1. Ash refers to the residual inorganic matter after burning plants. It is an oxide of various mineral elements. The main elements are calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, silicon, phosphorus, sulfur, iron, aluminum, iodine and so on. In addition, there are at least 60 kinds of trace elements. By analyzing plant ash, we can know which inorganic nutrients are contained in plants. Peat ash, that is, minerals contained in peat, is expressed as a percentage of solid matter in peat. Most of the minerals in peat are brought by wind and water, and a small part comes from plant residues. The former is called external ash, and the latter is called internal ash (pure ash), collectively referred to as total ash. The total ash content of peat in China is relatively high, ranging from 30% to 50%, of which pure ash only accounts for about 6- 15%, which is slightly different due to different external ash content and carbon-making plants. Among the main components of ash, the content of silicon is the highest. If peat contains more calcium, iron and aluminum, it has great utilization value.

2. Definition of volatile matter: For dry coal samples that lose moisture, when heated to a certain temperature in an air-insulated environment, the organic matter in the coal decomposes and precipitates.

It can be seen that if we want to improve the volatility, we can only improve the degree of decomposition.

The methods include: drying coal to a certain extent and refining coal particles, which are helpful to the complete decomposition of coal and improve volatile matter.

Of course, the lower the sulfur content, the better.