Northumbria University Secures £1.25m To Build Pakistan’s First Agricultural Waste-To-Biofuel Plant. SAFER PLUS Project Converts Cotton Stalks And Sugarcane Waste Into Bio-Coal Pellets Via Torrefaction. Plant At University Of Kamalia Processes 5,000 Tonnes Per Year. Replaces Imported Coal At 40-50% Lower Cost. Pakistan Imports 19 Million Tonnes Of Coal Annually At Over $2.5bn
According to BBC/Northumbria University, academics at Northumbria University’s School of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics have secured nearly £1.25 million in UK government funding to build Pakistan’s first full-scale plant converting agricultural waste into clean energy.
The project, called SAFER PLUS, uses torrefaction; a low-oxygen heating process, to convert cotton stalks and sugarcane waste into engineered bio-coal pellets that can replace imported coal in brick kilns and textile mill boilers at 40 to 50 per cent lower cost, requiring no equipment modifications.
The demonstration hub will be built at the University of Kamalia in South Punjab and is expected to process 5,000 tonnes of agricultural waste per year, producing up to 4,000 tonnes of bio-coal.
The system also generates surplus heat for local textile dyeing workshops, produces electricity for off-grid households and yields wood vinegar sold directly to farmers as a natural pesticide. Once operational, the system requires no external fuel input, making it self-sustaining.
Pakistan currently imports around 19 million tonnes of coal annually at a cost exceeding $2.5 billion, while Punjab farmers burn millions of tonnes of crop residue every winter; pushing air pollution five to seven times above WHO limits and driving the country’s seasonal smog crisis. Three Pakistani textile manufacturers have already signed letters of commitment to trial the bio-coal as boiler fuel.
Central to the project is a women-led biomass cooperative. More than 120 households within a 25-30km radius will receive formal income for material farmers currently pay to dispose of. At least 60 per cent of training places are reserved for women, with payments made directly into their mobile wallets.
Pakistan burns its fuel and imports its coal simultaneously. SAFER PLUS turns the burned fuel into the coal.
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