Financial Times

Fuel wood trees give energy, fertilizer in coconut estates
By Quintus Perera

Family members at the CRI estate in Madampe chopping gliricidia stems

LUNUWILA - The Coconut Research Institute (CRI) has launched a campaign to promote the cultivation of a fuel wood tree in coconut lands with the dual purpose of providing energy and increasing soil fertility.

Sri Lankan scientists have been searching for cheap alternative sources of energy since the world oil crisis in the 1970s. However, the research has been haphazard with successive governments concentrating on major power generating projects like hydropower and coal power.

CRI scientists say Gliricidia trees were found best suited for the coconut industry as they are easy to grow and provide biomass energy as a cheap and plentiful alternative to electricity and fuel energy.

"Biomass as a source of energy is now becoming increasingly attractive as it is very environmentally friendly," said Dr. Jayantha Gunathilake, head of the CRI's Agronomy Division. He has been involved in research on coconut cultivation and alternate energy during his 23-year old career at the CRI.

The CRI at Bandirippuwa, Lunuwila near Negombo is the main organization involved in finding ways to improve the coconut industry. Gliricidia gas production comes under the Dendro Thermal Power Generation (DTPG) or wood gasification project - the combustion of firewood to produce gas in power generation. It is not new having been used extensively in Scandinavian countries during the Second World War when electricity and fuel were hard to come by.

Dr. A.N.S. Kulasinghe, former head of the National Engineering and Research Development Centre (NERD), experimented with various alternative sources of energy since the oil crisis, including DTPG. NERD recently introduced "Lanka Shakthi" a wood gas stove (see Sunday Times FT of 22 June, 2003 - "NERD firewood substitute for LPG cooker").

Planting of gliricidia trees in coconut estates under an inter-cropping project could drastically reduce energy and fertilizer costs, said Dr. Gunathilake. In the coconut industry it could replace furnace oil and be used in DC mills as well as to produce white copra, and in the manufacture of coir pith and activated carbon.

The CRI recommended gliricidia after studying and experimenting with many different types of trees for inter-cropping in coconut estates. In Sri Lanka the plant is called by such names as 'Watamara', 'Ladappa', 'Makulata' and Wetaliriya'.

CRI has planted gliricidia in several of its estates. At Anamaduwa 40,000 gliricidia plants have been planted on 50 acres. When the CRI first started planting gliricidia the concept was challenged. But Dr. Gunatilleke said that Dr. V.P.D.S. Waidanatha, former Director of the CRI, supported the project. On coconut land, 1000 gliricidia trees per acre could be planted, the density can be higher in scrubland going up to around 3,500 plants per acre.

More than 200 acres of gliricidia are planted in the Puttalam District and the firewood produced out of this is sold to Haycarb, the Hayleys subsidiary making activated carbon from coconut charcoal, to be used in their gasifiers. In one of the CRI estates at Madampe several families work on cutting and chopping gliricidia firewood. They are paid at the rate of one rupee per kilo for a chopped bag of firewood. One person can cut 200 kgs. These are then sold to Haycarb at Rs. 2 per kilo.

The present gliricidia need is around 40 tonnes per day. This is projected to rise to 200 tonnes a day within two years for which around 18,250 acreas of coconut land would be required.

Dr. Kulasinghe, an authority on alternate energy sources, told The Sunday Times FT that since the oil crisis the NERD centre had been experimenting with DTPG on agricultural waste products like paddy husk. In 1981 it developed a technology and applied it to a number of applications such as electricity generating sets, vehicles, pumps, boats, as well as thermal applications like tea driers, coconut driers, foundry furnaces and boilers. In 1982 the technology that was developed was successfully applied.

He has solved a number of technical problems that the gasificationn technology had faced. He said that although the technology was developed its actual use in industry has not been encouraging one reason being the non-availability of wood fuel suitable for use in gasifiers. This is now solved by the growing of gliricidia.

He said that importing equipment such as gasifiers was a waste of foreign exchange apart from being too expensive. The gasification component could be manufactured locally and the power generator could be imported or locally assembled.

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