Comparative Calorific Evaluation of Biomass Fuel and Fossil Fuel

In recent years, fossil fuels have been preferably used both for domestic and industrial purposes. Fossil fuels are highly flammable and effective but are very hazardous to the human environment. It is also one of the causes of the ozone layer depletion which humanity is battling presently. Biomass fuels are majorly agricultural waste materials which have good properties that aid combustion, less hazardous and are effective for some domestic activities and in small-scale industries. This paper presents the calorific evaluation and analysis of fossil fuel and biomass fuel. It also highlights the effects of fossil fuels in terms of the dangers of increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere. It presents biomass fuel as a potential substitute for fossil fuel as a renewable energy by comparing the calorific values of various combustible samples such as: rice husk, petrol, diesel, corn cob using a C200 bomb calorimeter at the Landmark University energy laboratory to determine the calorific values and to examine if biomass can be used as a suitable replacement for fossil fuels. Results show that corn cob has a higher calorific value than rice husk, but both corn cob and rice husk have sufficient energy to be used as substitutes for petrol and diesel and other fossil fuels to reduce the dangers of C02 concentration in the atmosphere and societies over-reliance on fossil fuel