Mainul Ahsan

Chemical Studies on Press Mud: A Sugar Industries Waste in Bangladesh

Crude press muds a sugar industry waste were collected from four sugar mills of Bangladesh. Crude press mud as well as its water soluble and water insoluble portion and extracted wax were studied for its proximate analysis, physico-chemical properties, elemental and wax composition. The proximate analysis of crude press mud showed the presence of moisture (67.95–76.53), nitrogen (1.63–2.29), ash (19.28–30.76), sugar (12.10–13.29) and crude wax (6.70–11.01). Acid value (26.95–27.68), saponification value (102.59–103.01) and iodine value (6.72–6.82) were also studied of the extracted wax. The GLC analysis showed linolenic (45.54%), oleic (27.28%) and palmitic acid (23.59%) were the predominant acids in the crude wax. The XRF spectrometric analysis of the elemental composition showed the presence of Ca (21.30–29.97%), Si (9.53–9.94%), P (8.40–9.52%), S (3.77–7.36%) and K (2.51–4.08%) in crude press mud, Ca (19.83–31.93%), K (8.76–13.52%), S (7.93–16.02%) and Mg (4.14–7.75%) in water soluble portion press mud and Ca (21.77–30.68%), K (1.62–3.41%), S (3.49–7.09%), P (9.0–11.31%), Al (2.40–2.93) and Si (10.50–10.54%) in water in-soluble portion press mud. The Fourier transform infrared analysis, Thermo gravimetric, Derivative thermo gravimetric and differential thermal analysis of press mud were also carried out. These analyses may find the suitability to enrich the micronutrients in restoring the soil composition and also find possibility to use in agriculture, horticulture and aquaculture based industries. Moreover, press mud wax may have an alternative use of carnauba wax.