Phu Yen: Creator of “clean fire” from Ganoderma waste

Village’s billionaire from rice husk charcoal

Recalling the time of 8 years ago, by the end of July 2011, I followed the members of the jury of the Technology Creation Contest of Phu Yen Province (2010-2011) to conduct a practical survey on the rice husk charcoal production model of Mr. Nghi (in Phuoc Binh Bac hamlet, Hoa Thanh commune, Dong Hoa district). At that time Nguyen Van Nghi was still single and living with his parents...

Today, the couple "Nghi cui trau" received us in the living room of the spacious and fully furnished 3-storey house with the floor area of more than 200m 2. “In May 2012, after winning the First Prize of the 11 th Vietnam Fund for Supporting Technology Creations, receiving the Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister, the Certificate of Creative Labor, the "Creative Youth" Medal of the Central Committee of Union,... my rice husk charcoal products were sold like hot cakes, which could not be produced with the full quantity to meet the market inside and outside the province”, recounted Nguyen Van Nghi happily.

Until now, in Hoa Thanh commune, Dong Hoa district, no one does not know "Nghi cui trau". Because Nguyen Van Nghi has been graduated with the bachelor's degree in Geography, from VNUHCM-University of Social Sciences and Humanities but did not live in Saigon as his classmates; then, he "returned to his village to make rice husk charcoal", and becomes rich in his homeland with rice husk waste which is deemed to be discarded.

Through knowledge, in the past, besides manufacture of rice husk charcoal presses, Nguyen Van Nghi transferred the model to 17 rice husk charcoal production facilities with 17 wood-pressing machines across the country at the price of VND 105 million/machine. In addition, many units inside and outside the province have ordered to use Nghi's rice husk charcoal products.

Mr. Nguyen Van Nghi and his wife did not hide their words: “All of the existing assets such as houses, cars, construction land of Sao Xanh Private Preschool, rented land to expand the factory, donations to social activities in the locality ... are also from rice husk charcoal".

We have felt through the smiles and eyes of the couple that they are very happy with their life today and also proud of the family economy from such charcoal, and not bothered with the name "Village’s billionaire".

Nguyen Van Nghi and the wood-press

Creating new products

According to Nguyen Van Nghi, "Rice husk charcoal fuel is smoking, so I desired to create smokeless fuel product to provide to the market ... so I researched with best efforts. It is not easy to obtain smokeless charcoal products from Ganoderma waste. It took 3 to 4 years to research and experiment to obtain the products today”.

“Phu Yen has over 1,000 Linh Chi mushroom production establishments (Complexes, Cooperatives, households ...). After the mushrooms are harvested, the waste products in the packages are discharged, causing non-sanitation and pollution to habitat of the community ... Moreover, Phu Yen has the large area of acacia plantation. Every year, after harvesting, the branches are reused to be grounded into powder (sawdust) to sell to mushroom production establishments or for cooking ... which are not effective. Therefore, the “production of Smokeless charcoal from Ganoderma waste” is essential", shared Mr. Nghi.

Mr. Nghi describes that the production line system consists of 4 parts (Screw conveyor to transfer materials through the drying tube; drying tube to dry and remove moisture from raw materials; Storage to store dried raw material and Presses)

Accordingly, the production process is as follows: Transferring raw materials to screw conveyor, Drying raw materials through pipes, Storing and Mixing materials (sawdust, Ganoderma waste) - Pouring materials into hoppers; Pressing raw materials (compressive strength of over 1,000 Newtons); Outputting billets 1(raw charcoal, same as rice husk charcoal, but with small diameter of 3 cm and length from 0.7 m to 1 m) - Transferring billets 1 (with yellow core like rice husk charcoal) to the kiln to output the special smokeless and clean charcoal products.

Currently, according to Mr. Nghi, 1 ton of raw material produces 900 kg of raw charcoal (billet 1); 900 kilograms of raw charcoal are transferred to the kiln to produce 400 kg of fine charcoal. Each month, 12,000 kg (12 tons) are produced. The value of contract to sell 1 ton is VND 13,000,000, earning VND 156,000,000 per month. After deducting expenses of wages, electricity, materials, machine depreciation, State taxes, social contributions ... the earned profit is VND 35,00,000/month.

“Green Agricultural Product Company (in Ninh Hung commune, Ninh Hoa town, Khanh Hoa province) have been signed an indefinite off-take contract for the product ... In addition, I have 02 production facilities in Phuoc Binh Bac Hamlet, Hoa Thanh commune and Nam Binh Hamlet, Hoa Xuan Tay commune, Dong Hoa district. The number of workers is currently over 15 (even more than 30 at peak time). The average salary of each employee is from VND 5 million to 8 million/month”, said he.

The topic "Production model of Smokeless charcoal from Ganoderma waste" has been registered to participate in the 8 th Technology Creation Contest of Phu Yen Province (2018-2019). As assessed by Mr. Nguyen Trai, Chairman of the Hoa Thanh Commune People's Committee, Dong Hoa District, Phu Yen Province, Mr. Nguyen Van Nghi is a typical example of the locality in creative activities, contributing to promoting the local youth generation's "desire to be rich" based on the scientific and technical models.