This International Standard concerns the measurement of calorific value of natural gas and natural gas substitutes by non-separative methods, i.e. methods that do not involve the determination of the gas composition nor calculation from it. It describes the principles of operation of a variety of instruments in use for this purpose, and provides guidelines for the selection, evaluation, performance assessment, installation and operation of these.

Calorific values can be expressed on a mass basis, a molar basis or, more commonly, a volume basis. The working range for superior calorific value of natural gas, on the volume basis, is usually between 30 MJ/m³ and 45 MJ/m³ at standard reference conditions (see ISO 13443). The corresponding range for the Wobbe index is usually between 40 MJ/m³ and 60 MJ/m³.

This International Standard neither endorses nor disputes the claims of any commercial manufacturer for the performance of an instrument. Its central thesis is that fitness-for-purpose in any particular application (defined in terms of a set of specific operational requirements) can be assessed only by means of a well-designed programme of experimental tests. Guidelines are provided for the proper content of these tests.