Determination of calorific values of coconut shells and coconut husks

Abstract

The coconut palm has a lot of uses including its use as composites and as fuels. In this work, we explored the use of a bomb calorimeter to determine the calorific values of coconut shells and coconut husks. A fixed sample mass of 0.05 kg has been used for both the shells and husks and burned in a bomb calorimeter for a duration of 5 minutes. Different masses got burnt and the amount of heat transferred to the water in which the calorimeter has been immersed determined. The mean calorific value obtained for the shells, 17.40 MJ/kg, was comparable to certain wood species and that for the husks was 10.01 MJ/Kg. Such high calorific values mean that these materials, which are normally considered as waste in Ghana, have the potential of being used as energy sources. This will go a long way to ease pressure on traditional energy sources like wood, thereby preventing deforestation