♻️ Total moisture of solid recovered fuels (SRF) — drying the whole sample at 105 °C to constant mass with buoyancy correction, CEN/TS 15414-1

Petrochemistry CEN/TS 15414-1

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. We had the text of the specification — the foreword and clauses 1–10, without the bibliography page — in the Slovenian edition SIST-TS CEN/TS 15414-1:2010, which according to its title page is "istoveten" (identical) with CEN/TS 15414-1:2010 (English and German versions). Clause 1: a method for determining the total moisture content of solid recovered fuels by drying a sample in an oven; it is suitable when a high precision of the determination is required; it is applicable to all solid recovered fuels. Notes: total moisture is not an absolute value, so comparable results require standardised conditions; the term "moisture" can be misleading, because recovered materials, e.g. biomass, contain volatile compounds (extractives) that evaporate on drying; the specification is based on prEN 14774-1. Principle (clause 4): the sample is dried at 105 °C in air atmosphere to constant mass and the percentage of moisture is calculated from the loss in mass; the method includes a buoyancy correction. For sampling and sample preparation it refers to prEN 15442 and prEN 15443, for terminology — to prEN 15357.

HOW IT IS DETERMINED (clauses 5–8). A drying oven holding (105 ± 2) °C, in which the air changes three to five times per hour and its flow does not blow particles off the tray; trays of non-corrodible, heat-resistant material with a smooth, clean surface, holding the whole sample at about 1 g per 100 mm² (about 0.5 g per 100 mm² when the bulk density is below 100 kg/m³); a balance reading to 0.1 g. The sample arrives in sealed, water-resistant containers or bags; coarse material is reduced to a thickness of at most 30 mm (e.g. a slow rotation grinder); the sample is weighed immediately after preparation — at least 300 g, preferably more than 500 g, and for a nominal top size of 100 mm 1–2 kg is preferred. The sample may be pre-dried during preparation — the total moisture is then calculated with the equation for a pre-dried sample. Next to the tray with the sample an identical empty reference tray is dried (buoyancy correction: a hot tray weighs less than a cold one); moisture left on the inner walls of the bag or container is included in the result — the packaging is dried at 105 °C and weighed before and after (if it cannot withstand 105 °C — it is dried open at room temperature). The trays are weighed hot within 10–15 s, on heat-insulating material; constant mass means a change of no more than 0.2 % of the total loss in mass after a further 60 min of drying. Note of the standard: drying should generally not exceed 24 h, so that volatile compounds are not lost unnecessarily; the drying time is established in pre-tests. Warning of the standard: some components of recovered fuels can self-ignite when dried at 105 °C.

RESULT (clauses 8–10). Moisture as received: Mar = [(m2 − m3) − (m4 − m5) + m6] / [(m2 − m1) + m6] × 100, where m1 — empty tray, m2 and m3 — tray with the sample before and after drying, m4 and m5 — reference tray before drying (at room temperature) and after (hot), m6 — moisture from the packaging. After pre-drying: MT = Mp + Mr × (1 − Mp/100). Conversion to the dry basis: Ud = Mar / (100 − Mar) × 100 and conversely Mar = Ud / (100 + Ud) × 100. Each determination is calculated to two decimal places and the mean is rounded to 0.1 %; the test report states whether the result refers to the wet (as received) or the dry basis. The specification gives no precision (repeatability and reproducibility) — because of the varying nature of recovered fuels.

