Joint research project for an innovative process technology for biogas production from rice straw

Welcome to the BioRist project

The BioRist project focuses on:

  • Development of an innovative process technology for biogas production from rice straw
  • Set-up and operation of a pilot plant in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam
  • Study of local agricultural value chains under consideration of sustainable development and climate protection
  • Analysis of GHG emissions from agricultural activities

NEWS


----- October 30, 2019 -----
BioRist participates in German Science Day, Hanoi 2019
In the third German-Vietnamse Science Day, more 200 participants from companies, organizations and politicans have participated. Many bilateral projects have been introduced and discussed during the German Science Day. Ms. Trang Hoang and Mr. Marcel Spahr have joint the event and presented a poster showing the BioRist project results.

----- October 16, 2019 -----
Mr. Jannes Katner has submitted and successfully defended his Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of the thesis is "Contribution of local and regional biomass residues to rice straw digestion. Material and nutrient flow analysis of social and regional biomasses for bioenergy generation through an innovative rice straw digestion process in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta".

----- August 08, 2019 -----
Mr. Till Scharfenberg has submitted and successfully defended his Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of the thesis is "Development of a composting method for solid digestate from rice straw fermentation: A site study in Hau My Bac B, Tien Giang province, Vietnam".

----- June 24, 2019 -----
Ms. Leonie Hilmers has submitted and successfully defended her Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of the thesis is "Impact of fertilizing options and rice straw incorporation on the greenhouse gas emission from rice field - a case study: Mekong Delta, Vietnam".

----- June 18, 2019 -----
Proceeding of the 3rd International Conference
The success of the 3rd conference was achieved with the great interest and contributions from many researchers. The proceeding comprises the extented abstracts from the studies, which were presented during the 2 days conference. The proceeding is published online on the institutional repository of the Technical Universität Berlin.
DOI: 10.14279/depositonce-8464
The proceeding of the BioRist conference 2019 can be downloaded: please click here

----- April 19, 2019 -----
Mr. Johannes Hinrichs has submitted and successfully defended his Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of the thesis is "Identification of correlations of greenhouse gas emissions from rice paddies with meterological and soil data".

----- April 06, 2019 -----
Excursion to Thanh Thanh Cong - Bien Hoa JSC
TU Berlin has organized an excursion for participants of the 3rd conference to visit the headquaters of Thanh Thanh Cong - Bien Hoa (TTC-BH Sugar) JSC in Tay Ninh province. The visiting group was welcomed by Mr. Pham Van Dung, the mananger of Thermoelectric Centre at TTC-BH Sugar company. Mr. Dung gave the introduction about the company and its thermoelectric centre, which uses the bagasse to produce the energy for the company and sell the electricity surplus to the national grid.

----- April 04-05, 2019 -----
The 3rd BioRist Conference
Continue the success of the interenational conferences in 2017 and 2018, within the framework of BioRist project, TU Berlin and Industrial university of Ho Chi Minh city (IUH) has organized the 3rd international conference "Valorization of Agricultural Residues - Towards Climate-Smart Agriculture in South-East Asia". More than 100 partipants have joined the conference, including scientists from Germany, Vietnam and other countries, lecturers from different universities, companies, organizations and students. On the first day of the conference, in the morning, presentations and posters were presented by researchers focusing on 4 main topics: biomass resources, environmental impacts, sustainable technologies and policy & management, in the afternoon, there was a workshop Empowering Vietnamese-German research proposals aiming for networking and develop project ideas. On the second day of the conference, besides the scientific content, a young researcher forum was arranged together with DAAD with the purpose of sharing experiences and scholarship information for students, who are interested in studying in Germany in the near future.

----- January 23, 2019 -----
Mr Philipp Dorn has submitted and successfully defended his Bachelor Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of the thesis is "Evaluierung landwirtschaftlicher Reststoffe als Biogassubstrat - Eine Studie im Mekong Delta, Vietnam".

----- December 17, 2018 -----
Mr Muhammad Azam Khan has submitted and successfully defended his Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of the thesis is "The effect of varying proportions of trace elements additions on anaerobic co-digestion of rice straw and cow manure".

----- December 14, 2018 -----
The student Keo Rigorth has submitted and successfully defended its Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of the thesis is "Investigation in anaerobic co-digestion of water hyacinths and rice straw regarding biogas yield and optimum process parameters in batch assays".

