Characterization of Biochars from Various Agricultural By-Products Using FTIR Spectroscopy, SEM focused with image Processing
Avedananda Ray
Abstract
Biochar is a charred final product by the pyrolysis of biomass. In this work, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of various agricultural by-products (Pine needles, Rice husk, and grinded wheat straw, Bamboo leaves) derived carbonaceous biochars were investigated. The efficacy of FTIR spectra as a simple and rapid method for bio-physical characterization had been explored. The FTIR information was also discussed for explaining the biochar formation process. Results indicated the feasibility of FTIR in rapid and non-destructive biochar measurements for quality and production. Digital image processing has been used to identify the cell walls of the SEM images by using several filters and image histograms of all the SEM images are also generated. All the algorithms are used after careful consideration of noise removal using wiener filter to each of the images.