STUDY OF THE PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL-PROPERTIES OF LIGNOCELLULOSIC RESIDUES WITH A VIEW TO THE PRODUCTION OF FUELS

Spain abounds with agricultural residues such as wheat straw, wood fellings, vine shoots and cotton plant stalks in addition to forest residues (e.g. those from holm oaks and eucalyptuses) and others disposed of by agricultural food industries (e.g. sunflower seed husk, and olive stones and marc), the heating value of which was determined and compared with that of fossil fuels. Equations for prediction of the heating value of these lignocellulosic residues with errors < 10 in terms of their major components are proposed. The costs of the heat units obtained by combustion of some of these residues were found to be lower than those obtained from fluid fossil fuels and solid fossil fuels with high ash contents.