BUDAPEST UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMICS

FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENGINEERING

DETERMINATION OF HIGHER AND LOWER HEATING

VALUES OF NATURAL GAS AND PB GAS BY CALORIMETRY
1. AIM OF THE MEASUREMENT
The aim of the measurement is the determination of higher and lower heating values of natural gas
and PB gas by using a Junkers-type gas calorimeter.

2. THEORY OF THE MEASUREMENT

2.1. Basics
2.1.1. HIGHER HEATING VALUE (HHV)
The higher heating value is the amount of heat produced by the complete combustion of a unit
quantity of fuel, when all combustion products are cooled down to the initial temperature, and the
water vapour formed during combustion is condensed.

Notation: HHV [MJ/kg], [MJ/m3]

2.1.2. LOWER HEATING VALUE (LHV)

The lower heating value is the amount of heat produced by the complete combustion of a unit
quantity of fuel, when all combustion products are cooled down to the initial temperature, and the
water vapour formed during combustion is not condensed.

Notation: LHV [MJ/kg],[MJ/m3]

The difference between higher and lower heating value is the latent heat of vaporization of the
water vapour formed by the combustion.

2.1.3. NORMAL CUBIC METER [NM3]

Normal cubic metre of a gas is the amount of gas which will have a volume of exactly one cubic
metre at normal conditions.

The properties at physical normal state:

 dry state
 temperature : 0 °C
 pressure : 101325 Pa

The properties at gas technological state:

 dry state
 temperature : 15 °C
 pressure : 101325 Pa

2.1.4. UNIT OF MEASUREMENT OF HHV AND LHV

The HHV and LHV of gases are measured in kJ/m3, MJ/m3 (normal cubic meter) or kJ/kg, MJ/kg.

2.2. The Junkers-type calorimeter

Junkers calorimeter is a device used for measuring heating value of gaseous fuels. Its working
principle is based on the First Law of Thermodynamics. The calorimeter consists of the main parts
as seen in Figure 1.
The effect of accuracy-related factors should be considered during the design of the device as
follows:

 The water mass flow rate should be constant during the measurement which is ensured by
a constant feed water pressure. The varying pressure of the water network is compensated
by two overflow tanks. They provide a constant water pressure of the difference between
their water level.
 The gas flow rate should be constant as well. To ensure a constant gas flow to the burner,
the gas pressure – which might be altered by the flow meter mechanics and/or the gas
network – is adjusted by a pressure valve built between the flow meter and the burner.
 Elimination of the bias caused by the humidity of the gas and the ambient air. The flue gas
is always saturated with water vapour which would lead to varying amount of condensed
water with varying humidity of combustion air. This error component is compensated by
saturating both the gas and air intakes. To measure the saturated gas flow, a wet gas meter
can be used. The saturation of air inlet to the calorimeter is performed by the air humidifier
as follows. The overflowing water from the water feed at the distributor funnel is spilling
in a counterflow with the combustion air to the Raschig rings. These rings are made of a
special ceramics that provides a large surface area for evaporation.
 The heat exchange between the environment and the device should be negligible. To
eliminate the bias by the ambient air, the water inlet temperature is lower from the ambient
temperature by the same extent as the outflow water is higher than that. Hence, the
ambient temperature is the arithmetic mean of the water in- and outlet temperatures.
However, the flue gas temperature slightly lower in this way than the temperature of either
the air inlet or the gas inlet. Note that the corresponding error is negligible even in the case
of low calorific value gases.
 To reduce the effect of thermal radiation, the outer shell of the calorimeter is coated by
nickel and is fine polished.

1 SHELL
2 WET-TYPE LABORATORY GAS METER
3 PRESSURE REGULATOR
4 AIR HUMIDIFIER
5 BURNER
6 AIR INLET
7 COOLING WATER
8 COOLING WATER CHAMBER
9 THERMOMETER
(FOR WATER INLET TEMPERATURE)
10 THERMOMETER
(FOR WATER OUTLET
TEMPERATURE)
11 FLUE GAS OUTLET
12 CONDENSATE
OUTLET

Figure 1. – Junkers-calorimeter
3. DETERMINING THE HIGHER HEATING VALUE AND LOWER
HEATING VALUE OF NATURAL GAS

3.1. Theoretical background

Higher and lower heating values of combustible gases are determined by using gas calorimeter.
The heat released by combustion of a known quantity of gas can measured as follows: combustion
takes place inside the chamber which covered with a shell. Water flows through the shell and
warms up during the combustion, i.e. heat of combustion is transferred to the flowing water. The
flue gas is cooled down by cooling water to about ambient temperature, so the water vapour of the
flue gas is condensed, therefore the higher heating value of natural gas can be determined. Under
steady-state conditions, heat released by combustion is equal to the heat transferred to the water.
This energy can be calculated by measuring the water inlet and outlet temperatures and the
amount of condensed water, so the higher and lower heating values of the fuel can be derived.

