1. Background

• This combustion file is concerned with the provision of combustion related data to IFRF Individual Members.
• In this html file the data are presented in a semi-qualitative manner to give the reader a general overview of the data available.
• Data can be copied and pasted by the reader from this html file, where non-image files are presented, but there will often be the need for some terms, not used here in a strictly mathematical sense, to be edited out before the data may be used in calculations.
• To avoid this problem, the same data, prepared for calculation, are presented in individual Microsoft Excel Worksheets, all contained within a Workbook.
• This workbook can be down-loaded by the reader and saved to her/his hard disk.
• To achieve this click on the “xls” icon on the left hand side of the banner above. The file will be retrieved from the server, and with up-to-date versions of the browser, will appear in a separate window, from which it may be saved to the user’s hard disk.
• The data in these worksheets are protected – thus the reader cannot change the worksheet without knowledge of the protection password.
• However the reader can copy and paste the data into his/her own project work book as required – at this point the accuracy and integrity of the data becomes the responsibility of the reader.
• To overview the data available – go to Section 2 below.
• All credits and sources, and where necessary, instructions/advice for data use, are presented in this html file. These are not necessarily reproduced in the Excel Work Sheets.

2. Data Overview

The European standardization of solid BioFuels is currently [July 2001], under development; see the project Standardisation of solid biofuels in Europe, project number: FAIR5-CT97-3952.

However, characterisation is available by selecting the country where a specific fuel is a dominant source of energy; for an example select Finland for wood.

All data presented in this Combustion File is contained in Tables 1 to 3 below:

Table 1 shows the average properties of different types of solid wood fuel.

Table 2 introduces data on wood chip fuel with regard to composition and ash analyses.

Table 3 gives a comparison between waste wood and Columbian coal (El Cerrejon).

Sources

[1] Evaluation of the Dutch and Finnish situation of energy recovery from biomass
and waste (Tekes, 2000, 115 pp.)

[2] Hein, K.R.G.: Combined combustion of biomass/sewage sludge and coals of high and
low rank in different systems of semi-industrial and industrial scale. EC-research project: APAS, Clean Coal Technology Programme (1992-1994),
Volume II: Final Reports.

[3] Gast, C.H. & Visser, J.G.: The cocombustion of waste wood with coal. Effects
on emissions and fly-ash composition. EC-research project: APAS, Clean Coal Technology Programme
(1992-1994), Volume II: Final Reports

Tables

Table 1a. Average properties of
different types of solid wood fuel. Source: [1]

	[GLOSS]Logging residue chips[/GLOSS]	[GLOSS]Whole tree chips[/GLOSS]	[GLOSS]Log chips[/GLOSS]	[GLOSS]Stump chips[/GLOSS]	[GLOSS]Softwood chips[/GLOSS]	[GLOSS]Birch chips[/GLOSS]
Moisture content, wt%, (fresh chips)	50-60	45-55	40-55	30-50	50-65	45-55
Net calorific value in dry matter, MJ/kg	18.5-20	18.5-20	18.5-20	18.5-20	18.5-20	21-23
Net calorific values as received, MJ/kg	6-9	6-9	6-10	6-11	6-9	7-11
Bulk density as received, kg/loose m3	250-400	250-350	250-350	200-300	250-350	300-400
Energy density, MWh/m3 of bulk volume	0.7-0.9	0.7-0.9	0.7-0.9	0.8-1.0	0.5-0.7	0.6-0.8
Ash content in dry matter, wt%	1-3	1-2	0.5-2	1-3	1-3	1-3
Hydrogen content in dry matter (H), wt%	6-6.2	5.4-6	5.4-6	5.4-6	5.7-5.9	6.2-6.8
Sulphur content in dry matter (S), wt%	<0.05	<0.05	<0.05	<0.05	<0.05	<0.05
Nitrogen content in dry matter (N), wt%	0.3-0.5	0.3-0.5	0.3-0.5	0.3-0.5	0.3-0.5	0.5-0.8

Table 1b. Average properties of
different types of solid wood fuel. Source: [1]

