Sanofi Vietnam signs an agreement with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit’s Climate Protection through Sustainable Bioenergy Market in Vietnam Project to convert its diesel-fired boiler into a rice husk-fired boiler on September 23. — Photo courtesy of Sanofi Vietnam

Sanofi Vietnam and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit’s Climate Protection through Sustainable Bioenergy Market in Vietnam Project are collaborating to convert diesel boilers at the former's factories into rice husk-fired ones to cut down the amount of waste and air pollution.

They signed an agreement on Thursday (September 23) for carrying out the conversion.

It will be done as part of Sanofi’s ‘Rice is the new green’ environmental initiative to develop sustainable rice husk biomass energy.

It is one of three to be funded by the company’s Planet Mobilization Fund as part of efforts to become carbon-neutral by 2025.

Sanofi Vietnam is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 2,300 tons a year.

Vietnam is the world’s fifth largest rice producing country and churns out more than 10 million tons of rice husk every year.

Rice husk is renewable and can serve as an alternative energy source replacing fossil fuels such as coal and oil.

Moreover, the by-product of rice husk combustion is ash with a high content of silica, which is a raw material for industrial production that has however not been exploited. — VNS