Thank you everybody for this valuable info.
Mirador I know there was in Santo Domingo, on the JFK, a brick-making company that was using rice husks. The husks were mixed with the clay. when the brick was put in the oven, the husks inside the brick were burning also, hence reducing the need for fuel, and leaving at the end of the process a lightweight brick with insulating properties. Then the solar was sold and the factory closed.
At the Alfareria Dominicana, on the Autopista Duarte front of Carrefour, they use coconut husks at a supplement fuel, main fuel beeing gas. (info given by a worker there).
The lignin content of coconut husks is similar to wood. It burns! In the philippines on the campos many families use them as a fuel. They also use rice husks, the government agencies have developed a type of stove (cost 15US) specifically to burn rice husks.
Crushed coco husks are widely used for gardening and also for soil stabilizing, including in golf courses.. In fact I wonder if it's not the coir ("the hair" ) that is used. The coir is also used in high end matresses in Europe, mixed with natural latex. India and Sri Lanka export container loads of coir to Europe.
Rice husk ash, when burned under controlled conditions, is a valuable substitute to cement for the manufacture of lightweight pozzolanic concrete, just like flying ashes (RHA concrete)
I always wonder why there are apparently almost no efforts in DR to used local wastes in energy or industrial processes, whereas any used household item is reused and reused.
Always a good surprise to see people in DR innovating the clever way. The day I visit the North Coast I will find this factory in Nagua, thank you Chris for the info.
SJH I know that husks are given to animals but I read it was a poor diet due to lack of nutritient in the husks, and high silica content that makes digestion difficult. If you don't mind: do you feed cattle, pigs or chicken?
Barnab?