----- October 31, 2018 -----
DEADLINE EXTENSION - CALL FOR PARTICIPATION - The 3rd International Conference
Important dates:

  • Abstract submission deadline: 30.11.2018
  • Notification of Acceptance/ Rejection: 15.12.2018
  • Full - paper submission deadline*: 31.12.2018
  • Conference registration deadline: 15.03.2018

For further information, please check here.

----- October 26, 2018 -----
Ms Marianne Weber has submitted and successfully defended her Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of the thesis is "Impact of weather variations on the greenhouse gas emissions from rice paddies in the Tiền Giang Province, Viet Nam".

----- October 01, 2018 -----
BioRist Consortium Meeting in Berlin
TU Berlin has organized a consortium meeting together with BioRist project partners with the focus on updating the status of the project and sharing the lastest results from different working packages. Joining the meeting, there was Mr. Roland Keil from DLR project management agency and Dr. Ute Arnold from VD Office. In the discussion, project partners had a discussion about the operation of the BioRist pilot plant, the 3rd BioRist conference in Vietnam and further R&D proposals and potential funding schemes for the up-scaling of BioRist.

----- September 21, 2018 -----
Ms Rebecca Bliklen has submitted and successfully defended her Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of the thesis is "Impact of rice straw management on the greenhouse gas emissions from rice paddies in Tiền Giang Province in Viet Nam".

----- September 11, 2018 -----
CALL FOR PARTICIPATION - The 3rd International Conference
The third BioRist International Conference “Valorization of Agricultural Residues Towards Climate-Smart Agriculture in South-East Asia” will take place on the 4th of April, 2019 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We would like to invite scientists and practitioners to submit abstracts which contribute to the following subjects:

  • Mass flow of agricultural residues (sources, characterization, quantification, inventories)
  • Monitoring of environmental impacts in agriculture
  • Innovative technologies for residue valorization and treatment
  • Sustainable soil and water management in agriculture
  • Use of organic residues for bioenergy
  • Residue utilization in industrial biotechnology
  • Monitoring and mitigation of GHG emissions in agriculture
  • Service and Financing models for sustainable agriculture

----- August 02, 2018 -----
Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich has submitted and successfully defended her Bachelor Thesis at Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city. The title of the thesis is "Impact of different rice straw management practices on the growth and the yield of rice crop in Cai Be, Tien Giang, Vietnam".

----- August 01, 2018 -----
Mr. Khuong Dinh Van has submitted and successfully defended his Bachelor Thesis at Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city. The title of the thesis is "Estimate greenhouse gas emission from rice field in Cai Be district, Tien Giang Province with DNDC model".

----- July 30, 2018 -----
Mr. Tran Trong Tri has submitted and successfully defended his Bachelor Thesis at Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city. The title of the thesis is "Evaluation of quality and ability of soil improvement in rice cultivation in Tien Giang Province".

----- July 30, 2018 -----
Ms Alexandra Effort has submitted and successfully defended her Bachelor Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of the thesis is "Biogas potential of the inocula sewage sludge, cow manure, and fermentation residues".

----- May 13, 2018 -----
The visits of the expert groups
The biogas pilot plant in Hau My Bac B commune, Cai Be district, Tien Giang province has been operating since July 2017. This new technology has drawn the attention of the locals and the scientists. Several groups of experts have come and visited the biogas pilot plant, they are from different universities including Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city, Thu Dau Mot University from Binh Duong province, Can Tho University and recently, there are the visits from Ho Chi Minh University of Science and Ton Duc Thang University. These visits are promising for the scientific cooperation projects in biogas field between Vietnam and Germany in the future.

----- April 04, 2018 -----
Development of the logistic concept
One working package of BioRist project is to develop a logistic concept for the future biogas plant. This working package is including: locate the area for the biogas plant, identify the vehicles which can collect and transport rice straw and cow manure and investigate the transport system including overland and waterway in order to define the most convenient and economic-benefit logistic. The logistic concept also should consider the master plan of the commune in local land-use and transport development. To start this work package, the master student from TU Berlin – Ms. Anna Bojarska came to Vietnam and did the survey, investigation and had interviews with the local farmer, the agricultural department and the leaders of Hau My Bac B commune. Developing the logistic concept to provide substrates for the biogas plant will be her master thesis.

