SOCOTEC UK Awarded UKAS Accreditation for Testing Trace Metals and Major Elemental Oxides in Solid Fuel

Due to the wide range of raw materials that can be present in these fuels, the analysis of major and minor elements is essential to ensure the fuel is safe to use and to determine what is likely to be present in the resulting ash and emissions.  There are limits for minor elements within environmental permits that must be met to remain compliant, and major elemental oxides are often the main contributors to slagging and fouling within an application. Understanding the levels within your feedstock can prevent damage, downtime and ultimately lost revenue.

Prepared samples (<1mm) for minor elements, and ashed samples for major elements, are digested in hydrofluoric, nitric and hydrochloric acids by state of the art microwave digestion systems and analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES).  The use of microwave digestion allows SOCOTEC to fully digest more samples in a shorter period of time using less acid, which means a lower carbon footprint for the laboratory and fast, accurate results that the client can rely on.

Anna Lloyd, commercial manager for Renewable Energy, comments, “We have offered high quality analysis of solid fuels for major and minor elements for many years and recently we have seen a commercial demand for accreditation. We always strive to respond to our customers’ requirements for additions and improvements to our service offering and this is a great example of that.”