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v
= latent heat of vapourisation at reference temperature
= 2442.5 kJ /kg at 298.15 K (25C)
Moisture
Water expelled from fuel in its various forms (when tested
under specified conditions)
Normally moisture content is determined by drying sample of
known mass at 110C until no further weight loss is observed.
Depends on a combination of its origination and
treatment/storage
Biomass: harvesting method, climatic conditions, time of
year when harvesting takes place and the length and
method of storage
Coal: coal rank, method of storage, pre-treatment
Moisture content has a significant effect on many of the
energy conversion processes. For example,
The percentage of solids present in the digestate when
biogas is obtained from an anaerobic digestion process
affects the gas yields
For dry biomass fuels, such as wood or straw, the amount
of water present has a considerable effect on the
proportion of the total heat content of the material that is
possible to recover as a result of combustion
High moisture fuel makes feeding system difficult, render
agglomeration, incomplete combustion
Volatile matter (VM) and Fixed carbon
VM = Total loss in the weight minus the moisture in fuel
when heated under specified conditions
Fixed C is normally obtained by difference
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110
Time (min)
W
e
i
g
h
t
(
%
)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
(
C
)
TGA result for proximate analysis of solid fuel
(1)
(2)
(4) (3)
(1) moisture
(2) Volatile
matter
(3) Fixed
carbon
(4) Ash
Generally biomass fuels are highly volatile (= low fixed
carbon) and need to have specialized combustor designs
to cope with rapid gas evolution when heated
Fuels with low volatiles, such as coal, need to be burnt on
a grate as they take a long time to burn out unless they are
pulverized to a very small size
Mineral matter or often referred to as ash content
Inorganic residue left over when fuel is incinerated
(completely combusted) in air to constant mass under
specified condition
Characterization of ash by elemental analysis and fusion
temperatures is an important aspect of utilizing biomass fuels
Ash analysis provides
Information on how much ash there will be to dispose
Information on whether special ash treatments are needed
before disposal
Information on slagging, fouling and clinker formation in
the burner and boiler to be predicted
Ash management presents both a problem and an
opportunity
Removal of ash from the furnace and disposal in
landfill areas incurs costs for power plants
Ash can be recycled in the forest ecosystem, depletion
of plant nutrients (other than nitrogen) and acidification
associated with intensive biomass removal, is then
radically reduced
Examples of slag problem
For pure wood combustion, the combustion
temperatures are likely to be low, ash fusion does not
usually represent a problem; however, when wood is
co-fired with coal, combustion temperatures are
considerably higher and may reach a level where
slagging could occur
In the case of straw or palm EFB combustion, ash fusion
and the resulting slagging represent a considerable problem
which has to be solved by special boiler designs
The combination of some mineral matters in coal also
increase slagging potential
Bottom ash Slag
Ultimate analysis: C, H, N, O, S
For ultimate analysis, fuel sample is burnt in a current of
oxygen producing water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide and
sulfur dioxide, which are measured to determine the amount
of the original elements
The results are normally presented on air-dried basis
Converting to as-received basis by
As-received basis = Air-dried basis x (100 moisture)
100
Attempts have been made to correlate the ultimate
analysis of a fuel with its calorific value. One of the most
commonly used relationships is that given by Dlong
GCV (kJ /kg) = 33950 C + 144200 [H (O/8)] + 9400 S
Where C and S = mass fraction of carbon and sulfur
H (O/8) = mass fraction of net hydrogen
= total hydrogen 1/8 (oxygen)
Calderwood equation is relating total carbon content with
the proximate analysis and the GCV
mass % of carbon = 5.88 + 0.00512 (GCV 40.5 S)
0.0053 [80 100 (VM/FC)]
1.55
If 100 (VM/FC) > 80, the sign is (-) and vice versa
Calculate NCV at 298.15 K of crude oil having following
properties:
Ultimate analysis: 87.1% C, 12,5% H and 0.4% S (by mass)
GCV at 298.15 K is 45,071 kJ /kg oil
Latent heat of water vapour at 298.15 K = 2442.5 kJ /kg
The GHV of gaseous propane is 2,219.71 kJ /mol at 298.15 K,
calculate its NHV
Exercise
Combustion
Is a chemical reaction during which a fuel is oxidised and a large
quantity of energy is released
For any combustion reaction, oxygen is the agent which will
combine with carbon, hydrogen and sulfur
In normal practice, air is used since it is the cheapest source of
oxygen (about 21 mole% of air)
One drawback of air utilisation is the presence of nitrogen (79
mole%), which reduces the flame temperature considerably and
also accounts for the high heat loss of stack
Oxygen has much greater tendency to combine with hydrogen
than it does with carbon, therefore hydrogen is normally burned to
completion forming H
2
O. Some of carbon, however, ends up as
CO or just as plain as C particles (soot) in the products.
