| Issue |
E3S Web Conf.
Volume 530, 2024
2024 14th International Conference on Future Environment and Energy (ICFEE 2024)
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 03001 | |
| Number of page(s) | 9 | |
| Section | Environmental Biotechnology and Waste-to-Energy | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202453003001 | |
| Published online | 29 May 2024 | |
Toward Zero Agro-Waste: A Business Model for Sugarcane Leaves Management in Thailand
1 Centre for Alternative Energy Research and Development, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
2 Energy Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
3 Department of Agricultural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
4 Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
5 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand
* Corresponding author: tanwon@kku.ac.th
Sugarcane is one of the oldest crops ever cultivated by humans and has a long history. Currently, the prevalent practice of burning sugarcane fields increases environmental concerns because many farmers frequently use this method to facilitate the harvest process and prepare the area for the next planting crop. Thus, the effective use of sugarcane leaves with proper management can overcome this problem. This paper represents sugarcane leaf management by developing a business model focused on collection, densification, and transportation, explicitly targeting the conversion of waste sugarcane leaves into fuel for a biomass power plant. The business model is categorized into two primary groups: the farmer group and the middleman group. Both groups are incentivized to invest in tools and equipment for collecting and densifying biomass, thereby facilitating the effective performance of the model. Furthermore, an economic analysis has been conducted encompassing an investment cost evaluation and the estimation of the payback period for this business model. The results indicate that the farmer group demonstrates a payback period of 1.72 years, while the middleman group reveals a longer payback period of 2.06 years. This strategic approach not only enhances the value of biomass waste but also significantly reduces the unwanted burn on farming fields, effectively mitigating air pollution.
Key words: Biomass / Sugarcane / Zero-waste / Management / Business model
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2024
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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