MEE503 – Power Plant Engineering Prepared by Dr. N.

Zakhia

Concepts of heating values

The heating value (or energy value or calorific value) of a fuel is the amount of heat released during the
combustion of a specified amount of it. The energy value is a characteristic for each substance. It is
measured in units of energy per unit of the substance, usually mass, such as: kJ/kg, kJ/mol, kcal/kg, Btu/lb.
Heating value is commonly determined by use of a bomb calorimeter. The heat of combustion for fuels is
expressed as the HHV, LHV, or GHV.

Higher heating value

The quantity known as higher heating value (HHV) (or gross energy or upper heating value or gross calorific
value (GCV) or higher calorific value (HCV)) is determined by bringing all the products of combustion back
to the original pre-combustion temperature, and in particular condensing any vapor produced. Such
measurements often use a standard temperature of 25°C. This is the same as the thermodynamic heat of
combustion since the enthalpy change for the reaction assumes a common temperature of the compounds
before and after combustion, in which case the water produced by combustion is liquid.
The higher heating value takes into account the latent heat of vaporization of water in the combustion
products, and is useful in calculating heating values for fuels where condensation of the reaction products
is practical (e.g., in a gas-fired boiler used for space heat). In other words, HHV assumes the entire water
component is in liquid state at the end of combustion (in product of combustion) and that heat above
150°C can be put to use.
Lower heating value
The quantity known as lower heating value (LHV) (net calorific value (NCV) or lower calorific value (LCV)) is
determined by subtracting the heat of vaporization of the water vapor from the higher heating value. This
treats any H2O formed as a vapor. The energy required to vaporize the water therefore is not realized as
heat.
LHV calculations assume that the water component of a combustion process is in vapor state at the end of
combustion, as opposed to the higher heating value (HHV) (a.k.a. gross calorific value or gross CV) which
assumes that all of the water in a combustion process is in a liquid state after a combustion process.
The LHV assumes that the latent heat of vaporization of water in the fuel and the reaction products is not
recovered. It is useful in comparing fuels where condensation of the combustion products is impractical, or
heat at a temperature below 150°C cannot be put to use.
The above is but one definition of lower heating value adopted by the American Petroleum Institute (API)
and uses a reference temperature of 60°F (15.56°C).
Another definition, used by Gas Processors Suppliers Association (GPSA) and originally used by API (data
collected for API research project 44), is the enthalpy of all combustion products minus the enthalpy of the
fuel at the reference temperature (API research project 44 used 25°C. GPSA currently uses 60°F), minus the
enthalpy of the stoichiometric oxygen (O2) at the reference temperature, minus the heat of vaporization of
the vapor content of the combustion products.
The distinction between the two is that this second definition assumes that the combustion products are
all returned to the reference temperature and the heat content from the condensing vapor is considered
not to be useful. This is more easily calculated from the higher heating value than when using the
preceding definition and will in fact give a slightly different answer.
Gross heating value
Gross heating value accounts for water in the exhaust leaving as vapor, and includes liquid water in the fuel
prior to combustion. This value is important for fuels like wood or coal, which will usually contain some
amount of water prior to burning.
MEE503 – Power Plant Engineering Prepared by Dr. N. Zakhia