----- March 29, 2018 -----
The 2nd International Conference
BioRist project organized successfully the 2nd International Conference of “Valorization of Agricultural Residues in Vietnam - Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainability” on the 28th March 2018 at Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. The participants are including many scientists from different universities, institutions, people from the enterprises and from the Vietnamese government.
On the 29th March, the conference participants visited the study site of BioRist project in Hau My Bac B commune, Cai Be district, Tien Giang province. The commune leaders welcomed the visitors, thanked the project coordinators and hope that the new technologies will bring benefits for the area. The two main activities of BioRist in this project are: operate and optimum the biogas pilot plant using rice straw and cow manure for co-digestion and measure the greenhouse gas emission from rice field with different rice straw management practices. In addition, the group visited a local rice mill factory owned by Mr. Thai Van Cam. This local business would like to cooperate and use the heat and energy generated by the BioRist biogas plant in the future.

----- March 22, 2018 -----
Ms. Gültac Cinar has submitted and successfully defended her Master Thesis at ETH Zurich. The title of her thesis is "Anaerobic mesophilic co-digestion of rice straw and cow manure - The fate of nutrients and the potential of biogas production".

----- February 10, 2018 -----
Invitation for The 2nd International workshop
The 2nd International Workshop “Valorization of Agricultural Residues in Vietnam - Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainability” will take place on the 28th of March, 2018 at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Invitation and Registration Form: click here

----- February 01, 2018 -----
CALL FOR ABSTRACTS - The 2nd International Conference
The second International Conference “Valorization of Agricultural Residues in Vietnam - Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainability” will take place on the 28th of March, 2018 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. For further information, please check here.

----- January 31, 2018 -----
Arrival of the two master students
Ms. Leonie Hilmers and Ms. Marianne Weber – two master students from TU Berlin have come to Vietnam. They will measure the greenhouse gas emission from rice paddy from February 2018 until June 2018, which is the 2nd rice season in Hau My Bac B village.

----- January 12, 2018 -----
Ms Monja Tauber has submitted and successfully defended her Bachelor Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of the thesis is "Eignung von Wasserhyazinthen als Co-Substrat bei der Produktion von Biogas aus Reisstroh".

----- December 13, 2017 -----
A 24-hour measurement for GHG emission from the rice field
Master students from TU Berlin has conducted a 24-hour measurement of GHG emission from the rice field. The results show that the majority of GHG emission is emitted during the daytime. They will continue measure GHG emission from different treatments and the measurement schedule is 3 days per week.

----- December 07, 2017 -----
A visit to the biogas plant
Ms. Celia Hahn – the coordinator of BioRist project, had a one-week business trip in Vietnam from the 6th to 11th November. Together with the scientists from Can Tho University, she visited the biogas plant and the test field in Hau My Bac B. Currently, the biogas plant has reached the stable-stage and produces 2.7m3 biogas/ day for cooking purposes.

----- November 28, 2017 -----
Ms. Hanna Sierk has submitted and successfully defended her Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of her thesis is "Process analysis of lab-scale rice straw fermentation with an upstream semi-aerobic hydrolysis".

----- November 23, 2017 -----
Investigation of GHG emission from rice fields
Master students from TU Berlin are doing research of GHG emission by applying different rice straw management practices and the correlation of GHG emission from rice field with weather conditions. They did the preparation for the experiment with 4 treatments including: rice straw incorporation, ash application, using solid digestate as fertilizer and reference. The sowing date of Winter-Spring crop season is 26th November.

----- November 21, 2017 -----
Experiment of using the liquid digestate as fertilizer for the rice field
A group of scientists and students from IUH have investigating the efficiency of using liquid digestate from rice straw fermentation as a source of bio fertilizer instead of using chemical one for rice fields. The experiments are done in boxes and in paddy field with 4 treatments. The first result shows that the bio fertilizer can be used to substitute the chemical fertilizer partly.

----- November 11, 2017 -----
Arrival of the engineer
Mr. Felix Lehmann– an engineer from Herbst Umwelt Technik GmbH has arrived to Vietnam. Mr Lehmann will operate the biogas plant together with the assistance of Mr Dinh Minh Thanh – a student from Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city.

----- October 05, 2017 -----
New system for GHG emission measurement
Ms. Hoang and Mr. Larsen had designed a new system to measure the GHG emission using metal bars for walking in the fields, 12 metal rings for the experimental plots and a bigger measurement chamber. Together with Ms. Bliklen and Mr. Hinrichs, they had installed and tested this s‎ystem in the test field, it is ready for the next crop.

