XRF Analysis of Water Pretreated/Leached Banagrass to Determine the Effect of Temperature, Time, and Particle Size on the Removal of Inorganic Elements

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy was used to assess the effectiveness of various mild pretreatment methods for improving the fuel quality of banagrass, a tropical grass. Three types of pretreatment were used with increasing levels of severity: (i) S1 involves dewatering (pressing) only, (ii) S2 where the sample is pressed and leached, and (iii) S3 where pressing–leaching–pressing process is used. In addition, the influence of particle size (2 or 60–80 mm), leaching water temperature (25 or 75 °C), and leaching time (1 or 3 min) on the extraction of inorganic elements was examined. The results show that the S3 pretreatment is the most effective and that reducing the particle size has a more significant effect than increasing leaching temperature or time. Using a 2 mm particle size at 75 °C for 3 min produced the greatest effect, removing 50–60 wt % of the Na, ∼65 wt % Mg, ∼90 wt % P, ∼90 wt % K, ∼55 wt % S, and ∼95 wt % Cl. Using dewatering alone (S1) to pretreat the banagrass was the least effective approach. The S2 pretreatment produced results that are midway between the S1 and S3 results. However, using small particles with the S2 method gives similar results to processing large particles using the S3 approach.

MORGAN Trevor;  ANDERSEN Lars;  TURN Scott Q;  CUI Hong;  DONG Li; 

2018-01-24

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

JRC106972

0887-0624,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC106972,   

10.1021/acs.energyfuels.7b01135,