Professional Documents
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Solid fuels
Liquid fuels
Gaseous fuels
Moisture
Volatile matter
Fixed carbon
Ash content
Bases of reporting
The following bases are generally used for reporting analysis of solid fuels:
Wood is a solid fuel with less maturity and can be considered renewable
k k1
k2
T
predominance of predominance of
smouldering combustion with flame
Carbonization and gasification
of wood
The combustion of wood can be inefficient and a large amount of volatile
matter may not be burned. Moreover the use of gaseous fuel is generally
more versatile
The charcoal (already with very little volatile matter) burns without such
losses. The absence of flame can also be an advantage
The wood heated at high temperature (1000 to 1200 ºC) under oxygen
deficiency leads to approximately 20% of charcoal and high quantity
(≈ 2,75 m3⋅kg-1) of volatile matter (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, hydrogen, and methane)
Formation of coal
Peat
Lignite
Anthracite
Sub-bituminous Bituminous
Type and composition of coals
32 16 32
where xOstoic= xC + xH + xS - xO (7.4)
12 2 32
1 – 0,232
Note that 3,31 =
0,232
The equation can also be written without ash (which is a solid product), and
can also be written on a molar basis for air and gaseous products.
Calorific value
The calorific value can be expressed in different mass bases (Ar, Daf, Db),
with regard to the LHV and HHV at constant volume or pressure
The enthalpy of formation of coal is close to zero and the calorific value can
be calculated from the enthalpy of formation of combustion products
HHV ~ 34,1 xC + 132,3 [xH - (xO + xN)/11] + 6,8 xS – 1,5 xAsh (7.6)
(Mason and Gandhi, 1983)
(in MJ⋅kg-1 and dry basis. The second includes the effect of ash xAsh)
Classification of coals
ASTM (USA)
In order to characterize the coals and NCB (UK)
reconciling various nomenclatures there
EC for bituminous coals
are several classifications
Seyler’s classification
Ultimate
Proximate
If the temperature does not exceed 50 ºC for lignite and 80 ºC for the
bituminous spontaneous ignition does not occur. However, coal deteriorates:
The natural fuels are essentially those derived from petroleum (though they
result from human intervention). They are sometimes classified as light
(petrol, oil, diesel, ...) and heavy (heavy fuel-oil and bunker). The former are
mainly used in engines, and the latter in boilers and large (and slow) engines
alcohols
products from the synthesis of hydrocarbons
Manufactured liquid fuels products from the synthesis of coal
biofuels
...
Hydrocarbons (and alcohols)
Almost all of the liquid fuels are formed by hydrocarbons or oxygenated
hydrocarbons
Paraffin (alkanes)
branched-
n-alkane chain
Naphthenic (cyclo-paraffin)
Typical composition
Carbon 80 a 89 %
Hydrogen 12 a 14 %
Nitrogen 0,3 a 1 %
Sulphur 0,3 a 3 %
Oxygen 2 a 3%
Gasoline
L
Light gas oil I
Q
U
Heavy gas oil I
D
Lubricating oils
Óleo base mineral
Bitumen
Distillation tower (source: BP)
Gas
Fractional distillation at C1 to C3
atmospheric pressure Naphtha
and at low pressure
C1 to C4
Water
Gasoline vapour
Kerosine Light
Diesel fuel
Light Diesel
fuel
Water
Medium vapour
Diesel fuel
Heavy
Diesel fuel
Buthane Propane
Crude Residue
Atmospheric Low-pressure Buthane Propane
Boyler destillation Boyler destillation extraction extraction
tower tower unit unit
Heavy Diesel fuel – the next mixture. Used in low-speed diesel engines
Residual fuel – distillation residue. Very viscous (needs pre-heating). It has a
high amount of sulphur, and some contain metal compounds (which
give rise to adverse reactions). It is used in boilers and in very large
(and slow) Diesel engines
Properties
Some typical values for liquid hydrocarbons
Mean Tboiling (ºC) Kinematic
LHV Density
Fuel composition viscosity
(MJ⋅kg-1) (kg⋅m-3) (at 1.0 bar)
(approx.) (cSt @ 50ºC)
Light Diesel fuel C11H19 43.2 810 210 to 235 2.5 (@ 20ºC)
Notes: – almost all values given show appreciable variations. Only for Tboiling
variations were presented
– references used are varied and not always very coherent, which is mainly
due to the wide variety of hydrocarbon mixtures that these fuels may have
Note that some properties vary very little and others vary widely
Calorific values vary very little (43 to 44 MJ⋅kg-1, except for residual fuels) as
well as the stoichiometric mass air/fuel ratio (typically 14.4 to 14.6)
The density also varies little, and only in residual fuels is a little higher,
approaching the water’s (which raises major problems in the separation of
water from the fuel !)