STATUS (read on 29 September 2026). A CEN Technical Specification (CEN/TS), approved by CEN on 27 March 2010 for provisional application, dated June 2010, committee CEN/TC 343 "Solid recovered fuels", ICS 75.160.10; it superseded CEN/TS 15414-1:2006. Its title page says that the validity of a CEN/TS is limited initially to three years and that CEN members may keep conflicting national standards until the decision on conversion into an EN. The Estonian EVS (read on 29 September 2026): CEN/TS 15414-1:2010 "Valid from 06.07.2010", marked as the newest version; part 2 — CEN/TS 15414-2:2010 (simplified method) — "Withdrawn from 01.07.2026", in the history replaced by EVS-EN ISO 21660-2:2025 (valid from 17 November 2025); part 3 — EN 15414-3:2011 (moisture in the general analysis sample) — withdrawn from 1 April 2021. PKN catalogue search (29 September 2026): "15414-1" — "Brak wyników wyszukiwania" (no search results); "CEN/TS 15414" — only PN-EN 15414-3:2011 (English version) labelled "Wycofana" (withdrawn; its card: withdrawn on 24-08-2021, "Superseded by: PN-EN ISO 21660-3:2021-08"); "21660" — PN-EN ISO 21660-3:2021-08 and PN-EN ISO 21660-2:2026-05 (English version, "Part 2: Determination of total moisture by a simplified method"), there is no part 1 of this series. There is no Polish adoption of CEN/TS 15414-1 — laboratories cite the CEN document or its foreign editions.

HOW MANY LABORATORIES AND IN WHAT FORM (copy of the accreditation scope database, data up to 17 September 2026, read on 28 September 2026). All records of number 15414-1: 25 entries at 18 laboratories. Forms: "CEN/TS 15414-1:2010" — 11 laboratories; "CEN/TS 15414-1" without the year — AB 054 (two of three entries) and AB 550; "CEN/TS 15414-1:2010 M" — AB 1095 (in its scope M is the code of the location in Mysłowice); "CEN-TS 15414-1:2010" — AB 1716; the Slovenian edition "SIST-TS CEN/TS 15414-1:2010" (in the PCA document without a space: "SIST–TSCEN/TS 15414–1:2010") — AB 325; "SIS CEN/TS 15414-1:2014" — AB 769 (the year 2014 is not in the CEN edition history; whether it is the year of the Swedish edition — we did not check); "EN/TS 15414-1:2010" — AB 005, AB 081 and AB 1119, but their PCA scopes read "CEN/TS 15414-1:2010" — our copy is missing the letter C. Together with part 2 (CEN/TS 15414-2) in the same entry — AB 005, AB 550 and AB 830. The "Laboratories" tab searches for records BEGINNING with "CEN/TS 15414-1" and will show 12 laboratories — checked with the tab query on the labcoda.pl production server on 29 September 2026: 12; AB 005, AB 081, AB 1119 (in the copy "EN/TS"), AB 325, AB 769 and AB 1716 remain outside it.

CURRENT PCA SCOPES (read on 29 September 2026, issues from 10 August 2023 to 22 September 2026). All entries stand in the valid issues, every pair of range numbers from the copy appears in the current document and no entry is suspended; AB 054 has footnotes in its scope on the suspension of other entries, not these. Full records of the reference documents compared with the PCA documents — the differences are described above (the letter C at AB 005, AB 081 and AB 1119).

RANGES AND MATRICES. Gravimetric method — all entries with a technique described. Ranges in percent: lower limits from 0.1 (AB 687) and 0.10 (AB 005 — "% m/m") to 5.0 (AB 300) and 5.5 (AB 1119), upper limits from 28.0 (AB 1119) and 40.0 (AB 769, AB 829, AB 830, AB 1913) to 85.0 (AB 213) and 90.0 (AB 687, AB 1716); AB 550 and two entries of AB 054 (wastes) have no range. Object: solid recovered fuels (SRF) and raw materials for their production, and at 11 laboratories also wastes given by codes — among others from groups 19 and 20, at AB 687 and AB 1913 from group 10 01 (codes 10 01 01, 10 01 02, 10 01 03 and further; at AB 687 range (0.10 – 50.0) %, at AB 1913 (0.2 – 40.0) %), and at AB 054 a long list of code groups, including 10 01; AB 550 describes wastes by groups according to the PCA document DAB-11. The specification applies "to all solid recovered fuels"; whether wastes other than recovered fuels fall within it — WE DO NOT DECIDE.

