IIAEM, Jain University 6/3/2016

Elements of Combustion

• Combustion is an energy conversion method

in which chemical energy is converted to
thermal energy.
• Essential conditions for combustion
– Presence of fuel and oxidizer
– Right proportion of fuel and air (mixture ratio)
– Ignition energy
• Fuels are elements or compounds that donate
electrons and oxidizers are those that accept
electrons.
• Combustion is a self sustaining exothermic
reaction involving rapid oxidation reactions.

Lecture Notes by Dr.Allamaprabhu C.Y. 1

IIAEM, Jain University 6/3/2016

• Exothermic reactions:
→
• Heat of reaction is the difference between the
enthalpy of products and enthalpy of reactants at
a reference temperature.
• 2 →2 ∆ 241.83 kJ/mol
which means 241.83 kJ of energy will be released to
the surroundings to produce one mole of water
vapour at 298.15 K.
• One mole is the mass equivalent to molecular weight

• Why is the heat of reaction a negative number

for exothermic reactions?
– To maintain a reference temperature during an
exothermic reaction (which releases heat), heat
must be transferred to the surroundings.
– Heat transfer out of a system is taken negative.
• Heat of combustion (also known also as the
heating value) is numerically equal to the heat
of reaction, but with opposite sign.
• Upper heating value (UHV) is the heat of
combustion calculated assuming that all water
vapor in the products has condensed to liquid.

Lecture Notes by Dr.Allamaprabhu C.Y. 2

IIAEM, Jain University 6/3/2016

• Lower heating value (LHV) is the heat of

combustion calculated assuming that none of
the water vapor is condensed.
• Each fuel is characterized by its LHV.
Fuel LHV (MJ/kg of fuel)
Kerosene 42.0
Petrol (Octane) 44.8
Jet A 43.4
Hydrogen 120.24

• Absolute enthalpy of any species comprises of

– an enthalpy that takes into account the energy
associated with chemical bonds (or lack thereof),
the heat of formation
– an enthalpy that is associated only with
temperature, the sensible enthalpy change.

, ∆

∆ ̅ ,

Lecture Notes by Dr.Allamaprabhu C.Y. 3

IIAEM, Jain University 6/3/2016

• Heat of formation of a substance is essentially

the heat of reaction of that reaction in which
the substance alone is the product and its
component elements are the only reactants at
standard state (25°C and 1 atm).
• Heat of formation of the elements in their
naturally occuring state at the standard state
are taken to be zero.

• Heat of formation (298.15 K)

Species Formula Heat of formation

kJ/gmol

Carbon C +716.67 (g)

Carbon (graphite) C 0 (s)
Carbon dioxide CO2 -393.522 (g)

Hydrogen H2 0 (g)
Hydrogen atom H +217.999 (g)

Oxygen O2 0 (g)
Oxygen atom O + 249.17 (g)

Lecture Notes by Dr.Allamaprabhu C.Y. 4

IIAEM, Jain University 6/3/2016

• Combustion efficiency is a measure of

combustion completeness.
• Complete combustion means complete reaction
of the fuel and air to chemical equilibrium.
• Combustion efficiency may be defined as the
actual temperature rise divided by the theoretical
temperature rise (complete combustion).

• Completeness of combustion directly influences

the heat release, and hence the fuel consumption
of the engine.

• Flame is the localized reaction zone in a

combustible mixture. Generally, this zone is self-
sustaining by propagating into the unburned
mixture and is also known as combustion wave.
• A flame will travel into a mixture of reactants
(combustible mixture) at a speed known as the
burning velocity or flame speed.
• Burning velocity is dependent on the state of the
reactants (mixture ratio, pressure and
temperature).

Lecture Notes by Dr.Allamaprabhu C.Y. 5

IIAEM, Jain University 6/3/2016

• The peak flame speed occurs near stoichiometry

in most cases on the fuel-rich side (for ∅ ~1.1).
• As pressure increases, flame speed decreases.
• Typical flame speeds are
Hydrocarbon-air 0.3 – 0.5 m/s
H2-air 2 m/s
H2-O2 10 m/s

Flames
• The flame can be broadly classified as premixed
flame and diffusion flame.
Premixed flame
Fuel and oxidizer are mixed before
entering the combustion zone
Ex. Bunsen burner flame
Less soot or no soot: Blue color
Thin flame
Burning speed depends on the flow
rate of reactants
Diffusion flame
Fuel enters the combustion
zone and then oxidizer diffuses
into it from the surroundings.
Ex. Candle flame
With soot: Orange/Yellow color
Thick flame
Burning speed depends on the
diffusion rate

Lecture Notes by Dr.Allamaprabhu C.Y. 6

IIAEM, Jain University 6/3/2016

Adiabatic flame temperature

• Flame temperature is the most important property in
combustion because it has a controlling effect on the
rate of chemical reaction.
• Adiabatic flame temperature is the temperature that
the flame would attain if the net energy liberated by
the chemical reaction were fully utilized in heating the
combustion products.
• In practice, it is rarely achieved because at very high
temperatures dissociation of combustion products
occurs in which considerable amount of energy is
absorbed.
• It plays an important role in the determination of
combustion efficiency and in heat transfer calculations.

Premixed flame
Flammability limits
• There exists a limit to the fuel/air ratio beyond which
the flame is unstable. For many fuels
– Weak limit ∅ 0.5
– Rich limit ∅ 3
• Increase in pressure above atmospheric widens the
flammability limit of gases and vapors at the rich-end.
In the practically important range of pressures from 10
kPa to 5 MPa, the weak limit is not strongly pressure
dependent.
• The widening of flammability range by increase of
temperature is less than that of pressure.
• The range is reduced with increase of air velocity.

Lecture Notes by Dr.Allamaprabhu C.Y. 7

IIAEM, Jain University 6/3/2016

Gas Mixture
• Mole fraction of the th species in a gas
mixture,
≡
∑
• Molecular weight of a mixture

Problems
1. A mixture of ideal gases consists of 3 kg of nitrogen and
5 kg of carbondioxide at a pressure of 300kPa and a
temperature of 20°C. Find (i) the mole fraction of each
constituent, (ii) the equivalent molecular weight of the
mixture.
Soln.
No. of moles of N2= =0.107 kmol
No. of moles of CO2= =0.114 kmol
.
Mole fraction of N2= =0.484 or 0.485
. .
.
Mole fraction of CO2= =0.515
. .
Equivalent molecular weight of the mixture=
0.484 28 0.515 44 36.25 kg/kmol

Lecture Notes by Dr.Allamaprabhu C.Y. 8