Prospects for Coal Briquettes as a Substitute Fuel for Wood and ...

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The UNDP/Worl d Bank estimates that current fuolnood consumption is about
twice as much as natural growth. A factor in this overexploitatlon is
the treatment of the wood resource base as a virtually free good. There
are nonenforced stumpage fees for the harvesting of trees for fir
and a tax of only LJS$1,65/tanne is levied on charcoal producers for
cutting trees. C193 Increasing taxes to reflect scarcityr reducing
charcoal production, and improv ing end-use efficiency w i l l be rqui red.
In addition to these demand si de optforis, masslve ref orestation w ill be
necessary to reduce soil erosion, to malntain soil productivity, and to
reduce sedimentation to protect the mal 1 but vital hydropower resource.
Substitution of coal (lignite) briquettes is an energy supply option
that needs to be eval uated a5 a means for rep1 acing charcsal. Coal in
the form of lignite is found in the Central Plateau and in two
locations in the South est Pen1 nsul a. E191 The Central PI ateau 1 ignite
reserves are estimated at 6.2 MMtonnes. This lignite is high in ash and
sulfur, and has a lw calorific content of 2500 kcallkg. The cast of
mining has been estimated at US$35/tonne, Phs low energy content of the
lignite does not justify Its us8 for generation of electricity; hweverp
it may be suitable for carbonization and briquetting. Lwying
appropriate taxes on charcoal production could further improve the
economics of coal briquetti ng. The 1 ignite deposits in the Southwest
Peninsula are estimated at 0.10 MMonnes and further reconnaissance of
these deposits is needed.
mu. Due to a uns’que topographyr Peru is a country of regional
disparitiesr not the least of which lies in the area of fuelwood use.
There are three major regions. The Costa is the narrow desert strip
between the Pacific ocean and the Andes Mountains which contains Lima
and 46% of the population. The high plateau/mountain country called the
Sierra, with 24% of the populatlon, is the cantral third of the country.
The Selva is the sparsely populated, forested portion of the country in
the Amazon basin. In spite of abundant Forests in the Selva, acute
fuel wood shortages ex1 st in the Costa and prospective shortages exi st in
the Sierra, Distance and topography make trade betHeeen the regions far
an itm 1 ike fuelwood prohibitively tztxpensive.
ass energy ( fuel w~od, charcoal animal dung, and agricultural
residues) met 32% of the total ruva’as? energy demand in 1981, and in
the residentlal sector, it was of energy consumption (53% woodr 6%
other bimass and 2% charcoal 1 .E181 The Sierra is an area of special
concern for fuelwoad and other bimasas energy. The regfont in which
heavy deforestation has occurred, has only 0.2% of the country! s forest
resources yet consumes 85% of the estimated 5.3 million cubic meters of
fuelwood each year, Seventy-flve percent of the wood consumed in the
Sierra exceeds annual grwth there. The wood balance for the Sierrat
shcrwsl in Table C.Br depends on the inclusion of 5.2 million cubic meters
of wood from unknown sources. Thus, the fuelwood deficit in the Sierra
could already be considered to be 5.2 million cubic meters per year.
orld Bank si ply considers this wood a residual, whlch ra;lll
likely became less available by the year 2000. If less than half of
thls residual is available by %OOQ, the region w i l l go Into acute
fuelwood deficit, given present projections of use in that year.