MadSci Network: General Biology
Query:

Re: What is the calorific or heat content of human and animal blood

Date: Tue Jan 29 15:30:49 2002
Posted By: Greta Hardin, Secondary School Teacher, Science
Area of science: General Biology
ID: 1011611992.Gb
Message:

First of all it is CALORIC or CALORIE 

But back to the question... I am not ENTIRELY sure why you need this 
information for waste disposal, unless you are trying to account for the 
amount of heat incinerating the waste would produce?

I cannot tell you what the heat content of these substances is, but I can 
direct you to a few resources or tests that could help you get close to 
the answer.  First blood is largely water, which you may know is a crummy 
material to try to incinerate.  The rest is a little sugar and 
carbohydrates, and the rest is protein.  Another substance of like 
composition is eggs.  The two ways I would check the heat content of this 
stuff, is first see if you can find the heat/calorie content of "Chicken 
Egg Albumin" in a reference somewhere - ask your (obviously very brave 
and 
adventourous) science teacher for guidance.  Or, crack an egg in a non-
corrosive, heat resistant container that will fit in a calorimeter, let it 
dehydrate (away from animals and squeamish humans), and then ignite 
it in 
a calorimeter.  This should give you a fair estimate to your blood 
question.

A better direction to go, if you are looking to incinerate animal and 
medical waste is to go on a hunt for the IGNITION temperatures of the 
substances of interest, as the added heat when they burn will not make 
much difference in a proper incinerator.  Instead what you need to know is 
how hot does your incinerator need to be to properly dispose of you waste 
of interest.

Hope This Helps
Good Luck,
Greta



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