Physical and Chemical Properties of Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) as a Sustainable Biofuel Feedstock

Abstract

Physical and chemical characterizations of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) plants as an alternative energy source have been conducted. The samples were originated from Sengguruh, Kepanjen, and Selorejo Dams, Ngantang, district of Malang, East Java, Indonesia. The Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX) test was performed for the chemical element content analysis of water hyacinth biomass and the proximate test was performed for physical characteristics investigation. The results indicated that chemical elements of water hyacinth are C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Zr, Cl, K, Ca, Si, Ti, and Fe revealing dominant elements, i.e., oxygen and carbon for 49.50% and 14.46%, respectively. The proximate analysis revealed that its moisture, volatile matter, fixed carbon, and ash content were 4.9, 61.2, 13.8, 20.1 (wt.%), respectively. This biomass has gross calorific value (GCV) that tested with an adiabatic bomb calorimeter of 14.46 MJ/kg. Since the water hyacinth biomass has a relatively high volatile content and a low heating value, it is reasonable that water hyacinth might suitably for co-combustion with coal to increase the coal’s reactivity during the combustion process.