----- September 27, 2017 -----
Arrival of the two master students
Ms. Rebecca Bliklen and Mr. Johannes Hinrichs – two master students from TU Berlin have come to Vietnam. They will measure the greenhouse gas emission from rice paddy from October 2017 until January 2018, which is the Winter-Spring rice season in Hau My Bac B village.

----- September 26, 2017 -----
Ms. Reem Al Natour has submitted and successfully defended her Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of her thesis is "Planning, selection and construction of plant components for the scale-up of a rice straw biogas plant.

----- September 20, 2017 -----
Arrival of the engineer
Mr. Lorenz Dobler – an engineer from Herbst Umwelt Technik GmbH has arrived to Vietnam. Mr Dobler will operate the biogas plant together with the assistance of Mr Le Ngoc Dai – a student from Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city.

----- September 14, 2017 -----
Mr. Bo Wellhausen has submitted and successfully defended his Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of his thesis is "Investigation of the biogas formation rate of a rice straw fermentation process with an upstream semi-aerobic hydrolysis".

----- August 29, 2017 -----
Ms. Paula Martínez Corraliza has submitted and successfully defended her Bachelor Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of his thesis is "State and perspective of the energy generation in larger scale biogas plants in Vietnam".

----- August 08, 2017 -----
Mr. Bruno Wojczewski has submitted and successfully defended his Bachelor Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of his thesis is "Entwicklung eines Leitfadens zum Bau und zur Inbetriebnahme eines Reistrohfermenters mit semi-aerober Vorstufe".

----- July 14, 2017 -----
GHG emission measurement
Ms. Trang Hoang and Mr. Oliver Larsen measured the GHG emission from the rice field using the closed chamber with the gas monitor four times per week. The measurement base now is equipped with the rain protection foil.

----- July 12, 2017 -----
Installation of the two containers
The two containers arrived in HMBB village. The installation of the containers was challenging and took several hours, the main problem was the low-hanging electrical cables.

----- July 9, 2017 -----
Finishing the research station
The research station is built next to the edge of the test field. It is including the base (6m long x 1.5m wide), where is the place to put all the devices and equipment and the metal roof to protect from the sun and heavy rains. The surrounding area is levelled to prevent slippery soil during and after the rains.

----- July 3, 2017 -----
Arrival of the containers
The two containers have arrived in Cat Lai port, Ho Chi Minh city. After the customer clearance, these containers will be transported to the study site. The process is expected to complete in one week.

----- June 29, 2017 -----
Arrival of the engineers
Marcel Spahr and Dirk Lehmann - two engineers from Herbst Umwelt Technik GmbH has come to Vietnam. They will support receiving the two containers, prepare the fundamentals and the logistic work to transport these containers to the study site. In the coming time, the engineers will install and operate the biogas plant using rice straw and manure as substrates.

----- June 24, 2017 -----
First attempt for 24-hour measurement
To identify the optimal time for measuring greenhouse gas emission from rice paddy, the researchers from TU Berlin has made the first attempt for 24-hour measurement with the photoacoustic gas monitor INNOVA and the flux chamber. However, due to the heavy rain, the experiment was stopped. To ensure the safety for researchers and the equipment, the research station must be built and the experiment can be conducted afterwards.

----- June 17, 2017 -----
Finish building the experimental plots
The group of students from Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city together with the scientists from TU Berlin has finished the construction of the experiment plots in the test field located in My Trung hamlet, Hau My Bac B commune, Cai Be district, Tien Giang province. The studies are including: assess the effect of bio-fertilizer on the growth of rice plants and on soil microorganism, investigate the effect of on-field rice straw management on greenhouse gas emission from rice field.

----- June 12, 2017 -----
Mr Jens Walther has submitted and successfully defended his Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of his thesis is "Quantification of greenhouse gas emission potentials from storage and application of rice straw fermentation residues".

----- June 6, 2017 -----
Talkshow “I’m with nature” at Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city
In the International Environmental Day – 5th June 2017, the Institute for Environmental Science, Engineering and Management, Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city held a “Talkshow for world environment day 2017 – I’m with nature” for the students. Within the talkshow, Dip. Ing. Oliver Larsen and M.Sc. Trang Hoang presented a seminar about climate change – causes and consequences, introduce BioRist project and their research on greenhouse gas emission from rice fields. The talkshow was successful with the participation of more than 300 students and university staffs.

