Measurement of the Smoldering and Flaming Heats of Combustion of Biomass and Woody Fuels

Published

March 16, 2025

Author(s)

Isaac Leventon, Karen De Lannoye

Abstract

Combustion of biomass and woody fuels is relevant to energy generation, wildfire spread, and structural fire safety. It is critical to be able to accurately quantify the energy content of these fuels (i.e., their heats of combustion [kJ/g]) and where this energy is released during burning (i.e., in the gas- or solid-phase due to flaming or smoldering combustion). In this study, a microscale combustion calorimeter (MCC) is used to perform repeated experiments on vegetative fuels and the chars that they produce to uniquely measure the heat of combustion of char oxidation (∆Hc,char) and the heat of combustion of flaming combustion (∆Hc,gas). Species of interest tested in this study include (a) sticks, stems and/or leaves of grasses, small shrubs, and trees, (b) peat (commercial and natural samples, obtained from multiple sources), and (c) solid and engineered wood samples (i.e., red cedar, pine, and oriented strand board, OSB). Initial results demonstrate up to 40% variations in ∆Hc,gas measured for various fuels (consistent with values reported in the literature) and a factor of 2.1x to 2.5x increase in ∆Hc,char versus ∆Hc,gas for a given fuel.

Proceedings Title

Combustion Symposium

Conference Dates

March 16-20, 2025

Conference Location

Boston, MA, US

Conference Title

US National Combustion Meeting

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

Fire Modeling, Gas Analysis, Material Flammability, Pyrolysis

Citation

Leventon, I. and De Lannoye, K. (2025), Measurement of the Smoldering and Flaming Heats of Combustion of Biomass and Woody Fuels, Combustion Symposium, Boston, MA, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=959394 (Accessed May 9, 2026)

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