Characterization of the thermal properties of forest fuels by combustible gas analysis

The thermal decompositions of forty-three typical forest fuels have been characterized up to 500 degrees C. The fuels studied include foliage, wood, small stems, and bark. Evolved gas analysis gave quantitative measurements of the oxygen stoichiometry for combustion of volatile pyrolysis products. Oxygen consumption by the volatiles is highly correlated to their calculated heats of combustion. Char heats of combustion were also determined and found to be very similar for the fuels studied. These data were used to partition total heat of combustion into flaming and glowing components. Addition of combustible gas analysis to other thermal analysis techniques provides a more complete comparison of thermal behavior over a wide temperature. (Refs. 30).