5. Energy Applications of Coir

Satisfying the energy needs of the increasing population and adopting renewable and green approaches are one of the priorities of governments and other concerned institutions across the globe. Conventionally, most agricultural residues were used as fuel for burning. However, difficulties in storing residues, pollution and health hazards associated with burning the residues, and increased affordability of alternative energy sources have decreased the use of residues as sources for fuel (combustion). However, cleaner and efficient technologies for burning of biomass, recovery of other chemicals and gases during combustion have led to renewed interest in using biomass as a source of energy. New applications such as supercapacitors and gasification are intended to use biomass as energy sources. Coir satisfies most of the requirements for using it, for combustion, as carbon for supercapacitors and other energy applications. This chapter provides an overview of the possibilities of using coir as a source for energy.