Partial Chemical Fractionation

Chemical Fractionation (CF) is a sequence of selective extractions used to help understand the characteristics of various fuels, including biomass.  The purpose of the partial chemical fractionation analysis is to determine the amount of particular trace metals which are organically associated and inorganically associated.  The metals of interest are Ca, Mg, K, Na and P, Si.  The fuel sample is exposed to sequential leaching processes in order to differentiate the inorganic classes within the fuel. The parts of the fuel are found as water soluble, ion exchangeable, hydrochloric acid soluble or residual (non-soluble). This information can be used to better predict how the fuel will behave during combustion and downstream processes. CF can provide insight into emissions, deposition, slagging, and corrosion issues associated with biomass firing.