Characterization of Selected Solid Fuels and Their Calorific Values in Kenya: A Case Study of Bomet, Narok, Taita-Taveta, and Mombasa Counties

Energy for household use is expensive and is thus less available to communities, especially in developing countries. In Kenyan rural households, the primary source of domestic cooking fuel is either locally available firewood, charcoal produced through gradual pyrolysis of these firewood, or biomass briquettes. Nonetheless, there have been minimal investigations that characterize and compare typical firewood species and the associated charcoal fuels in terms of moisture content, calorific values, and their relationships. Consequently, this study sought to ascertain the moisture content, ultimate analysis, and calorific values of Grevillea robusta, Arundinaria alpina, Eucalyptus globulus, Azadirachta indica, Gliricidia sepium, Adansonia digitata L., Cyprus, and Acacia auriculiformis wood fuels, and the corresponding charcoal and briquettes in Bomet, Narok, Taita Taveta, and Mombasa Counties. The bomb calorimeter method was used to determine the calorific values while the elemental analyzer was used to determine carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen levels in the fuel. Moisture content of the wood fuels ranged from 2.36 ± 0.01