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Lecture No.6 Fuel and Combustion
Lecture No.6 Fuel and Combustion
Lecture No.6
Fuel and Combustion
6.1 Fuel
Fuel may be chemical or nuclear. Here we shall consider briefly chemical fuels
only. A chemical fuel is a substance which releases heat energy on combustion. The
principal combustible elements of each fuel are carbon and hydrogen. Though
sulphur is a combustible element too but its presence in the fuel is considered to be
undesirable.
1. Higher cost.
2. Greater risk of fire
3. Costly containers are required for storage and transport.
6.5. Gaseous Fuels
Gaseous hydrocarbon fuels are obtained from natural gas wells or are produced
in certain chemical processes. Natural gas normally consists of several different
hydrocarbons, with the major constituent being methane, CH4. The compositions of
gaseous fuels are usually given in terms of mole fractions.
Advantages :
1. Better control of combustion.
2. Much less excess air is needed for complete combustion.
3. Economy in fuel and more efficiency of furnace operation.
4. Easy maintenance of oxidizing or reducing atmosphere.
5. Cleanest of all type of fuels.
6. No problem of storage if the supply is available from public supply line.
7. The distribution of gaseous fuels even over a wide area is easy through the pipe
lines and as such handling of the fuel is altogether eliminated.
8. Gaseous fuels give economy of heat and produce higher temperatures (as they
can be preheated in regenerative furnaces and thus heat from hot flue gases can
be recovered).
9. It is free from ash and mixes well with air to undergo complete combustion
producing very little smoke.
Disadvantages:
1. They are readily inflammable.
2. They require large storage capacity.
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6.8. Combustion
In this Chapter, we deal with combustion reactions expressed by chemical
equations of the form
reactants → products
or
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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In this case, the reactants are hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is the fuel and oxygen
is the oxidizer. Water is the only product of the reaction. The numerical coefficients
in the equation, which precede the chemical symbols to give equal amounts of each
chemical element on both sides of the equation, are called stoichiometric
coefficients.
1 kmol H2 + (1/ 2) kmol O2 → 1 kmol H2O
Note that the total numbers of moles on the left and right sides of equation above are
not equal However, because mass is conserved; the total mass of reactants must equal
the total mass of products. Since 1 kmol of H, equals 2 kg, (1/ 2)kmol of O2 equals 16
kg, and 1 kmol of H2O equals 18 kg,
2 kg H2 +16 kg O2 → 18 kg H2O
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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hydrogen and sulphur. The basic chemical equations for complete combustion are
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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nitrogen undergoes a change of state if the products are at a temperature other than
the reactant air temperature. If a high enough product temperature is attained,
nitrogen can form compounds such as nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide. Even trace
amounts of oxides of nitrogen appearing in the exhaust of internal combustion
engines can be a source of air pollution.
̅̅̅̅ ( )
where ̅̅̅̅ is the air–fuel ratio on a molar basis and AF is the ratio on a mass basis.
For the combustion calculations of this book the molecular weight of air is taken as
28.97. Tables (6-1) provide the molecular weights of several important hydrocarbons.
Since AF is a ratio, it has the same value whether the quantities of air and fuel are
expressed in SI units or English units.
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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stoichiometric amount is called excess air. The amount of excess air is usually
expressed in terms of the stoichiometric air as percent excess air or percent
theoretical air. For example, 50 percent excess air is equivalent to 150 percent
theoretical air, and 200 percent excess air is equivalent to 300 percent theoretical air.
of course, the stoichiometric air can be expressed as 0 percent excess air or 100
percent theoretical air. Amounts of air less than the stoichiometric amount are called
deficiency of air and are often expressed as percent deficiency of air. For example,
90 percent theoretical air is equivalent to 10 percent deficiency of air. The amount of
air used in combustion processes is also expressed in terms of the equivalence ratio,
which is the ratio of the actual fuel–air ratio to the stoichiometric fuel–air ratio.
