Novel Approaches Towards Sustainable Management of an Agricultural Residue - The Rice Husk

Recent developments in the reuse of agricultural residues/resources have led to environmental sustainability and cleaner technology emphasizing the utilisation of natural resources. Novel approaches to sustainable and energy conservations inter-relates the scientific and practical applications employed in engineering solutions. The increasing importance of biomass had led to an acute need for mitigating global sustainable problems. In the third world economics, Rice Husk (RH) collected from rice milling industry is considered as one of the abundant and invaluable agro-based residues. A focus on industrial food production and its sustainability is due to the generation of huge quantity of RH. The improper handling and disposal management of RH has resulted in environmental and population health risk, due to its large space occupancy and leaching. The effective utilization and study of rice husk in various industrial applications such as construction industry, energy production, water purification and soil stabilization have shown acceptable results. This review discusses the current research works focussing on the suitability of RH and its ash over a wide field of applications. Silica being the dominant content in RH and Rice Husk Ash (RHA) has attracted interest among the researchers to develop it into high strength composite materials, porous nanomaterials, a precursor of renewable energy and soil stabilising biochars. Replacement of fine aggregates with RHA has improved the strength and durability of the concrete. The RHA is also developed into an adsorbent and coagulant in water purification. The binding between the ions present in impure water and highly reactive silica bond enhances the removal efficiencies of metal ions in water treatments. Very few researches are carried out using RH compared with the pyrolyzed RHA as an alternative. This paper highlights the various field of RH applications and suggests composting of RH with nitrogen-rich garden waste to obtain an enriched soil stabilizing product with high nutrient and organic value. This approach would restore RH in its the place of generation, thereby improving the economic value of the agricultural mass and sustainable way of living.