The oils obtained are not compatible with spark ignition engines, but are (up to
a point) compatible with diesel engines. A great deal of research has been
done to allow a mutual adaptation of these oils and diesel engines, mainly for
diesel-biodiesel blends
These biofuels (particularly biodiesel) are made from oils extracted from
plants (sunflower, palm, soybean, rapeseed, ...), using a chemical process
called transesterification, which makes the extracted oil to react with an
alcohol in the presence of catalysts
Classification of gaseous fuels
petroleum
Natural gas coal
biogas
wood gas (distillation or carbonization)
peat gas (distillation or carbonization)
coal gas (carbonization)
producer gas (gasification in air)
from coal coal gas (hydrogenation)
water gas (gasification in air and steam)
Lurgi gas (gasification in O2 and steam)
Manufactured gas
refinery gas (cracking)
from oil gas (hydrogenation)
petroleum oil gas (partial oxidation)
and oil shale oil gas (water gas reaction)
CH4 75 to 95 %
Natural gas from petroleum deposits C 2H 6 3 to 12 %
C 3H 8 up to 6 %
Biogas
Biogas is obtained from the Pressure can be adjusted with weights
Since the process is not totally anaerobic, the gas has a significant
percentage of CO2, but the solid waste is a good fertilizer
Use of Natural Gas
Natural gas has a high calorific value, is uniform in its properties
(depending on its source), and contains no harmful impurities
(or their content is very low)
Its flame is not sooty, rendering heat transfer by radiation very difficult.
This is an advantage when reducing heat loss is a goal, but it is a drawback
if heat transfer by radiation is the objective (e.g., boilers); therefore large
areas for heat exchange by radiation are required
However its density is lower than that of the air, so they are easily dispersed
in the atmosphere, reducing the risk of formation of explosive mixtures in air
The calorific value per unit volume of natural gas is very low. Thus, in its
storage or transport compressed or liquefied gas is used. In large pipelines it
is typically compressed to 60 to 70 bar (at room temperature). The pressures
of storage are around 200 to 250 bar. Its density is much higher when
liquefied, so that the transport and storage in the liquid phase is very
attractive. However the temperature required is very low (≈ -160 °C).
Hence, the vessels must be cryogenic. The temperature is kept very low by
letting some of the liquid to vaporize. This is indeed a loss of fuel, which
should be burned afterwards
Liquefied Petroleum Gases (LPG)
The liquefied petroleum gas are hydrocarbons (or mixtures of hydrocarbons)
that are gaseous at normal atmospheric pressure and temperature, but that
can be stored in the liquid phase at atmospheric temperature at relatively low
pressures
They end up having the usual advantages associated with gas together with
the high energy density per unit volume associated with liquids
The main sources of LPG are natural gas, crude oil, thermal and catalytic
cracking, as well as thermal reforming
Bottled gases
Commercial liquid butane consists mainly of saturated and unsaturated C4
hydrocarbons, with less than 20% of C3 and less than 2% of C5 hydrocarbons
Butane and propane can be added to other gases to increase the calorific
value of the mixture
Butane is best suited for domestic applications. Propane is more suitable for
industrial applications due to its higher storage pressure
Propane Butane
2nd Family (natural gas) – Wobbe index from 37.1 to 52.4 MJ⋅m-3.
It includes all natural gases in which the main component is methane, as well as the
manufactured gases for replacement of natural gas
From the standpoint of the consumer, readiness and certainty of supply are
factors of great importance. Thus, to make a choice of fuel, one must
consider the place of production, transport and mode of delivery, and
consumption points, in addition to the actual use
Solid fuels
These, including coal and coke, have the following advantages over other
energy sources:
Liquid fuels
With regard to solid fuels, liquid fuels have the following advantages:
The use and handling of gaseous fuels have great advantages over other
solid and liquid fuels:
a) they are clean, and their combustion does not produce ash, dust nor
particles that can pollute the atmosphere;
b) any compound of sulphur or sulphur itself that may exist in the gas is
easily removed by simple and economic processes before the gas being
burned ;
c) can be burned efficiently with minimal amounts of excess air (50-10%) and
produce no fumes if there is good control on combustion;
d) can be burned uniformly without requiring any special process for control
and handling;
e) can be easily distributed to various locations using underground piping, as
was the case of town gas and is currently the case with domestic natural
gas;
f) its purity and calorific value are always well defined;
g) only with LPG special care concerning weather conditions must be taken
for storage.