Carbon Dioxide Emission by Combustion Fuels:

Carbon Dioxide Emission by Combustion Fuels:

A. Environmental emission of carbon dioxide - CO2 - from fuels like coal, oil, natural gas, LPG and bio energy are responsible for global warming.

To calculate the CO2 emission from a fuel, the carbon content of the fuel are multiplied by the ratio of the molecular weight of CO2 (44) to the molecular weight of carbon (12) -> 44/12 = 3.7.

Approximately environmental emission of Carbon Dioxide – CO2 - from the combustion of different fuels can be approximated from the table below:

Fuel	Carbon Content (kg C/kg fuel)	Energy Content (kWh/kg)	Emission of CO2 (kg CO2/kWh)
Coal (bituminous/anthracite)	0.75	7.5	0.37
Gasoline	0.9	12.5	0.27
Diesel	0.86	11.8	0.24
Light Oil	0.7	11.7	0.26
Natural Gas, Methane	0.75	12	0.23
LPG - Liquid Petroleum Gas	0.82	12.3	0.24
Bioenergy	0	-	0

B. Bioenergy is produced from biomass derived from any renewable organic plant, such as:

(a) Dedicated energy crops and trees;

(b) Agricultural food and feed crops;

(c) Agricultural crop wastes and residues;

(d) Wood wastes;

(e) Aquatic plants;

(f) Animal wastes;

(g) Municipal wastes and other waste materials

Emissions of CO2 can contribute to climate change. Combustion of bioenergy do not add to the total emission of carbon dioxide as long as the burned biomass do not exceed the renewed production. (Emission of CO2 from combusting wood is in reality approximately 0.18 kg/kWh)

C. A variety of biofuels can be made from biomass resources, such as,

(a) Ethanol;

(b) Methanol;

(c) Bio-diesel;

(d) Fischer-Tropsch diesel;

(e) Gaseous fuels like hydrogen or methane.