IT plays a massive role in feeding the world, and now rice
can play a part in next-generation vehicles, according to new research from
Korea.
For decades, researchers have tried to devise a use for vast
amounts of waste from rice production, the husks, which comprise about 20 per
cent of harvested rice kernels.
That's more than 80 million metric tons a year, given
worldwide annual rice yield amounts to about 422 million metric tons.
Until now, practical uses of rice husks have been limited to
a narrow range of low-value agricultural items such as fertiliser additives and
bed soil because of their tough and abrasive properties.