FUELS TO ENERGY

What is it? (that can produce energy)

Classification (primary or secondary)

Fuels Heat produced (concept of calorific value)

(high Calorific value, moderate

Characteristics Ign. T, low moisture, low
of a good fuel? non-combustible matter, low cost
Easy to transport)

Types

Major (dis)advantages of
Solids, Liq. and gas fuels
 DEFINITIONS
! Fuels are substances which, when heated, undergo chemical
reaction with an oxidizer, typically oxygen, to liberate heat
! Commercially important fuels contain carbon and hydrogen and
their compounds, which provide heating value
! Fuels may be solid, liquid or gaseous
! Fuels may be fossil (non-renewable) or biomass (renewable)
! Fossil fuels may be coal, petroleum-crude derived or natural gas
! Biomass fuels may be wood, refuse or agricultural residues
! Fossil fuels provide about 85% of world energy production,
balance provided by hydroelectric, nuclear and biomass.
I BTU=252 cal
 CLASSIFICATION OF FUELS
FUELS

PRIMARY OR SECONDARY OR
NATURAL DERIVED

SOLID LIQUID GASEOUS SOLID LIQUID GASEOUS

Wood Crude oil Natural gas Coke Tar CNG

Peat Charcoal Kerosene Producer gas
Lignite coke Diesel Coal gas
Coal Petrol Water gas
Dung Fuel oil Oil gas
Synthetic Bio gas
gasoline
LPG
COAL CLASSIFICATION
• Anthracite: hard and geologically the oldest
• Bituminous
• Lignite: soft coal and the youngest
• Further classification: semi- anthracite, semi-bituminous,
and sub-bituminous
Peat deposits typically form in a waterlogged
environment where plant debris accumulated;

peat undergoes several changes as a result of

bacterial decay, compaction, heat, and time

For the peat to become coal, it must be buried

by sediment.

Continued burial and the addition of heat and

time cause the complex hydrocarbon compounds
in the peat to break down and alter in a variety of
ways.
Coal is formed when peat is altered physically and chemically. This process is called
"coalification." During coalification, peat undergoes several changes as a result of bacterial
decay, compaction, heat, and time. Peat deposits are quite varied and contain everything from
pristine plant parts (roots, bark, spores, etc.) to decayed plants, decay products, and even
charcoal if the peat caught fire during accumulation. Peat deposits typically form in a
waterlogged environment where plant debris accumulated; peat bogs and peat swamps are
examples. In such an environment, the accumulation of plant debris exceeds the rate of
bacterial decay of the debris. The bacterial decay rate is reduced because the available oxygen in
organic-rich water is completely used up by the decaying process. Anaerobic (without oxygen)
decay is much slower than aerobic decay.
For the peat to become coal, it must be buried by sediment. Burial compacts the peat and,
consequently, much water is squeezed out during the first stages of burial. Continued burial and
the addition of heat and time cause the complex hydrocarbon compounds in the peat to break
down and alter in a variety of ways. The gaseous alteration products (methane is one) are
typically expelled from the deposit, and the deposit becomes more and more carbon-rich as the
other elements disperse. The stages of this trend proceed from plant debris through peat,
lignite, sub-bituminous coal, bituminous coal, anthracite coal, to graphite (a pure carbon
mineral).
Because of the amount of squeezing and water loss that accompanies the compaction of peat
after burial, it is estimated that it took 10 vertical feet of original peat material to produce 1
vertical foot of bituminous coal in eastern and western Kentucky. The peat to coal ratio is
variable and dependent on the original type of peat the coal came from and the rank of the
coal.
 SOLID FUELS
! Physical properties
• Heating or calorific value (GCV)
• Moisture content
• Volatile matter
• Ash
! Chemical properties
• Chemical constituents: carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen, sulfur
 SOLID FUELS (PHYSICAL PROPERTIES)
Heating or calorific value of a Fuel
The calorific value of a fuel is ‘the total quantity of heat liberated
from the complete combustion of unit mass or unit volume of
the fuel in sufficient air or oxygen’.

