ENERGETIC VALUE OF CORN COBS

During the past decade, biomass thermochemical conversion has attracted global attention as an environmentally - and economically - attractive alternative energy generation route to replace fossil fuels as much is possible. To thermal conversion the good energetic material is corn stover. Crops residues after corn grain harvest make 47-50% the yield dray matter of whole corn plants. For this reason Institute of Biosystems Engineering in Poznan University of Life Sciences realize the project "Research and development work on prototype technology for harvesting and processing corn cob cores for energy purposes". The aim of this paper presents the physical properties, chemical composition, high heat value and calorific value of corn cobs. The analyses show that the corn cobs had high content of coal, hydrogen and cellulose. High heat value of corn cobs was 18.9 MJ/kg.