Ash properties correlated with diverse types of biomass derived from power plants: an overview

Ash produced from biomass power plants is worth to be paid more attention along with the rapid development of clean energy. More and more problems have been brought out during the disposal of these ashes. Aimed at paving a way for seeking effective solutions to biomass power plant ash, ash properties, such as ash indexes, chemical compositions, mineralogy, and morphology analysis, are necessary to be discussed. On the whole, ash properties from biofuels for generating electricity are similar to ones reviewed in current literatures, but not entirely. Apart from homogenous biomass, power plants seem like to be willing for using contaminated biomass or coal-biomass as energy sources. Ashes properties of contaminated biomass or coal-biomass are quite different from those of homogenous biomass, and rarely to be reviewed before. Several factors affect the properties of ashes in depth, e.g. feedstock type, biomass processing technology, combustion technology and condition, etc. To clarity the economic, environmental, and social influence of biomass power plant ashes, it is essential to review these ash properties comprehensively in this study.