Social practices required for the recovery of cassava waste for heat generation in Thailand

Prakobboon, N., Vahdati, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8604-3004 and Shahrestani, M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8741-0912 (2019) Social practices required for the recovery of cassava waste for heat generation in Thailand. International Journal of Biomass & Renewables, 8 (1). pp. 12-24. ISSN 2289-1692

Abstract/Summary

Thailand is a dominant supplier of cassava to world markets, supplying around 67% of the global market, resulting in abundant cassava waste. However, farmers typically discard this waste in cassava fields, and thus it is underutilised as an energy resource. In addition, Thailand’s domestic cassava-based bioethanol plants depend on imported coal to produce heat. To address this challenge, this research investigated the potential for the collection and recovery of cassava waste from farms. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Thai cassava farmers. Social practice theory was applied to evaluate the effects of cassava waste collection on Thai cassava farmers’ current agricultural practices. Three Thai cassava agricultural activities— land preparation, fertilization application and waste management—would be impacted by this new strategy. The connections between each of these potentially affected activities has been discussed and, ultimately, cassava waste collection by Thai cassava growers was proposed as a new practice. This study concluded that the enhanced use of cassava waste for the production of heat and power could potentially help Thailand meet its renewable energy targets in future.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/85767
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of the Built Environment > Energy and Environmental Engineering group
Publisher	Universiti Teknologi Petronas
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