Using biomass as solid biofuel has come to the front in the past few decades again since it is CO2-neutral and renewable. Besides woody feedstocks, the agricultural and forestry residues also seem to be adequate materials for producing thermal energy by direct combustion. Consequently, the problem of both waste management and energy generation can be reduced. However, before an extensive use of a given plant material, a thorough analysis of its composition and thermal behavior is necessary. In our work forage crops and agricultural wastes were the subject of different combustion experiments. The combustional characteristics of warm- and coldpressed pumpkinseed and grapeseed residue, nutshell and the different parts of triticale and corn, were investigated. The aim of this analysis was to determine whether these materials can be used as renewable biofuels and which one is more suitable for the above purpose. The calorific value of volatiles was determined by a 'Differential Scanning Calorimeter' (DSC). With this method it is not necessary to detect the components of the pyrolysis gases, only for validation purposes CO2, CO, O2 und CxHy were measured. Moreover, the oxygen demand of the volatiles dependent on time was determined. Thermogravimetry/mass spectrometry (TG/MS) analysis was performed in inert atmosphere to get a deeper insight into the formation of volatile products. Devolatilization is not only the first step of thermal conversion, but plays a rather significant role in a number of other. Our results indicate that the different samples exhibit considerably different thermal behavior, thus, the potential applications vary from sample to sample. The combustion characteristics of all samples will be discussed in detail. Acknowledgement: This work was supported by Graz University of Technology and the Hungarian National Research Fund (OTKA K61504, T037705).