appropriate fertilizers.
As for carbon flux within Brazilian plantations, it is twice as high as in Congolese plantations (20 t as opposed to 10 t of dry matter/year). Brazilian plantations thus have a much higher carbon sequestration potential than those in Congo.
Innovative thermochemical processes enabling lower CO2 emissions
As regards converting biomass into charcoal, researchers have been concentrating on innovative thermochemical processes such as high-pressure pyrolysis. The results showed that high pressure and slow heating improved fixed carbon yields after carbonization from 26 to 33%. These conditions favour conversion of the lignocellulose compounds in the biomass (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin) into solid carbon for charcoal production. They also help reduce gas emissions in relation to conventional processes under atmospheric pressure. High-pressure pyrolysis generates 1.5 million tonnes (Mt) of CO2 for 1 Mt of charcoal, while pyrolysis under atmospheric pressure generates 2.5 Mt of CO2 for an identical amount of charcoal produced. Moreover, the yield gains achieved in terms of charcoal production help to reduce the areas required for planting.
CIRAD and its partners are continuing their research in Congo and Brazil in order to confirm some of the results obtained during the exploratory phase, notably carbon, water and nutrient balances. Once this has been done, conclusions can be drawn concerning sustainable biomass supplies. The second phase of the project will also look at how to optimize the charcoal produced in line with the steel industry's requirements. The initial results have shown that the type of wood used affects charcoal quality, and subsequent research should make it possible to draw up long-term strategies for improving eucalyptus clones with a view to efficient biomass use for steelmaking. Studies are also planned of selected zones, to confirm the technical, social and economic viability of forest plantations for high-quality charcoal production. Particular attention will be paid to transport infrastructures between the conversion sites and ports, a stage which remains one of the main constraints on the biomass supply chain.
The European ULCOS project has been running for over two and a half years and has been pooling the research and development capacities of 47 partners in 15 European countries: steelmakers, builders, raw material suppliers, research laboratories and universities. The main European steelmakers are leading the project. The exploratory phase of the project, which ran for 18 months, was completed in March 2005, and the second phase is now under way.
Article continues
posted by Biopact team at 3:58 PM 0 comments links to this post