Rice straw is the stem or stalk of rice, the Phillippines' staple food. While it has some limited farm uses, most of the straw produced in the country is regarded as unusable waste that is discarded or burned. With proven, appropriate technology, rice straw will be converted into versatile and durable building board by a continuous extrusion process and sold, nationally, as panel boards. The product can also be converted into completely knockdown houses or school buildings.
The use of rice straw boards in the construction industry in the Philippines is a logical alternative to plywood and lumber. The combination of straw boards and steel frames in the construction of buildings will revolutionize the local building industry. The product will be highly competitive in price, ease of installation and adaptability to local construction requirements. Each processing plant will be equipped with a conversion shop where the boards will be pre-cut to required components of building structures. A low-cost house of around 36.6 sq. metros in floor area can be installed and delivered to a housing beneficiary in 3-4 days at a cost of about US$4,500. The added features of durability, fire-resistance, noise and heat insulation properties will make the straw board structures very competitive in the market.
Straw board is used worldwide as partitions, roofing, soud reduction, roof insulation, decking, wall linings, internal linings, permanent shuttering, building, suspended ceilings, speed decks, arched roofs, acoustic ceilings, demountable classrooms, screens, and modular houses. The product is used in houses, schools, stadiums and airport terminals, etc. Various finishes are possible.
Total investment is estimated to be about US$3,130,760 (1993 prices). At full capacity (three shifts), output will reach 450-000-500,000 square meters. Conservative estimates of financial viability indicate that the plant can easily pay for itself in 3 to 4 years. Support requested is a joint venture, cooperative production, licensing, market access, expertise in management, technical, and marketing.
The plant on three shifts will require 10,000 tons of straw which can easily be supplied by 4,000 hectares of irrigated riceland within a 25 km radius of the plant site. Kraft paper, glue, clay and other minor raw materials are all readily available.