Calorific Value and its Importance – Imaluop

Hi, today we are going to discuss calorific value and its importance in which we will give an general idea about what is calorific value, calorific value of different types of food and fuels along with significance of calorific value. 

What is Calorific Value: 

Some chemicals under combustion produce heat energy and the released heat energy is not equal for all chemicals, it differs from chemicals to chemicals and we use a special method to compare the energy we can get from different chemicals.

We generally compare energy content of different chemicals with the heat energy released using unit mass of the chemical, suppose ‘y’ is a chemical now we let the chemical complete combustion under favourable conditions with unit mass of the chemical ‘y’ then if we get ‘H’ calories of heat from the chemical then we can say that the calorific value of the chemical is ‘H’. 

So it gives us a comparative estimation that how much energy we can get from a chemical maximum then we can understand which chemicals are best for energy in practical terms. In general we represent the calorific value of different materials like food and fuels in the unit Kilojoules per kilogram which means we observe the heat released in Kilojoules after complete combustion of one kilogram of a chemical.  

So the calorific value helps us to choose the energy sources for different purposes because when we need energy we can calculate which chemicals are required and in how much amount but for this we have to know the calorific value of different chemicals.

Calorific value determines efficiency of a chemical as a source of energy because higher the calorific value higher is the energy content while lower the calorific value lower is the energy content so efficiency is directly proportional to the calorific value of an energy source.  

How to Calculate Calorific Value: 

When we perform combustion of a chemical all the heat energy we do not get usually because a part of the heat energy is consumed in various processes like in valorisation the latent heat comes from the energy released by combustion of the chemical.

The total energy released during complete process of combustion is known as gross calorific value or GCV and after consumption of heat energy due to vaporization we get the net energy is known as net calorific value or NCV so we can say that NCV = (GCV – latent heat for vaporization). 

Fuels of High Calorific Value: 

If we compare the calorific value of different sources of energy in our daily household life then we can say that among LPG, biogas, petrol, kerosene highest to lowest calorific value are LPG and petrol then kerosene then biogas so LPG is most efficient source of energy in our household life. 

Calorific Value of Foods: 

We take food for energy which is required to maintain our living systems and the food molecules undergo respiration where the food molecules react with oxygen and release the energy which is stored in ATP and during requirements our cells use the ATP as a source of energy.

Our food mainly have three major types of biomolecules carbohydrates, protein and fat but all of those do not give us equal energy for example calorific value of fat is 9 Kcal/gm while calorific value of protein and carbohydrates are 4 Kcal/ gm so we can say that when we take fat it gives us high amount of energy as compared to carbohydrates and protein rich foods but we should take all types of food because our body needs all types of food as every type of biomolecules have its own role.  

Importance of Calorific Value: 

• When we choose a fuel we can estimate which fuel should be suitable for our needs and how much fuel we need so that we can predict the outcome energy. 
• To maintain a healthy lifestyle we should control our food and also we do not need the same amount of energy with the help of calorific value of different food we can choose our food and their amount depending on our activities.

Read More: Biodiesel and Its Benefits