It should also be mentioned that bringing a fuel into intimate
contact with oxygen is not sufficient to start a combustion process.
The fuel must be brought above its ignition temperature to start
combustion
Minimum ignition temperatures of various substances in air
Gasoline 260C
Carbon 400C
Hydrogen 580C
Carbon monoxide 610C
methane 630C
Moreover, the proportions of the fuel and air must be in proper
range for combustion to begin, e.g. natural will only be burn in air
in concentration between 5-15%
Combustion equations are balanced on the basis of the
conservation of mass principle: The total mass of each
element is conserved during a chemical reaction
2 kg of hydrogen 16 kg of oxygen 2 kg of hydrogen
16 kg of oxygen
H
2
+ O
2
= H
2
O
Theoretical or stoichiometric amount of air = the minimum air
required to burn fuel completely so that C, H and S are
converted into CO
2
, H
2
O and SO
2
, respectively
Theoretical/ stoichiometric air
Consider combustion reactions
mole of O
2
needed/ 1 mole of reactant
C + O
2
= CO
2
1
H
2
+ O
2
= H
2
O
S + O
2
= SO
2
1
Theoretical air demand (in moles)
= Theoretical oxygen demand (in moles)/ 0.21
mole of air needed/ 1 mole of reactant
CH
4
C
6
H
12
O
6
Stoichiometry
For a hydrocarbon fuel given by C
x
H
y
, the stoichiometric
relation can be expressed as
Where a = x + y/4
Composition of air is 21% O
2
and 79% N
2
Each mole of O
2
in air, there are 3.76 moles of N
2
C
x
H
y
+ a(O
2
+ 3.76N
2
) xCO
2
+ (y/2)H
2
O + 3.76aN
2
F = =
(A/F)
stoi
(A/F)
(F/A)
(F/A)
stoi
for fuel-rich mixtures, F > 1
fuel-lean mixtures, F < 1
stoichiometric mixture, F = 1
Where A/F = mass ratio of air to fuel
Equivalence ratio
The equivalence ratio, F, is commonly used to indicate
quantitatively whether a fuel-oxidizer mixture is rich, lean,
or stoichiometric.
In actual practice, theoretical air is not sufficient to get complete
combustion. Excess air supply (or, in the other words, excess
oxygen supply) is essential for complete combustion.
% Excess air
= (actual air supply theoretical air demand) x 100
theoretical air demand
The actual percentage excess air depends on the fuel used for
combustion. Normally gaseous fuels require very less excess
air, i.e. 5-15% excess air, than liquid and solid fuels, which
require 10-50% excess air.
Excess air can reduce the flame temperature and increase the
heat losses through the flue gases
Excess air
Theoretical as well as actual air requirements are expressed in
kg/kg of fuel by multiplying with the average molar mass of air
m
3
/kg of fuel by multiplying with specific volume of air at that
condition
Normally, flue gases contain CO
2
, CO, H
2
O, O
2
, SO
2
and N
2
, with
very low concentration of SO
3
.
Water in flue gases
Interferes with the gas analysis, it is removed prior to the
analysis of dry gases.
Comes from three sources: water vapour product, evaporated
moisture in fuel, water vapour accompanying air for
combustion
Exercise
One kmol of octane is burned with air that contain 20 kmol of O
2
.
Assuming the products contain only CO
2
, H
2
O, O
2
, and N
2
,
determine the mole number of each gas in the products and the
air-fuel ratio for this combustion process.
Exercise
The ultimate analysis of a residual fuel oil sample is given below:
C: 88.4 %, H: 9.4%, and S: 2.2% (mass)
It is used as a fuel in a power-generating boiler with 25 % excess
air. Calculate
(a) the theoretical dry air requirement
(b) the actual dry air supplied
(c) composition of flue gases