Example 6.1 One kmol of octane (C8H18) is burned with air that contains 20 kmol of
air. Assuming the products contain only CO2, H2O, O2, and N2, determine the mole
number of each gas in the products and the air–fuel ratio for this combustion process.
Solution
The chemical equation for this combustion process can be written as
where the terms in the parentheses represent the composition of dry air that contains
1 kmol of O2 and x, y, z, and w represent the unknown mole numbers of the gases in
the products. These unknowns are determined by applying the mass balance to each
of the elements—that is, by requiring that the total mass or mole number of each
element in the reactants be equal to that in the products:
Substituting yields
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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Note that the coefficient 20 in the balanced equation above represents the
number of moles of oxygen, not the number of moles of air. The latter is obtained by
adding 20 × 3.76 = 75.2 moles of nitrogen to the 20 moles of oxygen, giving a total
of 95.2 moles of air. The air–fuel ratio (AF) is determined by taking the ratio of the
mass of the air and the mass of the fuel,
That is, 24.2 kg of air is used to burn each kilogram of fuel during this combustion
process.
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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Example 6.2 Determine the air–fuel ratio on both a molar and mass basis for the
complete combustion of octane, C 8H18, with (a) the theoretical amount of air, (b)
150% theoretical air (50% excess air).
Solution
(a) For complete combustion of C8H18 with the theoretical amount of air, the products
contain carbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen only. That is
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H.W.6.1 Propal alcohol (C3H7OH) is burned with 50 percent excess air. Write the
balanced reaction equation for complete combustion and determine the air-to-fuel
ratio. Answer: 15.5 kg air/kg fuel
H.W.6.2 Propane (C3H8) is burned with 75 percent excess air during a combustion
process. Assuming complete combustion, a) Find the air fuel ratio. b) determine
product analysis based on volume and mass.
Answer: 27.5 kg air/kg fuel
H.W.6.3 A certain fuel oil has the composition C 10H22. If this fuel is burned with
150% theoretical air, what is the composition of the products of combustion?
Answer: C10H22 + 23.25 (O2 + 3.76 N2) → 11 H2O + 10 CO2 + 87.42 N2 + 7.75 O2
H.W.6.4 One kmol of ethane (C2H6) is burned with an unknown amount of air during
a combustion process. An analysis of the combustion products reveals that the
combustion is complete, and there are 3 kmol of free O2 in the products.
Determine (a) the air–fuel ratio and (b) the percentage of theoretical air used during
this process.
Answer:
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(a)
EXAMPLE 6.3 Determine the air-fuel ratio when octane, C8H18, is burned with
200% theoretical air, and determine the dew point of the products if the pressure is
0.1 MPa.
Solution
The equation for the combustion of octane with 200% theoretical air is
C8H18 + 12.5(2)( O2 + (3.76) N2) → 8 CO2 + 9H2O + 12.5O2 + 94.0N2
Total kmols of product = 8 + 9 + 12.5 + 94.0 = 123.5 Kmol.
AF=
PH2O=
The partial pressure of the water is 7.29 kPa, so the saturation temperature
corresponding to this pressure is 39.7◦C,which is also the dew-point temperature.
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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EXAMPLE 6.4 Ethane (C2H6) is burned with 20 percent excess air during a
combustion process. Assuming complete combustion and a total pressure of 100 kPa,
determine (a) the air–fuel ratio and (b) the dew-point temperature of the products (c)
the product analysis based on volume and mass.
Solution
The combustion products contain CO2, H2O, N2, and some excess O2 only.
Then the combustion equation can be written as
where ath is the stoichiometric coefficient for air. We have automatically accounted
for the 20 percent excess air by using the factor 1.2ath instead of ath for air. The
stoichiometric amount of oxygen (athO2) is used to oxidize the fuel, and the
remaining excess amount (0.2athO2) appears in the products as unused oxygen. Notice
that the coefficient of N2 is the same on both sides of the equation, and that we wrote
the C and H balances directly since they are so obvious. The coefficient ath is
determined from the O2 balance to be
(a) The air–fuel ratio is determined by taking the ratio of the mass of the air to the
mass of the fuel,
That is, 19.3 kg of air is supplied for each kilogram of fuel during this combustion
process.
