Proximate Analysis

Several analyses are performed for proximate analysis. This includes the internal and external amount of water content present in the waste sample, and it is expressed as a weight percent of the agro-waste. It is calculated by subjecting the agro-waste to thermal pre-treatment in a furnace usually operated at >105 ◦C for at least 3 h until a constant weight is reached to get the exact amount of moisture within the initial un-pretreated agro-waste. The ash content can be obtained after the complete combustion of the waste when there is a specific amount of leftover residue in a process operated at >575 ◦C for 3 h. The ash content can be determined by comparing the ash residue to the total amount of the feed agro-waste sample. For volatile matter, except for moisture, it is released when biomass is incinerated at high temperature (950 ◦C for 7 min) in anaerobic conditions. The presence of a high amount of volatile matter indicates a high amount of liquids and gaseous by-products, which can be useful products. The total weight loss of the waste during such a thermal operation is estimated to be equivalent to the amount of volatile matter. After accounting for moisture, ash, and volatile matter, the amount of explosive residue, i.e., fixed carbon, can be determined.