Measuring heating values

The higher heating value is experimentally determined in a bomb calorimeter. The combustion of
a stoichiometric mixture of fuel and oxidizer (e.g., two moles of hydrogen and one mole of oxygen) in a
steel container at 25° is initiated by an ignition device and the reactions allowed to complete. When
hydrogen and oxygen react during combustion, water vapor is produced. The vessel and its contents are
then cooled to the original 25°C and the higher heating value is determined as the heat released between
identical initial and final temperatures.
When the lower heating value (LHV) is determined, cooling is stopped at 150°C and the reaction heat is
only partially recovered. The limit of 150°C is an arbitrary choice.
Note: Higher heating value (HHV) is calculated with the product of water being in liquid form while lower
heating value (LHV) is calculated with the product of water being in vapor form.
Relation between heating values
The difference between the two heating values depends on the chemical composition of the fuel. In the
case of pure carbon or carbon monoxide, the two heating values are almost identical, the difference being
the sensible heat content of carbon dioxide between 150°C and 25°C (sensible heat exchange causes a
change of temperature. In contrast, latent heat is added or subtracted for phase transitions at constant
temperature. Examples: heat of vaporization or heat of fusion). For hydrogen the difference is much more
significant as it includes the sensible heat of water vapor between 150°C and 100°C, the latent heat of
condensation at 100°C, and the sensible heat of the condensed water between 100°C and 25°C. All in all,
the higher heating value of hydrogen is 18.2% above its lower heating value (142 MJ/kg vs. 120 MJ/kg).
For hydrocarbons the difference depends on the hydrogen content of the fuel. For gasoline and diesel the
higher heating value exceeds the lower heating value by about 10% and 7% respectively, and for natural
gas about 11%.
A common method of relating HHV to LHV is:
HHV = LHV + hfg x (nH2O,out/nfuel,in)
where hfg is the heat of vaporization of water, nH2O,out is the moles of water vaporized and nfuel,in is
the number of moles of fuel combusted.[1]
Most applications that burn fuel produce water vapor, which is unused and thus wastes its heat content. In
such applications, the lower heating value is generally used to give a 'benchmark' for the process; however,
for true energy calculations the higher heating value is correct. This is particularly relevant for natural gas,
whose high hydrogen content produces much water. The gross energy value is relevant for gas burned
in condensing boilers and power plants with flue-gas condensation that condense the water vapor
produced by combustion, recovering heat which would otherwise be wasted.
Usage of terms
For historical reasons, the efficiency of power plants and combined heat and power plants in Europe may
have once been calculated based on the LHV. However, this does not seem to be the case nowadays and
most countries are tending to correctly use HHV for true efficiency figures, and if they are not already then
they should be doing so. This is becoming noticeable in modern UK energy publications with the increase
of energy awareness and based on the simple fact that it is correct. While in the US, values may have been
reported to be generally based on the HHV, although any initial investigation may reveal that the US is still
tending to use LHV in some circumstances, whether technically correct or not. This has the peculiar result
that contemporary combined heat and power plants, where flue-gas condensations implemented, may
report efficiencies exceeding 100%. Using LHV in other energy calculations brings similar errors, especially
when pulled (incorrectly) into electrolysis calculations etc.
MEE503 – Power Plant Engineering Prepared by Dr. N. Zakhia

Higher (HHV) and Lower (LHV) Heating values of some common fuels
Fuel HHV MJ/kg HHV BTU/lb HHV kJ/mol LHV MJ/kg
Hydrogen 141.80 61,000 286 119.96
Methane 55.50 23,900 889 50.00
Ethane 51.90 22,400 1,560 47.80
Propane 50.35 21,700 2,220 46.35
Butane 49.50 20,900 2,877 45.75
Pentane 45.35
Gasoline 47.30 20,400 44.4
Paraffin 46.00 19,900 41.50
Kerosene 46.20 19,862 43.00
Diesel 44.80 19,300 43.4
Coal (Anthracite) 32.50 14,000
Coal (Lignite) 15.00 8,000
Wood (MAF) 21.7 8,700
Peat (damp) 6.00 2,500
Peat (dry) 15.00 6,500

Heat of Combustion for some common fuels (HHV)

Fuel kJ/g kcal/g BTU/lb

Higher heating value of some less common
fuels
Hydrogen 141.9 33.9 61,000
Fuel HHV MJ/kg BTU/lb kJ/mol
Methanol 22.7 9,800 726.0
Natural Gas 54.0 13.0 23,000
Ethanol 29.7 12,800 1,300.0
Propanol 33.6 14,500 2,020.0
Butane 49.2 11.8 21,200
Acetylene 49.9 21,500 1,300.0
Benzene 41.8 18,000 3,270.0 Propane 49.9 11.9 21,000
Ammonia 22.5 9,690 382.0
Hydrazine 19.4 8,370 622.0 Gasoline 47.0 11.3 20,000
Hexamine 30.0 12,900 4,200.0
Carbon 32.8 14,100 393.5 Diesel 45.0 10.7 19,300

Coal (Anthracite) 27.0 7.8 14,000

Ethanol 29.7 7.1 12,000

Wood 15.0 3.6 6,000