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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(b) The dew-point temperature of the products is the temperature at which the water
vapor in the products starts to condense as the products are cooled at constant
pressure. The dew-point temperature of a gas–vapor mixture is the saturation
temperature of the water vapor corresponding to its partial pressure. Therefore, we
need to determine the partial pressure of the water vapor Pv in the products first.
Assuming ideal-gas behavior for the combustion gases, we have
H.W.6.5 Propylene (C3H6) is burned with 50 percent excess air during a combustion
process. Assuming complete combustion and a total pressure of 105 kPa, determine
(a) the air–fuel ratio and (b) the temperature at which the water vapor in the products
will start condensing (c) the product analysis based on volume and mass.
Answer: (a) AF=22.2 kg air/kg fuel (b) Tdp=44.5oC
the combustion chamber than is needed for complete combustion. This may be
attributed to insufficient mixing in the combustion chamber during the limited time
that the fuel and the oxygen are in contact. Another cause of incomplete combustion
is dissociation, which becomes important at high temperatures.
Oxygen has a much greater tendency to combine with hydrogen than it does
with carbon. Therefore, the hydrogen in the fuel normally burns to completion,
forming H2O, even when there is less oxygen than needed for complete combustion.
Some of the carbon, however, ends up as CO or just as plain C particles (soot) in the
products.
EXAMPLE 6.5 Methane (CH4) is burned with atmospheric air. The molar analysis of
the products on a dry basis is as follows:
CO2 =10.00%
O2=2.37
CO=0.53
N2=87.10
Calculate the air–fuel ratio and the percent theoretical air and determine the
combustion equation.
Solution
From the analysis of the products, the following equation can be written,
keeping in mind that this analysis is on a dry basis.
a CH4 + b O2 + c N2 → 10.0 CO2 + 0.53 CO + 2.37 O2 + d H2O + 87.1N2
A balance for each of the elements will enable us to solve for all the unknown
coefficients:
Nitrogen balance: c = 87.1
Since all the nitrogen comes from the air
Carbon balance: a = 10.00 + 0.53 = 10.53
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H.W.6.6 Carbon (C) is burned with dry air. The volumetric analysis of the products
is 10.06 percent CO2, 0.42 percent CO, 10.69 percent O2, and 78.83 percent N2.
Determine (a) the air–fuel ratio and (b) the percentage of theoretical air used .
Answer: (a) AF= 23 kg air/kg fuel
(b) Percentage of theoretical air = 200%
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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H.W.6.7 Octane (C8H18) is burned with dry air. The volumetric analysis of the
products on a dry basis is
CO2: 10.02 percent
O2: 5.62 percent
CO: 0.88 percent
N2: 83.48 percent
Determine (a) the air–fuel ratio, (b) the percentage of theoretical air used
Answer: (a) AF= 19.76 kg air/kg fuel (b) Percentage of theoretical air = 131%
H.W.6.8 In a combustion process with decane, C 10H22, and air, the dry product mole
fractions are 83.61% N2, 4.91% O2, 10.56% CO2, and 0.92% CO. Find the percent
theoretical air of the reactants.
Answer: Percent theoretical air =125%
AF=18.81 kg air/kg fuel
EXAMPLE 6.6 The volumetric analysis of Producer gas from bituminous coal has
(3% CH4, 14% H2, 50.9% N2, 0.6 O2, 27% CO, 4.5% CO2) is burned with 20%
excess air. Calculate the air–fuel ratio on a volumetric basis and on a mass basis.
Solution
To calculate the theoretical air requirement, let us write the combustion equation for
the combustible substances in 1 kmol of fuel.
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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If the air and fuel are at the same pressure and temperature, this also represents the
ratio of the volume of air to the volume of fuel.
