A unified correlation for estimating HHV of solid, liquid and gaseous fuels

A unified correlation for computation of higher heating value (HHV) from elemental analysis of fuels is proposed in this paper. This correlation has been derived using 225 data points and validated for additional 50 data points. The entire spectrum of fuels ranging from gaseous, liquid, coals, biomass material, char to residue-derived fuels has been considered in derivation of present correlation. The validity of this correlation has been established for fuels having wide range of elemental composition, i.e. C — 0.00–92.25%, H — 0.43–25.15%, O — 0.00–50.00%, N — 0.00–5.60%, S — 0.00–94.08% and Ash — 0.00–71.4%. The correlation offers an average absolute error of 1.45% and bias error as 0.00% and thereby establishes its versatility. Complete details of few salient data points, the methodology used for derivation of the correlation and the base assumptions made for derivation are the important constituents of this work. A summary of published correlations along with their basis also forms an important component of present work.