Combustion

Thermodynamics of Combustion (General Review):

State of Matter:
There are three basic states of matter, solid, liquid, vapor for example →Water may exist as
a solid (ice) or a liquid (tap water) & as a vapor (steam).

Heat & Matter:

Heat is a controlling factor in the state of matter, heat causes increased molecular motion inside
a substance, the hotter an object, the faster its molecules move, and the colder an object, the
slower its molecules move.

Methods of heat transfer:

Conduction → is heat transfer through objects that are touching each other (piston rings &
cylinders), it occurs in solid.

Convection → is heat transfer caused by the air surrounding objects (air through the radiator
for cooling the engine), it occurs in fluids.

Radiation → heating caused by infrared waves (for ex. Rays from Sun), Radiant energy moves
through space in waves

Heat Movement:
Heat always moves from a hotter object to a colder one.

Heat Measurement:
The British thermal unit (BTU) is the unit of measurement of heat transfer.

Vaporization → means a liquid changing into vapor (gas) state

Condensation → The opposite of evaporation,

Internal & External combustion engines:

Internal combustion engine → If fuel combustion occurs inside the cylinder, and always
requires an open cycle

External combustion engine → If fuel combustion occurs outside the cylinder, and use of a
closed process.
Basic Concepts of Combustion:
Fuel → Any material that can be burned to release thermal energy

Most familiar fuels consist primarily of hydrogen and carbon, they are called hydrocarbon
fuels
‫هي اي مادة قابلة لالشتعال عندما تتحد مع االكسيجين وعند اشتعالها تتحول الطاقة الكميائية المختزنة في الوقود الي طاقه‬
)hydrocarbon fuel( ‫ معظم انواع الوقود تتركب اساسا من عنصري الكربون والهيدروجين‬, ‫حراريه‬

solid Coal

liquid Gasoline
Fuel
Natural
gas
gas
LPG

Solid fuel
• Coal →The main constituent of coal is carbon.

Liquid fuel
Most liquid hydrocarbon fuels are obtained from crude oil by distillation.
‫ حيث يتم تسخين زيت بترول الخام وكل درجات حراره معينه تتصاعد‬, " ‫ناتج من عملية التقطير لزيت البترول "زيت خام‬
: ‫ابخر هذه االبخرة يتم تكثيفها وتحويلها الي سائل مثل‬
)gasoline( )1
‫يستخدم في االضاءة المنزلية‬: )kerosine( )2
‫ ويستخدم في محركات الديزل‬: )diesel fuel( )3
)fuel oil ( )4
• Gasoline → is treated as octane
• diesel fuel → is treated as dodecane
• methyl alcohol → called methanol
• Ethanol is obtained from corn, grains, and organic waste,
• Methonal is produced mostly from natural gas, but it can also be obtained from coal
and biomass.
• Ethanol and methanol just two kinds of alcohols
Gaseous fuel

• natural gas → is treated as methane, is produced from gas wells or oil wells rich in
natural gas, on vehicles, it is stored either in the gas phase as CNG (compressed natural
gas), or in the liquid phase LNG (liquefied natural gas).
• Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) → is usually referred to as propane, by product of
natural gas processing or the crude oil refining.

Combustion:
‫يمكن القول أن عملية االحتراق هو احداث تفاعل كميائي بين الوقود والموكسد (هواء ) لتحويل الطاقة الكيميائيه المختزنة‬
)ignition system( ‫في الوقود الي طاقة حرارية والبد من توافر وسيلة االشعال لبداية اشعال الخليط وهو‬
• A chemical reaction during which a fuel is oxidized and a large quantity of energy is
released and the oxidizer most often used in combustion processes is air
• During a combustion process, the components that exist before the reaction are called
reactants and the components that exist after the reaction are called products
• The fuel must be brought above its ignition temperature to start the combustion.

Important definition:
• air–fuel ratio → A frequently used quantity in the analysis of combustion processes to
quantify the amounts of fuel and air
• complete combustion → all the combustible components of a fuel are burned and the
products is (CO2, H2O, SO2, N2)
• incomplete combustion → if the combustion products contain any unburned fuel such
as C, H2, CO, or OH.
• stoichiometric or theoretical air → The minimum amount of air needed for the complete
combustion of a fuel or chemically correct amount of air or 100 percent theoretical air
• stoichiometric or theoretical combustion → The ideal combustion process during which
a fuel is burned completely with theoretical air
• excess air, percent excess air or percent theoretical air → The amount of air in excess
of the stoichiometric amount
• deficiency of air, percent deficiency of air →Amounts of air less than the stoichiometric
amount
 • equivalence ratio → the ratio of the actual fuel–air ratio to the stoichiometric fuel–air
ratio.
• Orsat gas analyzer → A commonly used device to analyze the composition of
combustion gases

Heating Values:
Heating values of a fuel (units of kJ/kg) are traditionally to quantify the maximum amount of
heat that can be generated by combustion with air.

