Relationships between lignin contents and heating values of biomass

The higher heating values (HHVs) of 14 biomass fuels were correlated with their lignin content. There was a highly significant linear correlation between the HHV of the biomass fuel and the lignin content. The HHV (kJ g(-1)) of the biomass fuel as a function of lignin content (L, wt%) was calculated using the following equations: HHV = 0.0889(L) + 16.8218 HHV = 0.0877(L) + 16.4951 for which the correlation coefficients (r) were 0.9504 and 0.9302, respectively. The HHVs calculated with these equations showed mean differences of 0.056 and 0.067%, respectively. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.