Physical and Chemical Analysis of Biochar Generated from Palm Tree Fronds.

“Physical and Chemical Analysis of Biochar Generated from Palm tree fronds”

Palm trees are one of the traditional and native trees in the United Arab Emirates. There are more than 40 million palm trees in the UAE, of which 33 million palms are in the Abu Dhabi Emirate alone. Each tree produces about 15 kg of waste fronds annually of which is currently disposed in the landfills. This motivated us to determine the feasibility of the land by applying the palm tree waste in the form of biochar (pyrolysed biomass), and using it as a sustainable practice to improve soil quality which could be a low cost alternative for waste management and control. The objective of this study is to characterize the physical and chemical properties of a Biochar generated from palm tree fronds. Physical analysis included Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and chemical analysis included the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Thermo-Gravimetric Analyzer (TGA).