Nguyen Xuan Quang creator Kumar, Sivanappan Chairperson Mohanty, B. Examination committee Lacrosse, L. Examination committee Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) Scholarship donor text series technical report th Bangkok Asian Institute of Technology 1999 continuing eng 78 leaves Brick industry is an important industry sector in the Binh Duong province, South Vietnam. It contributes significantly its economic development while consuming more than 390 thousands tons of fire wood per year. Facing the constraint of environmental problem in brick and ceramics making, the local authorities have formulated an environmental policy which refuses permission to wood fuel based factories, encourages advance technology applications, encourages use of new fuel (to reduce fuel wood use) and relocate the factories from residential area. Scarcity of wood and the new policy have made the use of wood difficult in brick factories in Binh Duong that uses traditional technology. in South Vietnam, rice production is high, so the amounts of rice residues like rice husk, and rice straw is very large. Rice husk or rice husk briquette can, therefore, be considered as a fuel option for brick making in Binh Duong. The objective of this study is to assess the possibility on the use of rice husk or rice husk briquette as an alternative to wood fuel in Binh Duong province. There is no previous application of rice husk briquette as a fuel for brick making because the rice husk briquetting technology is not developed. The use of rice husk in brick kiln in Thailand was studied to understand its operation, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Energy balance studies were done to assess its performance. The result of the study indicates that the kiln has low investment, operation process is simple and the specific energy consumption at around 3.84 - 8.27 is acceptable in the intermittent brick kiln. However, the temperature inside the kiln is low at ground level and so the bricks at this level are not good quality. In Cantho province, other brick kiln using rice husk as a fuel was surveyed by questionnaire. The kiln is intermittent down draught kiln. The efficiency is just the same as the kiln in Thailand but the operation procedure is complicated and takes a long time for one cycle of firing process. The quality of brick is reach to the Vietnamese standard. a survey of the brick industry in Vietnam's Binh Duong province was also undertaken to know the status of the brick industry and the current operational characteristics, which use wood as a fuel. Experiments were carried out to estimate the current performance. Based on the study, it was noted that: in Binh Duong, wood can be scarcity in the future. The specific energy consumption for brick firing in Binh Duong varies 4-5 MJ/kg. The operation procedure is complicated but the firing time is short (around one week for one firing cycle). From the information and data gathered on the rice husk based kilns in Thailand and the status of brick kilns in Binh Duong province, an analysis on the use/ applicability of rice husk as a fuel in brick kilns was studied in term of its availability, technology, changes required in kiln and the cost. the study indicates the difficulties to change the fuel from wood to rice husk. Various options have been considered and the results discussed. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering. School of Environment Resources and Development Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1999 Fuel switching Vietnam Binh Duong Asian Institute of Technology. http://203.159.5.9/ait-thesis/detail.php?q=B12789 http://203.159.5.9/ait-thesis/detail.php?q=B12789 230200 20260818223336.0