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What are a fuel's higher and lower heating values, and how do you convert between them?

  1. Definitions
  • Higher heating value QHHVQ_{HHV}: water in combustion products is in liquid (condensed) form, including the latent heat of water vapor condensation.
  • Lower heating value QLHVQ_{LHV}: water in combustion products stays as vapor, so condensation heat is not recovered (more common for industrial kilns).
  1. Conversion core: latent heat of water vapor
    Hydrogen in the fuel forms water: each 1 kg H1\ \text{kg H} produces 9 kg H2O9\ \text{kg H}_2O. If the fuel itself contains moisture WW (kg/kg fuel), total water vapor released is approximately 9H+W9H + W.

Common engineering conversion (approx. on a 25C25^\circ C basis):

  • QLHVQHHVr(9H+W)Q_{LHV} \approx Q_{HHV} - r\,(9H+W)
    Where rr is the latent heat of vaporization of water at the reference temperature, commonly taken as:
  • r2.44 MJ/kgr \approx 2.44\ \text{MJ/kg} (near 25C25^\circ C)