TITLE: Woodchip Ashing
AUTHORS: Feyereisen

[DESCRIPTION]
<div class = "text-blocks"><div class = "text-block">Woodchip ashing protocol</div></div>

[STEPS]
?. Place up to 5 crucibles into the muffle furnace
?. Move the muffle furnace near the hood in 197 Borlaug and turn on the hood
?. Turn on the muffle furnace, set temperature to 300o C, leave for 1 hour
?. Turn the muffle furnace temperature to 550o C and leave for 4 hours
?. After 4 hours, turn off the muffle furnace and hood, allow crucibles to cool for 1 hour inside the furnace
?. DANGER:  THE CRUCIBLES ARE VERY HOT, ALWAYS USE HIGH TEMPERATURE GLOVES AND TONGS
?. USING HIGH TEMPERATURE GLOVES AND TONGS, remove crucibles and place them into a desiccator with a CERAMIC base.
?. Place the cover onto the desiccator and apply vacuum to the desiccator using a sink vacuum setup
?. Check to see if the desiccator is under vacuum by pulling on the cover, it should be held on by the vacuum
?. Make sure to close the valve on the desiccator BEFORE turning off the water
?. Allow the crucibles to cool under vacuum for 1 hour
?. Weigh the samples on an analytical balance that can read to 0.1 mg
?. Use the same scale for ALL weighing activities, and check calibration with 2 g test weight
?. Remove a crucible from the desiccator with tongs, and place it onto a scale
?. In a lab book, record the crucible number and dry mass to 0.1 mg
?. Continue to record all the crucible numbers and dry mass
?. In a lab book, record sample and crucible number
?. Weigh 3.5g +/- 0.5g of ground woodchip material into the recorded crucible
?. Weigh 2 replicates for each individual sample
?. Continue until all the crucibles or samples are used
?. Place up to 18 crucibles into the muffle furnace
?. Feyereisen Lab muffle furnace- setpoint of 300o C for 1 hour, then up to 550o C for remaining 4 hours
?. Move the muffle furnace into the hood and turn on the hood (room 197 hood for Feyereisen Lab muffle furnace)
?. Turn on the muffle furnace according to the instruction sheet on the cart
?. Allow the crucibles and samples to ash for 5 hours
?. After 5 hours, turn off the muffle furnace and hood, allow crucibles to cool for 1 hour
?. DANGER, THE SAMPLES ARE VERY HOT, ALWAYS USE HIGH TEMPERATURE GLOVES AND TONGS
?. USING HIGH TEMPERATURE GLOVES AND TONGS, remove crucibles and place them into a desiccator with a CERAMIC base.
?. Place the cover onto the desiccator and apply vacuum to the desiccator using a sink vacuum setup
?. Check to see if the desiccator is under vacuum by pulling on the cover of the desiccator, it should be held on by the vacuum
?. Make sure to close the valve on the desiccator BEFORE turning off the water
?. Allow the crucibles to cool under vacuum for 1 hour
?. Weigh the crucible + ash material on the same scale you used to record the dry mass of the crucibles
?. Record the mass of the crucible + ash material in the proper location for the sample in the lab book
?. Continue recording the mass of all the crucibles and ash samples
?. When you are finished weighing all the samples, clean the crucibles and place them into Ulrike’s lab
?. Obtain an aluminum tray, and number the tab
?. Weigh the aluminum tray with numbered tab on a scale that can read to 0.1 mg
?. Record the aluminum tray number and mass in a lab book
?. Weigh out 1.5g +/- 0.5 g of ground “wet” woodchip material into the aluminum tray, and record samples name and mass to 0.1 mg for the sample in the lab book
?. Continue to label, weigh trays, and weigh samples until all samples are weighed
?. Place the aluminum trays into an oven at 105o C for 24+ hours
?. The next day, weigh the samples on the SAME SCALE you used to weigh the aluminum tray and wet sample weight and record mass to 0.1 mg in the lab book