ALONGSIDE THIS STANDARD. For the total moisture of recovered fuels and wastes the scopes cite alongside it (full list): CEN/TS 15414-2 — AB 005, AB 550 and AB 830 in the same entry, at AB 550 separately together with PN-Z-15008-02:1993; PN-93/Z-15008/02 — AB 869 (wastes); PN-G-04611:2020-06 — AB 081 (furnace wastes) and AB 1089 (wastes from group 10 01); PN-ISO 589:2006 method B1 — AB 687 (wastes from group 10 01); PN-80/G-04511 — AB 688 (wastes); in-house procedures — AB 005 (PB-16, total moisture "z obliczeń" (from calculations), also for recovered fuels), AB 1267 (PB-04 — recovered fuels and wastes DAB-11), AB 054, AB 079 and AB 300 (wastes); general records "Normy", "Procedury" (standards, procedures) — AB 213, AB 412, AB 1095. Moisture in the general analysis sample — a different quantity — is determined by 16 of these 18 laboratories (all except AB 869 and AB 1095) according to PN-EN ISO 21660-3:2021-08; that standard has a separate entry in this knowledge base, as does the reference method for solid biofuels — PN-EN ISO 18134-1.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not have the bibliography page — we do not give the title of prEN 14774-1. Nor do we give the content of prEN 15442 and prEN 15443 (sampling and sample preparation), to which the specification refers.

Method principle

The whole sample of solid recovered fuel is dried in an oven at (105 ± 2) °C in air atmosphere to constant mass (a change of no more than 0.2 % of the total loss in mass after a further 60 min), the trays being weighed hot within 10–15 s. The total moisture is calculated from the loss in mass, with a buoyancy correction (an identical empty reference tray dried alongside) and with the moisture left in the sample packaging; the result — as received, on request converted to the dry basis. The specification gives no precision.

Applications

• Total moisture of solid recovered fuels (SRF) and raw materials for their production — in the scopes of 18 laboratories
• Wastes given by codes — at 11 laboratories; at AB 054, AB 687 and AB 1913 also from group 10 01
• Reference method when a high precision is required (clause 1); the simplified method is described in part 2, replaced by EN ISO 21660-2:2025

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

CEN/TS 15414-1:2010 (specyfikacja techniczna CEN, wersja angielska)

Title (PL)

Stałe paliwa wtórne — Oznaczanie zawartości wilgoci metodą suszarkową — Część 1: Oznaczanie wilgoci całkowitej metodą referencyjną

Title (EN)

Solid recovered fuels — Determination of moisture content using the oven dry method — Part 1: Determination of total moisture by a reference method

Step-by-step procedure

1. Sample

   Taken and prepared according to prEN 15442 and prEN 15443, delivered in a sealed, water-resistant container or bag; weighed immediately after preparation — at least 300 g, preferably more than 500 g.

2. Trays

   Weigh the empty tray (0.1 g), spread the whole sample on it (about 1 g per 100 mm²), weigh an identical empty reference tray.

3. Packaging

   Moisture from the walls of the bag or container is included in the result: the packaging is dried at 105 °C (or open at room temperature) and weighed before and after.

4. Drying

   Dry the tray with the sample and the reference tray at (105 ± 2) °C to constant mass; do not overload the oven. Warning of the standard: some components can self-ignite.

5. Weighing hot

   Weigh the trays hot within 10–15 s; constant mass — a change ≤ 0.2 % of the total loss in mass after a further 60 min.

6. Calculation

   Mar = [(m2 − m3) − (m4 − m5) + m6] / [(m2 − m1) + m6] × 100; after pre-drying MT = Mp + Mr × (1 − Mp/100); mean rounded to 0.1 %.

7. Test report

   Laboratory, date, sample identification, reference to CEN/TS 15414-1, deviations, result with the basis stated (as received or dry), unusual observations.

Required equipment and apparatus

Health and safety (OHS)

• Warning of the specification: some components of solid recovered fuels can self-ignite when dried at 105 °C — do not overload the oven
• The trays are weighed hot — heat-insulating material on the balance pan and hand protection against burns
• NOTE ON SUBSTANCE: the "Laboratories" tab misses six of the 18 laboratories (a different record of the number, and at AB 005, AB 081 and AB 1119 an error of our copy) — the full list is in this description

Frequently asked questions