	[GLOSS]Wood residue chips[/GLOSS]	[GLOSS]Saw residue chips[/GLOSS]	[GLOSS]Sawdust[/GLOSS]	[GLOSS]Cutter chips[/GLOSS]	[GLOSS]Grinding dust[/GLOSS]	[GLOSS]Pellets[/GLOSS]
Moisture content, wt%, (fresh chips)	10-50	45-60	45-60	5-15	5-15	10
Net calorific value in dry matter, MJ/kg	18.5-20	18.5-20	19-19.2	19-19.2	19-19.2	19.2
Net calorific values as received, MJ/kg	6-15	6-10	6-10	13-16	15-17	16.8
Bulk density as received, kg/loose m3	150-300	250-350	250-350	80-120	100-150	500-750
Energy density, MWh/m3 of bulk volume	0.7-0.9	0.5-0.8	0.45-0.7	0.45-0.55	0.5-0.65	2.3
Ash content in dry matter, wt%	0.4-1	0.5-2	0.4-0.5	0.4-0.5	0.4-0.8	1.5
Hydrogen content in dry matter (H), wt%	5.4-6.4	5.4-6.4	6.2-6.4	6.2-6.4	6.2-6.4	6.2-6.4
Sulphur content in dry matter (S), wt%	<0.05	<0.05	<0.05	<0.05	<0.05	<0.05
Nitrogen content in dry matter (N), wt%	0.1-0.5	0.1-0.5	0.1-0.5	0.1-0.5	0.1-0.5	0.04

Table 2.1. Ultimate analysis and ash
percentages of wood in moisture-free condition. [2]

	C [%]	H [%]	O [%]	N [%]	S [%]	ash [%]	SiO2 [%]
wood	45 – 50	5.6	6.5	40 – 44	0.5-1.5	0.01 – 0.05	0.6 – 2.0

Table 2.2. Analysis results for wood
ash ignited to 815 ^oC. [2]

Constituent	Unit	Mean value
SiO2	%	15.3
FeO2	%	2.4
Al2O3	%	2.9
CaO	%	28.21
MgO	%	4.23
K2O	%	5.41
P2O5	%	2.28
Na2O	%	0.63
SO3	%	4.3
Pb	mg/kg	12.6
Cd	mg/kg	3.9
Cr	mg/kg	36.3
Cu	mg/kg	96.9
Ni	mg/kg	42.4
Hg	mg/kg
Zn	mg/kg	600
Ash	%	2

Table 3a. Proximate analysis of waste
wood and Columbian coal (El Cerrejon)

%wt as received	Waste wood (53-800 mm)	Coal (El Cerrejon)
Moisture	7.2	3.2
Volatile matter	74.59	36.26
Fixed carbon	No data	No data
Ash	2.92	5.82

Table 3b. Ultimate analysis

%wt as received	Waste wood (53-800 mm)	Coal (El Cerrejon)
Carbon	44.5	75.0
Hydrogen	5.74	4.96
Nitrogen	0.43	1.45
Sulphur	0.13	0.55
Oxygen	39.0	9.14
Chlorine (mg/kg)	541	221

Table 3c. Calorific value

MJ/kg	Waste wood (53-800 mm)	Coal (El Cerrejon)
HCV	15.62	30.82
LCV	14.33	29.7

Table 3d. Ash composition

%wt as oxide	Waste wood (53-800 mm)	Coal (El Cerrejon)
SiO2	48.6	59.3
Al2O3	3.8	18.0
CaO	17.1	3.7
P2O5	0.23	0.2
Fe2O3	2.9	9.6
TiO2	6.0	0.9
MgO	1.8	2.2
Na2O	2.0	0.9
K2O	1.6	1.9

Table 3e. Heavy metals – trace
element concentration

mg/kg as received	Waste wood (53-800 mm)	Coal (El Cerrejon)
Pb	817	3.05
Cd	2.3	0.09
Hg	0.05	0.03
Zn	1235	12
Ni	39	11.1
As	7.3	1.8
Cr	108	7.4
Sb	7.3	< 1.2
Sn	2.1	< 1.0