Fuels and Combustion

Fuel is a combustible substance, containing carbon as main constituent, which

on proper burning gives large amount of heat, which can be used economically for
domestic and industrial purposes. Eg., Wood, Charcoal, Coal, Kerosene, Petrol, Producer
gas, Oil gas, LPG etc.,
During the process of combustion of a fuel (like coal), the atoms of carbon,
hydrogen, etc. combine with oxygen with the simultaneous liberation of heat at a rapid
rate.

Fuel + Oxygen ---> Products + Heat

Most of the fuels contain Carbon and Hydrogen and are in solid, liquid or in gaseous
form.

1. Solid Fuels (Coal): Consists of moisture, volatile matter, fixed carbon and ash.
The analysis specifies on a mass basis, the relative amounts of these
constituents. The ultimate analysis may be given on the dry basis.

2. Liquid Fuels: Most liquid fuels are mixtures of many different Hydrocarbons.
Common examples are Gasoline, Kerosene, Diesel oil etc. Commonly a liquid
fuel is treated as a single hydrocarbon with an empirical formula C xHy even
though it is a mixture of several hydro carbons.

3. Gaseous fuels: Natural gas (mainly Methane), coal gas (a mixture of methane
and Hydrogen) etc.

Chemical Fuels: It is of two types, Primary or Natural Fuel and Secondary or Derived
Fuel.
Type of fuel
NATURAL (PRIMARY) PREPARED (SECONDARY)
Solid
Wood ,Peat ,Lignite coal Coke
Charcoal
Briquettes
Liquid
Petroleum Gasoline
Kerosene
Fuel oil
Alcohol
Benzol
Shale oil
Gas
Natural gas Petroleum gas
Producer gas
 Coal gas
Coke-oven gas
Blast furnace gas
Carburetted gas

In most of the combustion processes the required Oxygen is not supplied as pure
Oxygen but is supplied as air. Air contains 21 mol percent O 2 and 79 mol percent of
N2.

 0.79   0.79 
CH 4  2O 2  2  N 2  CO2  2 H 2 O  2 N 2
 0.21   0.21 

CH 4  2O 2  2(3.76) N 2  CO 2  2 H 2 O  7.52 N 2

The minimum amount of air which supplies the required amount of oxygen for
complete combustion of a fuel is called the stoichiometric or theoretical air.

The amount of air in excess of the stoichiometric air is called excess air. It is usually
expressed in terms of the stoichiometric air as percent excess air. Amount of air less
than stoichiometric are called deficiency of air.

General combustion reaction

C x H y   O2 (O2  3.76 N 2 )   CO2 CO2   H 2O H 2O   N2 N 2

the coefficients to the substances called stoichiometric coefficients. The balance of
atoms yields the theoretical amount of air as

C:  CO = x
2

H: 2 H 2O =y
N2:  N =3.76*  O
2 2

O2:  O2   CO2   H 2O / 2  x  y / 4

And the total number of moles of air for 1 mole of fuel becomes

nair =  O2  4.76  4.76( x  y / 4)

 Two important parameters often used to express the ratio of fuel and air are the air-
fuel ratio ( AF ) and its reciprocal, the fuel-air ratio ( FA ) .

AFmass= mair / mfuel

AFmole= nair / nfuel
They are related through molecular weight as

mair n M M r
AFmass   air air  AFmole ai
m fuel n fuel M fuel M fuel

problem:

Methane (CH4) is burned with atmospheric air. The analysis of the products on a dry
basis is as follows:

CO2 10.00%
O2 2.37
CO 0.53
N2 87.10
-----------
100.00%

Calculate the air-fuel ratio and the percent theoretical air, and determine the
combustion equation.

Solution:

The solution consists of writing the combustion equation for 100 kmol of dry products,
introducing letter coefficients for the unknown quantities, and then solving for them.

From the analysis of the products, the following equation can be written, keeping in
mind that this analysis is on a dry basis.

aCH 4  bO2  cN 2  10.0CO2  0.53CO  2.37O2  dH 2 O  87.1N 2

A balance for each of the elements will enable us to solve for all the unknown
coeffiecients:

Nitrogen balance: c = 87.1

Since all the nitrogen comes from the air,

 c / b =3.76 b=87.1/3.76=23.16

Carbon balance: a = 10.00+0.53=10.53

Hydrogen balance: d=2a=21.06

Oxygen balance: All the unknown coefficients have been solved for, and therefore the
oxygen balance provides a check on the accuracy. Thus, b can also be determined by an
oxygen balance.

b=10.00+0.53/2+2.37+21.06/2=23.16

substituting these values for a,b,c and d we have

10.53CH 4  23.16O2  87.1N 2  10.0CO 2  0.53CO  2.37O2  21.06 H 2 O  87.1N 2

Dividing through by 10.53 yields the combustion equation per kmol of fuel.

CH 4  2.2O2  8.27 N 2  0.95CO2  0.05CO  0.225O2  2 H 2 O  8.27 N 2

The air-fuel ratio on a mole basis is

2.2+8.27=10.47 kmol air/kmol fuel

The fuel-air on a mass basis is found by introducing the molecular weights.

AF=10.47*28.97/16.0=18.97 kg air/kg fuel

The theoretical air-fuel ratio is found by writing the combustion equation for theoretical
air.

CH 4  2O2  2(3.76) N 2  CO2  2 H 2 O  7.52 N 2

AFtheo= (2+7.52)28.97/16.0=17.23 kg air/kg fuel

The percent theoretical air is 18.97/17.23= 110%

Problem

A particular coal has the following ultimate analysis on a dry basis, percent by mass:

Component Percent by mass

Sulfur 0.6
Hydrogen 5.7
Carbon 79.2
Oxygen 10.0
Nitrogen 1.5
Ash 3.0

This coal is to be burned with 30% excess air. Calculate the air-fuel ratio on a mass basis.

Solution:

One approach to this problem is to write the combustion equation for each of the
combustible elements per 100 kg of fuel. The molar composition per 100 kg of fuel is
found first.

Kmol S / 100 kg fuel = 0.6/32 = 0.02

Kmol H2 / 100 kg fuel = 5.7/2 = 2.85
Kmol C / 100 kg fuel=79.2/12=6.60
Kmol O2 / 100 kg fuel=10/32=0.31
Kmol N2 / 100 kg fuel=1.5/28=0.05

The combustion equations for the combustible elements are now written, which enables
us to find the theoretical oxygen required.

0.02S  0.02O2  0.02SO2

2.85H 2  1.42O2  2.85H 2O

6.60C  6.60O2  6.60CO2

8.04 kmol O2 required / 100 kg fuel
-0.31 kmol O2 in fuel / 100 kg fuel
7.73 kmol O2 from air / 100 kg fuel

AFtheo=[7.73+7.73(3.76)]28.97/100=10.63 kg air/kg fuel

For 30%excess air the air-fuel ratio is

AF=1.3*10.63=13.82 kg air/ kg fuel