Thursday 10 December 2015

Organic pollutants profiling of wood ashes from biomass power plants linked to the ash characteristics

Science of the Total Environment, 544 (2016) 535-543
doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.134



Wood ash, characterized by high content of certain nutrients and charcoal, can be applied to soils as a means of managing this waste product improving the soil quality. The associated environmental risk must be assessed. The objective of this study was to characterize the bottom and fly ash collected from 15 biomass power plants in Spain by determining the benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and styrene (BTEX + S), PAHs and aliphatic hydrocarbon contents of both types of ash. Biochar was also used for comparison purposes.