EXAMPLE 6.7 A natural gas has the following molar analysis: CH4, 80.62%; C2H6,
5.41%; C3H8, 1.87%; C4H10, 1.60%; N2, 10.50%. The gas is burned with dry air,
giving products having a molar analysis on a dry basis: CO 2, 7.8%; CO, 0.2%; O2,
7%; N2, 85%. (a) Determine the air–fuel ratio on a molar basis. (b) Determine the
percent of theoretical air.
SOLUTION
(a) The solution can be conducted on the basis of an assumed amount of fuel mixture
or on the basis of an assumed amount of dry products. Let us illustrate the first
procedure, basing the solution on 1 kmol of fuel mixture. The chemical equation then
takes the form
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The products consist of b kmol of dry products and c kmol of water vapor, each per
kmol of fuel mixture. Applying conservation of mass to carbon
which gives c = 1.93. The unknown coefficient a can be found from either an oxygen
balance or a nitrogen balance. Applying conservation of mass to oxygen
(b) The balanced chemical equation for the complete combustion of the fuel mixture
with the theoretical amount of air is
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الورحلت الرابعت الكليت االسالهيت الجاهعت
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EXAMPLE 6.8 Coal from Pennsylvania which has an ultimate analysis (by mass) as
84.36 percent C, 1.89 percent H2, 4.40 percent O2, 0.63 percent N2, 0.89 percent S,
and 7.83 percent ash (non-combustibles) is burned with theoretical amount of air.
Disregarding the ash content, determine the air-fuel ratio required for this combustion
process.
SOLUTION
Ash consists of the non-combustible matter in coal. Therefore, the mass of ash
content that enters the combustion chamber is equal to the mass content that leaves.
Disregarding this non-reacting component for simplicity, the combustion equation
may be written as
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That is, 10.2 kg of air is supplied for each kg of coal in the furnace.
EXAMPLE 6.9 Coal has the following ultimate analysis on a dry basis, 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 molal composition per 100 kg of fuel is
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H.W. 6.10. Coal having the following composition by mass is burnt with
theoretically amount of air, 86% C, 6%H, 5% O, 2% N, 1% S determine the air fuel
ratio.
H.W.6.12. A coal from Illinois which has an ultimate analysis (by mass) as 67.40
percent C, 5.31 percent H2, 15.11 percent O2, 1.44 percent N2, 2.36 percent S, and
8.38 percent ash (non-combustibles) is burned with 40 percent excess air. Calculate
the mass of air required per unit mass of coal burned neglecting the ash constituent.
Answers: 13.8 kg air/kg fuel,
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H.W.6.13. A certain coal has the following analysis on a mass basis: 82 percent C, 5
percent H2O, 2 percent H2, 1 percent O2, and 10 percent ash. The coal is burned with
50 percent excess air. Determine the air–fuel ratio.
Answer: 15.4 kg air/ kg coal
H.W.6.14. In an oil fired boiler the fuel had an analysis by mass; carbon 84%,
hydrogen 10%, sulphur 3.2%, oxygen 1.6%, remained incombustible. The analysis of
dry flue gas by volume gave: combined CO2+SO2 15.72%, O2 1%, there being no CO
or SO3. Calculate per kg of fuel (a) mass of air supplied, (b) percentage excess air
supplied.
H.W.6.15. A fuel oil has following analysis by mass: C 85%, H2 12.5%, O2 2% and
the residue 0.5%. The dry flue has the following composition by volume: CO 2 9%,
CO 1%, O2 7.77% and N2 82.23%. Determine the air fuel ratio and percentage excess
air supplied.
Answer: 21.4 kg air/ kg fuel
H.W.6.17. A boiler is supplied with coal gas of the following composition: 53.6%
H2, 9% CO, 25% CH4, 3% C4H8, 0.4% O2, 3% CO2, 6% N2. If the air fuel ratio is
6.5/1 by volume, calculate the analysis of the dry products of combustion by volume
and mass.
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