Several fuels are compared in this table with respect to their energy content per unit mass and the amount of CO2 released per unit of available energy. The energy content is taken to be the negative of the standard enthalpy of combustion (see the table “Heat of Combustion” in this section for more details). The energy is assumed to be released by combustion with oxygen at normal atmospheric pressure, with products of gaseous CO2 and liquid H2O at room temperature. This quantity is often called the “gross heat of combustion” (sometimes called “higher heating value or HHV”) to distinguish it from the “net heat of combustion,” for which the water remains in the gas state. The latter quantity is typically 5% to 10% less than the values given here.
The energy content is given both in SI units of MJ/kg and conventional units of BTU/lb. Values for the fossil fuels and other materials are typical; individual samples show wide variations. The data refer to substances in their normal physical state at ambient temperature and pressure. Column definitions for the table are as follows.
Column heading | Definition |
Name | Name of fuel; fossil fuels and other materials are typical composition; individual samples show wide variations |
E(SI) | Energy content per unit mass, in units of MJ kg-1 (SI units) |
E(conv.) | Energy content per unit mass, in units of 103·BTU lb-1 (conventional units) |
CO2 rel. | Mass of carbon released as carbon dioxide (CO2) per megajoule of energy, in units g MJ-1 |
Examination of the table shows that the minimum CO2 release occurs for fuels that have a high ratio of hydrogen to carbon. Furthermore, fuels containing oxygen have a lower energy content and higher CO2 release than hydrocarbons with the same number of carbon atoms.
Name | Mol. form. | E(SI)/MJ kg-1 | E(conv.)/103·BTU lb-1 | CO2 rel./g MJ-1 |
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Pure compounds | ||||
Hydrogen | H2 | 141.8 | 61.0 | 0.0 |
Methane | CH4 | 55.5 | 23.9 | 13.5 |
Ethane | C2H6 | 51.9 | 22.3 | 15.4 |
Propane | C3H8 | 50.3 | 21.7 | 16.2 |
Butane | C4H10 | 49.5 | 21.3 | 16.7 |
Pentane | C5H12 | 48.6 | 20.9 | 17.1 |
Hexane | C6H14 | 48.3 | 20.8 | 17.3 |
Heptane | C7H16 | 48.1 | 20.7 | 17.5 |
Octane | C8H18 | 47.9 | 20.6 | 17.6 |
Methanol | CH4O | 22.7 | 9.7 | 16.5 |
Ethanol | C2H6O | 29.7 | 12.8 | 17.6 |
1-Propanol | C3H8O | 33.6 | 14.5 | 17.8 |
1-Butanol | C4H10O | 36.1 | 15.5 | 18.0 |
1-Octanol | C8H18O | 40.7 | 17.5 | 18.1 |
Methyl tert-butyl ether | C5H12O | 38.2 | 16.4 | 17.8 |
Fossil fuels | ||||
Natural gasa | 54.0 | 23.2 | 13.9 | |
Gasoline | 46.5 | 20.0 | 17.6 | |
E85 fuelb | 32.1 | 13.8 | 17.6 | |
Diesel fuelc | 46.3 | 19.9 | 17.9 |
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