Question:easy

Which ONE of the following options is NOT a parameter as a part of proximate analysis of municipal solid waste?

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Proximate analysis is a heat-and-weigh test on the whole sample; think about which of the four options instead needs elemental determination of individual atoms.
Updated On: Aug 14, 2026
  • Volatile matter
  • Ash content
  • Carbon to nitrogen ratio
  • Moisture content
Show Solution

The Correct Option is C

Solution and Explanation

A useful trick here is to remember that proximate analysis is essentially a furnace-and-oven test: everything it reports comes out of heating a waste sample step by step and weighing what is lost or left behind. Moisture content comes from drying the sample and recording weight loss, volatile matter comes from heating it further in a covered crucible and recording additional weight loss, ash content comes from complete combustion and weighing what remains, and fixed carbon is simply calculated as the balance of these three from $100\%$.

None of these oven-and-scale measurements can tell you how much nitrogen or carbon, specifically, is chemically present in the waste. Getting the carbon to nitrogen ratio needs elemental (ultimate) analysis, which uses chemical or instrumental methods, such as a CHN analyzer or Kjeldahl nitrogen determination, rather than simple heating and weighing.

Since moisture, volatile matter, and ash content all fit the heat-and-weigh definition of proximate analysis, while the C/N ratio needs elemental determination instead, the C/N ratio is the parameter that does not belong.

\[\boxed{\text{Answer: (C) Carbon to nitrogen ratio}}\]
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