A 'concrete' idea for stubble burning

Key Messages

Burning the generated straw in a closed system like a cement kiln, where the exhaust gas adheres to pollution norms, can significantly curb the woes of stubble burning. Every kilogram of rice produced implies 0.7-1.4 kg of rice straw, which means 4-8 million tonnes of straw being burnt on the fields in Punjab and Haryana collectively. The straw can produce as much as 50-100 petajoules (PJ) of energy. This can be used in cement kilns to meet the thermal energy demand for producing cement.