Biomass has biofuel potential, but just how much?

When you want to evaluate a biofuel, there are all sorts of considerations. You need to know how easy it is to convert the raw material to a usable biofuel, how efficient that process can be, and how much biofuel you end up with, for example. To make reasonable comparisons, you need to use the same procedure. Say you want to evaluate the mineral content—the non-convertible portion of your raw material. You’re going to want to use a standard procedure. That’s why the National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed a lab procedure for determining ash content in biofuel materials. The ash content is determined by weighing pre- and post-burned samples on an analytical balance.

For further information visit www.nrel.gov.

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