Application of Biodegradable and Recyclable Chelating Agent for Ash Removal from Algae
College
Batten College of Engineering & Technology
Program
M.E. Engineering - Environmental Engineering
Publication Date
3-28-2019
Abstract
Ash is inherent in most biomass feedstock, and the origin for common constituents in biomass ash include silicates, glass and other inorganic phase which are responsible for equipment failure and operating difficulties in thermochemical energy conversion facilities. The purpose of this research is to investigate the recycling of chelating agent used for the removal of ash from biomass. In recent year’s ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid (EDTA) has been studied extensively to remove ash from biomass. EDTA in non-biodegradable, which is not environmentally friendly. Hence a biodegradable acid, nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) was investigated for the removal of ash from algae. The treated and recovered sample from NTA was further treated by citric acid and acetic acid consecutively. Weighed out algae sample was soaked in a measured NTA treatment for 2 h at 60 °C, the sample was then dried, and the same process was repeated for the citric acid treatment on the algae sample. Ash analyses was carried out on the algae sample that was recovered after each treatment. In this study, it was observed that NTA had the most impact on the algae for its ash removal. The study also focused on recycling the NTA by using Na₂S with Ca(OH)₂ to precipitate the metals extracted from the algae sample with the NTA solution. A measured amount of Ca(OH)₂ was added to the recovered portion of the NTA, after which Na₂S was added, gently stirred and allowed to settle overnight. The top and clearer portion of the solution was extracted and re-used to treat the algae sample, while the bottom part of the settled metals was stored for further comprehensive analyses and study.
Files
Recommended Citation
Damilola, George and Kumar, Sandeep, "Application of Biodegradable and Recyclable Chelating Agent for Ash Removal from Algae" (2019). College of Engineering & Technology (Batten) Posters. 9.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/engineering_batten/9