Properties of Animal-Origin Ash—A Valuable Material for Circular Economy

Izabella Maj, Sylwester Kalisz and Szymon Ciukaj
Additional contact information
Izabella Maj: Department of Power Engineering and Turbomachinery, Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Sylwester Kalisz: Department of Power Engineering and Turbomachinery, Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland
Szymon Ciukaj: Department of Power Engineering and Turbomachinery, Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: In the presented paper, two types of animal-origin biomass, cow dung and chicken litter, are characterized in terms of combustion-related problems and ash properties. It was found that these parameters strongly depend on the farming style. Whether it is cow dung or chicken litter, free-range raw materials are characterized by higher ash contents than industrial farming ones. Free-range samples contain chlorine at lower levels, while industrial farming samples are chlorine rich. Free-range samples are characterized by the predominant content of silica in the ash: 75.60% in cow dung and 57.11% in chicken litter, while industrial farming samples contain more calcium. Samples were classified by 11 “slagging indices” based on the ash and fuel composition to evaluate their tendencies for slagging, fouling, ash deposition and bed agglomeration. Furthermore, an assessment was made against the current EU law regulations, whether the ashes can be component materials for fertilizers. The phosphorus concentration in the investigated ashes corresponds to 4.09–23.73 wt% P 2 O 5 and is significantly higher in industrial chicken litter samples. The concentrations of Hg, Cu, As, Ni, Cd and Pb in all samples are below the limits of the UE regulations. However, concentrations of Cr in all samples and Zn in industrial chicken litter exceed these standards.

Keywords: biomass; animal-origin biomass; chicken litter; cow manure; biomass ash; slagging; chlorine corrosion; SEM; ash characterization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/4/1274/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/4/1274/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:4:p:1274-:d:745848

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().