CALCULATION OF HIGHER HEATING VALUES OF BIOMASS MATERIALS AND WASTE COMPONENTS FROM ELEMENTAL ANALYSES

Higher heating values on a dry basis (HHV2), measured and calculated from elemental analyses, of more than 140 biomass and waste component materials have been compared. The data were evaluated by six higher heating value formulas. The Vondracek formula was found to give the best agreement between calculated and measured heating values over a wide range (10-47 MJ/kg), judged by good linear correlation between measured and calculated HHV2 values. Standard reference materials also have been evaluated and shown generally to give good agreement. The calculation of higher healing values form elemental analyses is a good check for the reliability of a material's composition and heating value measurements in most cases. Materials with differences between calculated and measured higher heating values in excess of 6% should be considered suspect and examined closely.