Fundamentals of Combustion

Assignment 1

Assignment date: January 13, 2022 Due date: January 27, 2022

Problem 1:

A mixture is composed of the following number of moles of various species:

Species No. of moles
CO 0.095
CO2 6
H2 O 7
N2 34
NO 0.005
A. Determine the mole fraction of nitric oxide (NO) in the mixture. Also, express your result as
mole percent, and as parts-per-million.
B. Determine the molecular weight of the mixture.
C. Determine the mass fraction of each constituent.

Problem 2:

A furnace, operating at 1 atm, uses preheated air to improve its fuel efficiency. Determine
the adiabatic flame temperature when the furnace is run at a mass air–fuel ratio of 18 for air
preheated to 800 K. The fuel enters at 450 K. Assume the following simplified thermodynamic
properties:
Tref = 300 K,
MWfuel = MWair = MWprpd = 29 kg/kmol,
c p ,fuel = 3500 J/kg-K; c p ,air = c p ,prod = 1200 J/kg-K,
h fo,air = h fo,prod = 0,
h fo,fuel = 1.16 × 109 J/kmol.

Problem 3:

An inventor has devised an atmospheric-pressure process to manufacture methanol. The inventor

claims he has developed a catalyst that promotes the economical reaction of CO and H2 to yield
methanol; however, a cheap supply of CO and H2 is needed. The inventor proposes burning natural
gas (CH4) in oxygen under fuel-rich conditions to yield a gas mixture of CO, CO2, H2O, and H2.
A. If methane burns in oxygen at an equivalence ratio F = 1.5, and the combustion reactions go
to equilibrium, what will be the resulting gas composition? Assume the combustion
temperature is controlled to 1500 K.
B. What would be the composition if the temperature were controlled to 2500 K?

Problem 4:

A furnace uses preheated air to improve its fuel efficiency. Determine the adiabatic flame
temperature when the furnace is operating at a mass air–fuel ratio of 16 for air preheated to
600 K. The fuel enters at 300 K. Assume the following simplified thermodynamic properties:

Tref = 300 K,
MWfuel = MWair = MWprod = 29 kg/kmol,
c p ,fuel = c p ,air = c p ,prod = 1200 J/kg-K,
hof ,fuel = hof ,prod = 0,
hof ,fuel = 4 ×107 J/kg.

Problem 5:

Consider liquid n-hexane in a 50-mm-diameter graduated cylinder. The distance from the liquid–
gas interface to the top of the cylinder is 20 cm. The steady-state n-hexane evaporation rate is
8.2 · 10−8 kg /s and the n-hexane mass fraction at the liquid–air interface is 0.482. The diffusivity
of n-hexane in air is 8.0 · 10−4 m2/s.
A. Determine the mass flux of n-hexane vapor. Give units.
B. Determine the bulk flux of n-hexane vapor, i.e., that portion associated with the bulk flow, at
the liquid–gas interface.
C. Determine the diffusional flux of n-hexane vapor at the liquid–gas interface.

Problem 6:

Consider liquid n-hexane in a 50-mm-diameter graduated cylinder. Air blows across the top of the
cylinder. The distance from the liquid–air interface to the open end of the cylinder is 20 cm.
Assume the diffusivity of n-hexane is 8.8 · 10−6 m2/s. The liquid n-hexane is at 25 °C. Estimate
the evaporation rate of the n-hexane. (Hint: Review the Clausius–Clapeyron relation.)

Problem 6:

Consider the two general forms of Fick’s law presented in this chapter:
! A¢¢¢ = YA (m
m ! A¢¢¢ + m
! B¢¢¢) - r DABÑYA (3.5)
 N! A¢¢ = c A ( N! A¢¢ + N! B¢¢ ) - cDABÑc A (3.6)
where c is the molar concentration.
The first expression (Eqn. 3.5) represents the mass flux of species A (kgA/s-m2) relative to a
stationary laboratory reference frame, and the second is an equivalent expression for the molar
flux of species A (kmolA/s-m2), also relative to a stationary laboratory reference frame.
The first term on the right-hand-side of Eqns. 3.5 and 3.6, respectively, is the bulk transport
of species A at the mass-average velocity, V (for Eqn. 3.5) and the molar-average velocity, V*
(for Eqn. 3.6). You are used to working with the mass-average velocity as the velocity of choice
in fluid mechanics. Both of these velocities are relative to our fixed laboratory reference frame.
Useful relationships associated with these two velocities are the following [1]:
! A¢¢¢ + m
m ! B¢¢¢ = rV (I)
or
rYA vA + rYBvB = rV (II)
and
N! A¢¢ + N! B¢¢ = cV * (III)
or
cc A vA + cc A vB = cV *, (IV)
where vA and vB are the species velocities relative to the fixed frame.
The second term on the right-hand side of Eqns. 3.5 and 3.6, respectively, expresses the
diffusion flux of species A relative to the mass-average velocity V (for Eqn. 3.5) and relative to
the molar-average velocity V* (for Eqn. 3.6).
Use the above relations (Eqns. I–IV), and others that you may need, to transform the 1-D
planar form of Eqn. 3.6 to the 1-D planar form of Eqn. 3.5. (Hint: There are a few elegant ways
to do this, as well as tedious brute-force approaches.)