Customer needs

Fuel customer Fuel owner

Quality
Reliability
Price

Measurement

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Forms of Wood Fuels

• Wood energy is used in different forms

– Solid
• Loose like firewood, chips Focus
• Compressed like pellets and sod peat
– Liquid
• Alcohols, bio oils etc.
– Gas

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MAIN PROPERTIES OF FUELS

• The most important fuel properties of

solid wood fuels are:
– Volume or weight
– Moisture content, %
– Particle size distribution
• Heating value; MJ/kg, MWh/t
• Ash content and especially its melting properties
• Density
z Chemical composition
z Amount of volatiles
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Fuel delivery
Comminuted
Or not?

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VOLUME AND DENSITY OF FUEL

1 solid-m3 1.5-7
pile-m3

2.5 bulk-m3
of chips

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 DELIVERY POSSIBILITIES

• Weight Æt
• Volume Æ m3
• Caloric value &
Moisture content Æ MWh/t • Moisture content Æ MWh/m3
• Ash content • Fixed caloric value
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Mechanical Truck Scale

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PROPERTIES OF WOOD AS A FUEL

Bulk density (kg/m3 bulk volume):

– Mass and volume measured as received
– Is in the range of 200–350 kg/bulk m3 with the
Northern, “light” woody biomasses
– Depends on:
• Compactness
• Moisture content
• Particle size
• Basic density of the raw material

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Simple bulk density measurement

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Particle size distribution differences

Photos: Vapo Ltd.

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PROPERTIES OF WOOD AS A FUEL
60
Particle size
50
•The particle size varies from

Share, %
sawdust-like material to sticks of 40

wood and branch pieces 30

•The size of the chips is influenced 20

– By the raw material and 10

– By the chipper type
0
• Condition of chipper knives as >45 mm >30 mm >13 mm >7 mm >3 mm <3 mm

well as the hole size of the screen

Saw dust
•The more stem wood the raw Logging residue chips
Whole tree chips
material contains, the more even the Stump chips

particle size distribution will be… Crushed bark

Sawmill chips

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SAMPLING

• Target is to get as representative sample as

possible from the whole fuel batch (e.g. truck or
chip pile)
• Sampling is the period which is the most
significant source of inaccuracy in the results
• The most exact result is obtained by mechanical
sampling which is possible when taking samples
from continues fuel streams or load

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SAMPLING

• The delivery site of the fuel should be the primary

sampling point
• Single samples should be taken (priority order)
1. from continuous fuel streams
2. directly from the load
3. at the receiving station
4. during loading
5. from a stockpile or a fuel heap

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SAMPLE TREATMENT

• Samples must be stored in a closed plastic bag or

in sealed container
• Each sample must be marked carefully (at least
name of the sample, sampling date and sampling
place)
• Samples must be stored in a cool place
(refrigerator)
• Samples can also be stored in a freezer if period of
storage is long
• Condensed water from the bag or container must
mix together with the sample
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TOTAL MOISTURE CONTENT AS RECEIVED (Mar)

OVEN METHOD

• The samples are dried in an air-

conditioned drying oven at 105 ±
2 °C to constant weight
• A drying period is 16 - 24 hours
• After drying the samples are
cooled in a desiccator to room
temperature before weighing or
weighed hot immediately after
removing from the oven
• A standard oven gives 1-2 % too
high moisture content due to
lost volatile compounds
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PROPERTIES OF WOOD AS A FUEL
OIL

COAL
BROWN
COAL

PEAT

WOOD

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PROPERTIES OF WOOD AS A FUEL

•The calorific heating value of wood chips does not vary a lot
between tree species (18.7–21.9 MJ/kg), but

– In coniferous tree species it is slightly higher than in

deciduous tree species

• This is caused by a higher lignin and resin contents in

coniferous species

•In the northern parts of Europe the concept of effective

heating value (without the energy content of condensed water
vapour) is more commonly used than calorimetric value.

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 CALORIFIC VALUE
CROSS CALORIFIC VALUE (Q gr)
• A weighed portion of the analysis
sample (air-dry, about 1 g) of the
solid fuel is burned in high-pressure
oxygen in a bomb calorimeter
under specific conditions
• The gross calorific value is
calculated from the corrected
temperature rise and the effective
heat capacity of the calorimeter
• Contains the energy of H2, which
typically goes out of the chimney
• Qnet, d = Qgr, d – 0.2181 x H2-content

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ENERGY QUANTITY DELIVERED (W)

• A reliable calculation of the energy quantity delivered

requires
• determination of moisture content
• determination of calorific value
• weighing of the fuel batch delivered

• The energy quantity delivered (MWh) is calculated

according to equation
W= Qnet,ar × m
3.6
• Qnet,ar = Qnet,d x (100 – Mar)/100 – 0.02441 x Mar

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 ASH CONTENT (Ad)

• The air dry analysis

sample is weighed to a
tempered combustion
crucible
• The crucible is placed into
furnace at room-
temperature
• The sample is ashed in a
muffle furnace at 815 °C
or at 550 °C
• After combustion the
crucible is cooled down in
an desiccator and weighed
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