A STUDY ON CALORIFIC ENERGY VALUES OF BIOMASS RESIDUE PELLETS FOR HEATING PURPOSES

Combustion is the most developed and most frequently applied process used for solid biomass fuels because of its low cost and high reliability. The interest in using biomass residue pellets for heating purposes is increasing. Clean and dry residue pellets are an ideal fuel for combustion in small-scale installations. This article presents an experimental study on calorific energy values of biomass residue pellets for heating purposes. The fuel samples used, were biomass residues of agricultural (cotton, cardoon, etc.) and forest (pine, fir, beech, etc.) wastes. This research is part of a continuing program to obtain precise thermal analysis data from different kinds of agricultural and forest by-products. A bomb calorimeter (Model C5000, !"#®-Werke) was used to determine the calorific values by the standard ASTM method. The experimental results obtained are encouraging and show that these materials can be used as alternative fuels.