3.2. Determination of the HHV

Determination of higher heating value from the energy balance of the calorimeter:

𝐻𝐻𝑉 ∙ 𝑉𝑔 ∙ 𝑓 = 𝑚𝑤 ∙ 𝑐𝑤 ∙ (𝑡𝑤,𝑜𝑢𝑡 − 𝑡𝑤,𝑖𝑛 ), (1)

where:
 Vg: volume of the combusted natural gas (measured by the gas meter) [m3]
 f: calibration factor of gas meter
 mw: mass of passed water under a measured timeframe [kg]
 cw: specific heat of water (cw = 4.1868 kJ/kgK)
 tw,in, tw,out : inlet and outlet water temperature [oC]

𝑚𝑤 ∙ 𝑐𝑤 ∙ (𝑡𝑤,𝑜𝑢𝑡 − 𝑡𝑤,𝑖𝑛 )
𝐻𝐻𝑉 = (2)
𝑉𝑔 ∙ 𝑓
3.3. Determination of the LHV
Lower heating value is determined according to the definition. This means that it is necessary to
collect the condensed vapour from the flue gas during the measurement period. Then the lower
heating value can be calculated as follows:

𝐿𝐻𝑉 = 𝐻𝐻𝑊 − 𝑞𝑟 (3)

𝑚𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 ∙ 𝑟 (4)
𝑞𝑟 = ,
𝑉𝑔 ∙ 𝑓
where:
 mcond: mass of condensed vapour collected during the measurement period [kg]
 r: heat of evaporation of water (r = 2500 kJ/kg)

3.4. Calculating HHV and LHV to normal state

Higher and lower heating value must be calculated to normal state using the general gas law. The
conversion factor:
𝑝0 𝑇𝑔
𝐹= ∙ , (5)
𝑝𝑔 𝑇0
where:
 p0 = 101325 Pa
 T0 = 273.15 K (=0 °C)
 pg : pressure of gas in the gas meter [Pa]
 Tg : temperature of gas in the gas meter [K]

Total pressure in the gas meter (ptotal) is sum of two partial pressure: gas pressure (pg) and
saturation pressure of water vapour (ps) on tg gas temperature:
𝑝𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝑝𝑔 + 𝑝𝑠 (6)
where:
 ps: saturation pressure of water vapour [Pa] (which can be determined using Table 1.)

t ps t ps t ps
[°C] [Pa] [C ] [Pa] [°C] [Pa]
0 611.0
1 656.7 11 1312 21 2486
2 705.6 12 1402 22 2643
3 757.6 13 1497 23 2809
4 813.2 14 1598 24 2983
5 872.1 15 1705 25 3168
6 937.9 16 1818 26 3361
7 1001.6 17 1937 27 3565
8 1072.7 18 2063 28 3780
9 1147.7 19 2196 29 4005
10 1227.5 20 2338 30 4243
Table 1. - Saturation pressure of water vapour at various temperatures
This total pressure is the sum of two other pressures, which can be measured:
𝑝𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 = 𝑝𝑎 + ∆𝑝, (7)
where:
 pa: actual atmospheric pressure [Pa]
 Δp: pressure of the U-tube manometer [Pa]

Gas pressure (pg) can be expressed from two equations above:

p g  pb  p  ps 𝑝𝑔 = 𝑝𝑏 + ∆𝑝 − 𝑝𝑠 (8)

Normal state conversion factor:

𝑝0 𝑇𝑔
𝐹= ∙ (9)
𝑝𝑎 + ∆𝑝 − 𝑝𝑠 𝑇0
The higher and lower heating value in normal state can be calculated as:
𝐻𝐻𝑉𝑛 = 𝐻𝐻𝑉 ∙ 𝐹 (10)
𝐿𝐻𝑉𝑛 = 𝐿𝐻𝑉 ∙ 𝐹 (11)

3.5. Calibration of the gas meter

The gas meter must be calibrated prior to the measurement. The nominal and real volume passing
through the gas meter might differ. The calibration procedure is the following: air flows into a
closed tank whilst increasing the pressure there, resulting in water flowing out from it. The
volume of inflow air is measured by gas meter, the mass of the water flown out is measured by a
scale. The volume of the water can be calculated as:
𝑚𝑤,𝑜𝑢𝑡
𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 = (12)
𝜌𝑤

where:
 ρw: density of water ( ρw = 1000 kg/m3)
 mw,out – the mass of the flown out water [kg]

