DM Monitoring
LANZHOU: Lanzhou University, located in northwest China’s Gansu Province, is making use of its research on biomass energy and sustainable agriculture to help Pakistan solve its energy problems.
As a traditional agricultural nation, Pakistan is abundant with biomass resources, but it has long been plagued by a shortage of energy supply. “Many locals in remote mountainous areas still use logs to obtain energy, which is highly destructive to forestry resources and further deteriorates the fragile ecological environment,” said Li Xiangkai, a professor with Lanzhou University’s School of Life Sciences.
The technologies developed by Li’s team can provide practical solutions to the problems faced by Pakistan, he said. Since 2011, his team has been conducting scientific and technological cooperation with institutes in Pakistan, passing on the achievements of Lanzhou University in the fields of biomass energy and sustainable agriculture through training programs and courses.
As an associate professor at the National Agricultural Research Centre in Pakistan who has participated in the training, Rizwan Ahmad has learned the theoretical basis for converting common agricultural waste such as straw and vegetables into biomass energy, and has mastered the relevant experimental operations. In his view, these techniques can be widely applied to agricultural practices in Pakistan. Lanzhou University has trained dozens of experts for Pakistan, broadening their horizons in the fields of biomass energy, animal husbandry and sustainable agriculture.
In September 2015, the university and the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) established a center of biomass-energy technology development and demonstration to deepen cooperation.
Li noted that biomass-energy sources, including biogas, have been given top priority in energy construction in developing countries, due to their wide application, low cost and high efficiency.
