Global rice production is around  465 million tons (Jan 2013), which results ±120 million tonnes of rice husks. The nutritional value of the husks is very low and they take very long to decompose, i.e. they are not appropriate for composting. The pentosan content of husks is suitable for furfural production, but its high silica content has in the past been 'blamed' as the cause for the failure of at least two furfural plants (one in the USA and one in Italy).

However, we (and other researchers ) have found that the silica content does