[Stoves] Fuel Testing

[frank]

Thanks for this explanation!
If I ever get the chance to complete my spreadsheet I will add this into 
the formula. Knowing the carbon in the om (OM/2.1=C) for woody material 
I should be able to figure the amount of carbon I need to subtract from 
the total to get the 'usable' carbon that is left for heating the pot. 
Right or wrong that is the way I now think about it.

Frank



>
>  
>
>>If some of the energy
>>(carbon) in the fuel is needed to first remove the water (cooled to make
>>steam) is there an estimate of the amount of carbon 'wasted' to remove a gram
>>of water? Am I thinking about this in the right way?
>>    
>>
>
>If you model wood as carbon plus associated water then the energy from
>burning the wood  cleanly to carbon dioxide and water is just the
>oxidation energy of the carbon mass in the wood. If you use my 2.7 MJ
>figure for losses due to excess water content in the wood then it's a
>simple calculation to see how much carbon you would need to vapourise
>and reject this water. In practice as a number of others have pointed
>out a simple formula is mass of fuel minus mass of residual ash  gives
>the organic content. Mass of oven dry fuel minus ash times 18.6 gives
>the energy content for most biomass and subtract from this 2.7MJ/kg
>for every kg of water in the wood.
>
>AJH
>
>
>
>  
>

-- 
Frank Shields
Soil Control Lab
42 Hangar way
Watsonville, CA  95076
(831) 724-5422 tel
(831) 724-3188 fax
frank at compostlab.com
www.compostlab.com