The purpose of this study was to characterize some types of biomass wastes resulted from different activities such as: agriculture, forestry and food industry using thermogravimetric and ICP-MS analyses. Also, it was optimized an ICP-MS method for the determination of As, Cd and Pb from biomass ash samples. The ICP-MS analysis revealed that the highest concentration of metals (As, Cd, Pb) was recorded in the wood waste ash sample, also the thermogravimetric analysis indicated that the highest amount of ash was obtained for the same sample (26.82%). The biomass wastes mentioned in this study are alternative recyclable materials, reusable as pellets and briquettes.
Keywords: ash, biomass, ICP-MS, minor elements, TG