----- May 30, 2017 -----
Shipment of the pilot plant
The pilot plant, which was mounted into two 20' container is on the way to Vietnam and is expected to reach the harbour of Ho CHi Minh City by the beginning of July. In the meantime construction works in the village of Hau My Bac B started.

----- May 20, 2017 -----
Research team arrived in the Mekong Delta
Tho researchers from the TU Berlin arrived in the Mekong Delta. During the next 4 months they will carry out emission measurements in the rice fields. The measurements will show the variation of green house gas emissions under changing conditions. The focus of the research is to evaluate the influence of different fertilizer applications on the GHG in the paddies.

----- May 02, 2017 -----
Mr Felix Lehmann has submitted and successfully defended his Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of his thesis is "Prüfung der Auswirkung verschiedener Silierparameter auf den spezifischen Biogasertrag bei der Fermentation von Reisstroh".

----- April 24, 2017 -----
Mr Dominic Braun has submitted and successfully defended his Bachelor Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of his thesis is "Evaluation of various organic substrates from Tiền Giang province in Viet Nam as a co-substrate for rice straw fermentation".

----- April 4, 2017 -----
The Workshop
The International Workshop “Valorization of Agricultural Residues in Vietnam - Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainability” was carried out successfully. Over 80 participants were welcomed at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City. The presentations ranged from rice straw densification over the assessment of Green House Gas Emissions from agriculture to treatment technologies. We'd like to thank all presenters and participants for the interesting presentations and the fruitful discussions

----- March 7, 2017 -----
Invitation for the workshop
The International Workshop “Valorization of Agricultural Residues in Vietnam - Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainability” will take place on the 4th of April, 2017 at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Invitation and Workshop Agenda: click here
Registration Form: click here.

----- January 2, 2017 -----
Call for papers...
...for the International Workshop “Valorization of Agricultural Residues in Vietnam - Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainability” on the 4th and 5th of April, 2017 at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Further information here.

----- December 13, 2016 -----
Mr Albrecht Fritze has submitted and successfully defended his Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of his thesis is "Analysis of rice straw availability and local farming conditions in the northern Mekong Delta".

----- December 1, 2016 -----
INNOVA 1412 Workshop at TU Berlin
Innova 1412 is a photoacoustic field gas monitor, a product of LumaSense Technologies, Inc. From the workshop, Dipl. Ing Oliver Larsen shared with the students the functional principle of the device, how to work with the device in field measurement, the sensitivity of the device and the evaluation of measured results.

----- November 21, 2016 -----
Project Meeting in Berlin
The BioRist project meeting was held in Berlin, hosted by project partner - Herbst Umwelttechnik GmbH. The meeting was allowed all project partners to discuss in detail the significant research result, the progress of the project and to reinforce the collaborative approach by exchanging views on the challenges of the pilot plant installation and operation in Vietnam in 2017.

----- November 18, 2016 -----
Ms Noémie Laurens has submitted and successfully defended her Master Thesis at TU Berlin. The title of her thesis is "Characterization of fermentation residues from a pilot rice straw fermenter to evaluate their applicability as fertilizer".

----- September 2016 -----
Ms Sara Kemmou has submitted and successfully defended her Master Thesis at University of Marne-la-Vallée. The title of her thesis is "Method development (adaptation) for analyses of biological activity in biogas reactors at different reaction conditions using TTC test". Her research was to develop and optimize a chemical test in order to determine the viability of bacteria and the enzyme activity in the biogas reactors using rice straw.

----- June 30, 2016 -----
Ms Nguyen Dang Thanh Truc has submitted and successfully defended her bachelor thesis at the Institute for the Environmental Science, Engineering & Management (Industrial University of Ho-Chi-Minh City). The title of her thesis is " Investigation and assessment of biomass utilization in Hau My Bac B commune, Cai Be district, Tien Giang province". The thesis reflects some results of the field study which was carried out in March 2016.

----- June 7, 2016 -----
BioRist was presented by Dr. Le Hung Anh at the International Workshop of „Appropriate Technology Solutions for Water, Energy and Land Management in the Mekong Delta” in Can Tho.

----- March 21, 2016 -----
The German research team visited the study site and the Vietnamese team in Ho Chi Minh City. The main reason for the journey was the Kick-Off meeting in My Tho, the provincial capital of Tien Giang, about 60 km from Ho Chi Minh City.

----- February 1, 2016 -----
Project kickoff in Berlin.






Feb 2016 – Jan 2019