MTX311

Combustion
Borgnakke and Sonntag, Chapter 13
Lecture 1
Dr WG Le Roux

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdIB1sEpWVI
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Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdIB1sEpWVI
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 13.1 Fuels
Most fuels fall into one of three categories
• coal,
• liquid hydrocarbons,
• gaseous hydrocarbons

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13.1 Fuels

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 13.1 Fuels
Unsaturated hydrocarbon
• two or more adjacent carbon atoms joined
by a double or triple bond

Saturated hydrocarbon
• all the carbon atoms are joined
by a single bond

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 13.1 Fuels
Isomer
• Two hydrocarbons with the same
number of carbon and hydrogen atoms but
with different structures
• For example, see C4H8 below: each structure
have 4 carbon atoms and 8 hydrogen atoms

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 13.1 Fuels
Hydrocarbon families

• Paraffin
o Common suffix: -ane
(e.g., propane, octane)
o Formula: CnH2n+2
o Structure: Chain, saturated

• Olefin
o Common suffix: -ylene or -ene
(e.g., propene and octene)
o Formula: CnH2n
o Structure: Chain, unsaturated
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 13.1 Fuels
Hydrocarbon families

• Diolefin
o Common suffix: -diene
(e.g., butadiene)
o Formula: CnH2n-2
o Structure: Chain, unsaturated

• Naphthene
Common prefix: -cyclo
(e.g., cyclopentane)
o Formula: CnH2n
o Structure: Ring, saturated
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 13.1 Fuels
Hydrocarbon families

• Aromatic family: Benzene

o Formula: CnH2n-6
o Structure: Ring, unsaturated

• Aromatic family: Naphthalene

Formula: CnH2n-12
o Structure: Ring, saturated

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 13.1 Fuels
Most liquid hydrocarbon fuels are
• derived from crude oil through distillation and
cracking processes
• mixtures of hydrocarbons such as petroleum,
gasoline, kerosene, jet engine fuel, diesel

Note:
It is convenient to express the composition in terms of a
single hydrocarbon, even though it is a mixture of many
hydrocarbons:
• Gasoline: Octane, C8H18
• Diesel: Dodecane, C12H26
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 13.1 Fuels
Most gaseous hydrocarbons are from
• gas wells (mostly methane)
• chemical manufacturing

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 13.1 Fuels
Also take note of other fuels

• Alcohols
o A family of hydrocarbons where one of the hydrogen
atoms is replaced by an OH radical
o Methanol: CH3OH; Ethanol: C2H5OH

• Hydrogen
o Only product of combustion is water

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 13.2 Combustion Process

• Oxidation
• Mass of each element remains the
same (conservation of mass)

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 13.2 Combustion Process

• 1 kmol of carbon reacts with 1 kmol of oxygen to

form 1 kmol of carbon dioxide.

• OR: 12 kg of carbon react with 32 kg of oxygen to

form 44 kg of carbon dioxide (see Tables A.9, A.10)
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 13.2 Combustion Process
Example: Combustion of methane:

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 13.2 Combustion Process
Oxygen is supplied as air:

• Air is considered to be composed of 21%

oxygen and 79% nitrogen by volume
• For each mole of oxygen, 79.0/21.0 = 3.76
moles of nitrogen are involved.

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