Approximate Chemical formula of solid waste. Solid waste is mixture of various components which have their own chemical composition and chemical formula. But deriving approximate formula will help many ways including a. calculating oxygen requirement to burn or decompose the waste. b. probable emission of different gases during natural degradation or waste treatment c. To find energy that can be generated from the waste. The procedure for deriving chemical formula is simple and given in following example. Exercise 1 Different samples of waste collected in a city have been taken and analyzed. It has been found that it can be divided into four categories which are Food Waste, Paper, Cardboard and Plastic. Amount of potentially critical elements against each category can be found in Table 1 Find a. Approximate formula of solid waste b. Energy contents of solid waste per kg. (Assume that Ash is already removed before incineration) kg Component Wet mass in Dry mass in Moisture in Composition in kg kg kg CHONS Ash Food 16 5 11 2.40 0.32 1.88 0.13 0.02 0.26 Waste Paper 46 43 3 18.70 2.58 18.92 0.13 0.08 2.58 Cardboard 11 10 1 4.40 0.59 4.46 0.03 0.02 0.51 Plastic 11 10 1 6.00 0.72 2.38 0.00 0.00 1.00