Study of Potassium Recovery from Biomass Ash Using Tartaric Acid and Syngenite Method

Abstract

Biomass has the potential and benefits of being an alternative energy source to replace fossil fuels that exist today in Indonesia and other tropical countries. In addition, biomass has an abundant stock or supply. By assessing the feasibility of recovering potassium, it is hoped that more potassium resources and in future Indonesia will be dependent on imported fertilizers and increase the agricultural industry, which is the aims of this study. The best extraction result is using CH3COOH. Treatment of 1:10 solid-liquid ratio with the help of 1 mol/l CH3COOH was chosen as the best treatment because it is more economically efficient. Recovery of K with the help of tartaric acid and acetic acid resulted in a K recovery efficiency of around 94%. The optimal condition for the syngenite method is the addition of a magnesium dose of 5 mmol/l and at pH 11, the Ca: K ratio is 1:2.1 with 42% K. This can be a suggestion which method is more effective and efficient in recovery K.