The calibration factor of the gas meter:

𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙
𝑓= , (13)
𝑉𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑
 Natural gas

Figure 2. – Calibration of the gas meter

3.6. Measurement procedure

 At first, the thermally steady-state operation should be achieved.
 Then additional 10 litres of gas should be combusted. The measurement starts with the 0
position of the gas meter and collection of condensed and cooling water starts. Then the
water inlet and outlet temperatures are checked after every three litre gas flow.
 During the measurement, the temperature of the gas, the flue gas, and the ambient air
temperature is recorded at once alongside with the overpressure in the gas flow meter and
the ambient pressure.
 The collection of cooling and condensate water is stopped after the consumption of 10 litres
of gas. Then the water masses are measured.
 The arithmetic mean of the temperature reads serves as the base of the calculations.
 Based on the measured quantities and the formulas above, the HHV and LHV can be
calculated.

3.7. Things to include in the laboratory report

 What is the measured HHV value of the natural gas?
 What is the measured LHV value of the natural gas?
 What is the value of F as seen in section 3.4.?
 What is the calculated HHV and LHV value of the natural gas in physical normal state and
gas technological normal state?
 How do the measured and calculated values compare to the values found in literature
(internet, other sources) for HHV and LHV of natural gas? What circumstances could have
caused the differences?

4. DETERMINING THE HIGHER HEATING VALUE AND LOWER

HEATING VALUE OF PB GAS

4.1. Theoretical background

During the measurement, the same Junkers-calorimeter will be used as we previously discussed,
but in this case we need to determine the HHV and LHV of PB gas stored in a small tank. Also, in
this case we’ll measure the mass of the burnt gas as opposed to its volume, so the end result of the
calculation will be HHV and LHV in kJ/kg or MJ/kg units.
4.2. Measurement procedure and determining the HHV and LHV
 During the measurement, the PB tank is placed on a scale. After the onset of the thermally
steady state operation, we start collecting and measuring the mass of the outflowing water
and the condense water.
 The measurement lasts 10 minutes. Every 2 minutes, we note down the mass of the PB gas
tank and the collected hot water, as well as the inflow and outflow temperatures of the
water.
 After the measurement, we note the total mass of the hot water, the mass of the condensed
water and the mass of the burnt gas.

To determine the HHV of PB gas, we have to use similar equations presented for calculating the
HHV of natural gas. We know the total hot water mass (𝑚𝑣 ), the water outflow temperate (𝑡𝑤,𝑜𝑢𝑡 ),
the water (inflow) temperature (𝑡𝑤,𝑖𝑛 ) and the mass of the burnt PB gas (∆𝑚𝑃𝐵 ). Thus:
𝐻𝐻𝑉 ∙ ∆𝑚𝑃𝐵 = 𝑚𝑤 ∙ 𝑐𝑤 ∙ (𝑡𝑤,𝑜𝑢𝑡 − 𝑡𝑤,𝑖𝑛 ), (14)

𝑚𝑤 ∙ 𝑐𝑤 ∙ (𝑡𝑤,𝑜𝑢𝑡 − 𝑡𝑤,𝑖𝑛 )
𝐻𝐻𝑉 = , (15)
∆𝑚𝑃𝐵

To determine the LHV, we measure the mass of the condensed water and calculate according to
the equations in section 3.3., while keeping in mind that the calculations should be performed with
the mass of the burnt gas and not its volume.
𝐿𝐻𝑉 = 𝐻𝐻𝑉 − 𝑞𝑟 (16)
𝑚𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 ∙ 𝑟 (17)
𝑞𝑟 = ,
∆𝑚𝑃𝐵
Because in this case the calculation is done with mass rather than volume, there’s no need to
convert these results.

4.3. Things to include in the laboratory report

 What is the measured HHV value of the PB gas?
 What is the measured LHV value of the PB gas?
 How do the measured and calculated values compare to the values found in literature
(internet, other sources) for HHV and LHV of PB gas consisting of 25% propane and 75%
butane?

5. ERRORR ESTIMATION

Both the absolute and relative error should be calculated for the HHV and LHV values of natural
gas and PB gas. The error is caused by the measurement of the temperatures (water in and out)
and mass flow rates (hot water outflow, condensed water, PB gas).

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] Penninger Antal (szerk.), Maiyaleh Tarek, Kalorikus gépek, Budapest University of
Technology and Economics, Department of Energy Engineering, 2013

[2] ISO 10780:1994 standard, on the internet: https://www.iso.org/standard/18855.html (Last

accessed: 2018.09.28.)