The amount of heat release from combustion of the fuel will depend on the phase of water in
the products.

If water is in the gas phase in the products → lower heating value (LHV).

When the water vapor is condensed to liquid → higher heating value (HHV).

HHV = LHV + (mhfg )h2o

Compressed Natural Gas Vehicles:
Types of compressed natural gas vehicles:

Dedicated Bi-fuel Duel-fuel

vehicles vehicles vehicle

Dedicated vehicles → run only on natural gas.

Bi-fuel vehicles → run on either natural gas or gasoline
Dual-fuel vehicle → runs on natural gas, and use Diesel Fuel for ignition assistance.
• CNG tanks must equipped with an indication pressure gage to indicate the amount of
the natural gas.

CNG reducer:
The pressure of CNG in the tank might reach 200 bar and in order to use it safely to operate
the engine, it goes through 3 stages of pressure reduction, from 200 to 30 bar, second to 15
bar, finally to atmospheric pressure and sucked to the intake manifold through the air filter
‫ فإنه يمر‬، ‫ ومن أجل استخدامه بأمان لتشغيل المحرك‬، ‫ بار‬200 ‫قد يصل ضغط الغاز الطبيعي المضغوط في الخزان إلى‬
‫ وأخيرا ً الضغط الجوي وامتصاصه إلى‬، ‫بارا‬
ً 15 ‫ وثانيًا إلى‬، ‫ بار‬30 ‫ إلى‬200 ‫ من‬، ‫بثالث مراحل من تقليل الضغط‬
‫مشعب السحب من خالل مرشح الهواء‬

Advantages of using bi-fuel system:

• Running costs in CNG is about half than that on gasoline.
• CNG system prove to be much safer alternative than both petrol & diesel due to its
high auto-ignition temperature
• CNG reduces CO2 emissions by more 90% & decreases NOx emissions by 35 to 60%.
• Generally, CNG emissions are 20-30% lower than emissions from gasoline powered
engines.
• Less engine vibration & less noisy, also engine smoother operation and easy
maintenance.
• Longer engine oil life time.
Disadvantages:
• Low engine power generated compared with gasoline fuel.
• Low tank capacity.
• Start with petrol fuel first in order to heat the water in the radiator so it
• will heat the gas before it enters the combustion chamber.
• CNG kit initial cost is high and the CNG tanks increase the car's weight.
• Shortage of Gas refilling stations is a problem.

General Idea about Engine Main Subsystems:

Fuel Feed System:
Types of Fuel Systems:
1) Normal (Carburetor) Fuel System.

2) Electronic (Modern) Fuel Injection System.

• carburetion theory depends upon Vacuum Operation, where fuel injection operates on
pressure
• Air & fuel are introduced in the carburetor according to vacuum generated on fuel jets.
Air to Fuel ratio (A/F):
• It means the ratio of air mass to that of fuel mass entering the engine for operation
• the ideal ratio for minimum pollutant emissions is 14.6:1, in carburetor system, it varies
from 10:1 (rich mixture) to 20:1 (poor mixture),
• but for electronic fuel injection system it is tends to be 14.6:1 by the lambda sensor or
oxygen sensor which try to correct this ratio for ever.
Gasoline Octane Number (O N):
• It is a measure of gasoline antiknock characteristics (‫)قدره علي مقاومه االحتراق المبكر‬
• gasoline with a high-octane no. (92, 95) will resist knocking and perform better than
gasoline with a lower octane (80, 82, …)
• 93 Octane – Premium gasoline – High Octane – High antiknock.
• 85 Octane – Regular gasoline – Low octane – Low antiknock.
Engine Knocking & Detonation:
Knocking → results when firing is earlier than the exact timing of spark (7 degrees BTDC) or
diesel injection (21 degrees BTDC) which causes the collision of fuel explosion wave with the
piston head in up-word direction decaying the engine power.
Detonation → results when two flame fronts hit each other, one is from the spark plug
combustion, and one is from early fuel ignition caused by poor quality gasoline
Note: low Octane gasoline is easier to fire, meanwhile High-Octane gasoline is highly
resisting to fire… it is used in engines of highly compression ratio.
Carburetors must perform 3 main basic functions:
1) Adjusting A/F ratio according to driver demand

2) Keeping the F/A ratio in the optimum range

3) To homogenize the air & fuel mixture

Electronic Fuel Injection System (EFI System):
EFI System Consists of Four Main Subsystems:

1) Fuel delivery system → includes an electric fuel pump, fuel filter, pressure regulator,
fuel injectors (injector valves), connecting lines and hoses
2) Air Subsystem air-filter
3) Sensors System → which feeds engine operating data to the electronic control unit
(ECU).
4) Control Subsystem or (ECU)→ which uses the sensors data to operate the fuel delivery
system.
Pulse width is used to control the amount of fuel injected into the engine