Database of chemical properties of Australian biomass and waste

Full description

This project sought to develop a database of fuel and energy characteristics for a range of Australian biomass and wastes to support their use in a range of thermochemical technologies. The database includes biomass sourced from agriculture (wheat straw, cotton trash, sugar cane trash, chicken manure, etc), forestry (mostly woody wastes from different forestry operations including some irrigated by effluent), industrial processing (timber residues, saw dust from timber mills, bagasse from sugar industry, rice hull from rice industry, paper sludge from paper industry, etc) and urban waste (municipal solid waste, green waste and biosolids and sewage from waste water treatment facilities). The database contains relatively simple-to-use information such as proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, calorific value as well as chemical composition of mineral matter to enable project proponents to draw conclusions as to likely plant capacity and annual output. It will be updated and expanded over time as more data are available.
Lineage: A sample of anywhere from a few to 10 kg of material that would be representative of what might be available for energy purposes was obtained. A portion of representative sample was prepared and analysed for proximate and ultimate properties. These analyses were carried out in accordance with Australian Standards AS1038.1, AS1038.3, AS1038.5 and AS1038.7 for those samples collected and analysed prior 2010 to ensure compatibility with power station boiler practice. For recent biomass and waste samples collected after 2010, proximate and ultimate analyses were performed using EN 1477432009 Standard for moisture content, ISO 181232015 for volatile matter, EN 147752009 Standard for ash content, ISO 169482015 Standard for C,H,N, CEN/TS 15289:2006(E) for S, CEN/TS 15289:2006(E) by titration for Cl and the heating value of MSW samples was determined on a Leco AC350 calorimeter according to AS1038. A portion of the sample was ashed and ash analysis conducted to determine chemical composition of mineral matters .