Bengali farmers collect and pile up these plants to dry at the onset of the cold season; they then use the dry water hyacinths as fuel. The ashes are used as fertilizer. In India, of dried water hyacinth yields about 50 liters ethanol and 200 kg residual fiber (7,700 Btu). Bacterial fermentation of yields 26,500 ft3 gas (600 Btu) with 51.6% methane (), 25.4% hydrogen (), 22.1% carbon dioxide (), and 1.2% oxygen (). Gasification of dry matter by air and steam at high temperatures () gives about 40,000 ft3 (1,100 m3) natural gas (143 Btu/ft3) containing 16.6% , 4.8% , 21.7% (carbon monoxide), 4.1% , and 52.8% (nitrogen). The high moisture content of water hyacinth, adding so much to handling costs, tends to limit commercial ventures. A continuous, hydraulic production system could be designed, which would provide a better utilization of capital investments than in conventional agriculture, which is essentially a batch operation.