Calorific value determination of solid biomass fuel by simplified method

The calorific value (GCV) and, in particular, the net calorific value (NCV) are fundamental physical parameters in the use of energetic biomass. The method of measurement and the calculation of the GCV, defined by CEN/TS 14918, is rather complex and, in many cases, has a time and cost importance. In literature there are some studies in which the empirical correlation between GCV and the element composition have been calculated. In these contribution some of the most significant correlations in literature are tested and compared to others obtained from statistical processing of data from analysis on 200 samples of biomass carried out in the laboratory and with standard CEN methods. The study shows how the very simplified correlations based on the calculation of carbon and hydrogen content have performances that are similar to those of more complex ones based on the greater number of parameters. In particular, the empirical correlation (GCV = 297.6 + 389.7C) produced from this work has errors that are comparable to those of the better correlation highlighted by literature (GCV = 5.22C^2 – 319C – 1647H + 38.6C.H + 133N + 21028).