Gross or Higher Calorific Value (GCV / HCV)

Generally , fuels contains some hydrogen and on combustion,
hydrogen is converted into steam. If the products of combustion
are condensed to the room temperature, the latent heat of
condensation of steam also gets included in the measured heat.
So the gross or higher calorific value is ‘the total amount of heat
produced , when unit mass or unit volume of the fuel has been
burnt completely and the products of combustion have been
cooled to room temperature
Net or Lower Calorific Value (NCV / LCV)
It is ‘the net heat produced when unit mass or unit volume of the fuel
is burnt completely and the products are permitted to escape

LCV = HCV – latent heat of water vapor formed

Units of Heat
Calorie: The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one
gram of water by 1 ⁰C
British Thermal Unit (BTU): The amount of heat required to raise the
temperature of one pound of water by 1 ⁰F
1BTU = 252 cal

Units of Calorific Value

For solid or liquid fuels it is cal/g or BTU/lb
For gaseous fuels it is kcal/m3 or BTU/ft3
Problem: A coal has the following composition by weight : C=90%; O=3%; S=0.5%;
N=0.5% and rest as ash. LCV (lower calorific value )of the coal was found to be
8490 kcal/kg.

Calculate the percentage of H and the HCV of the coal?

Solution: H= 4.6%
HCV= 8732 kcal/kg

1  O 
HCV = ×  8080 × C + 34500 × ( H − ) + 2240 × S 
100  8 

 9 
LCV =  HCV − × H × 587 
 100 
SOLID FUELS (PHYSICAL PROPERTIES)
! Moisture content
• % of moisture in fuel (0.5 – 10%)
• Reduces heating value of fuel
• Weight loss from heated and then cooled powdered raw coal
• 1 g finely powdered air-dried coal sample is weighed in a silica crucible and
heated at 105-110 ⁰C for 1 h. Loss in weight is reported as moisture content
! Volatile matter
• Methane, hydrocarbons, hydrogen, CO, other
• Typically 25-35%
• High volatile matter means higher proportion of fuel will distill over, large
porportion of which is unburnt
• Weight loss from heated then cooled crushed coal
• The moisture-free coal sample is taken in a silica crucible and covered with a
lid (to stop the supply of oxygen). It is then placed in a muffle furnace ,
maintained at 925! !20 ⁰C for 7 minutes. Loss in weight is reported as volatile
matter (non-combustible gases) on percentage basis.
SOLID FUELS (PHYSICAL PROPERTIES)
! Ash
• Impurity that will not burn (5-40%)
• Important for design of furnace
• Ash = residue after combustion
• The weight of residue obtained after burning a weighed amount of
dry coal in an open crucible (in presence of oxygen or air) at 700-
750 ⁰C for ½ h in a muffle furnace is recorded. Heating, cooling,
and weighing are recorded until a constant weight is obtained.

! Fixed carbon
• Fixed carbon = 100 – (moisture + volatile matter + ash)
• Carbon + hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen residues
• Heat generator during combustion
 SOLID FUEL ANALYSIS
Proximate analysis:
Sample of known mass, to determine:
Moisture – dried at 105 to 110oC in an oven
Volatile combustible matter – heated to 900oC in a
covered crucible
Fixed carbon – heated to 750oC in an open crucible
Ash – the final residue
Proximate Analysis is useful to find out heating
value (GCV)
Problem: Exactly 2.2 grams of a sample on heating in a silica crucible for an hour
at 110 deg C gave a residue of 1.98. The crucible was covered in a vented lid
and strongly heated for 7 minutes at 950 +/-20 deg C. 1.2 gram residue was
Left behind. The crucible was heated without the lid (750 +/-50 deg C for ½ hour).
The final residue was 0.245 g.

Calculate the % of moisture, VM, ash, fixed C from the data.

Ans:

M=10%
VM=35.45%
Ash=11.14%
Fixed C=43.41%
 SOLID FUEL ANALYSIS
Ultimate Analysis:
Provides the major elemental composition of the fuel,
that is usually reported on dry, ash-free basis
Carbon includes organic carbon & carbon from mineral
carbonates
Hydrogen includes organic hydrogen & hydrogen from
moisture & mineral hydrates
Other elements include oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and
others like chlorine
Ultimate Analysis is useful for furnace design
(e.g flame temperature)
 Ultimate analysis

1. C and H are burnt in O2 and concerted to CO2 and H2O

For C 2. They are Quantitatively taken in KOH and CaCl2 tubes of known weights
and H
3. The increase in weights are determined

For N By Kjeldahl’s process

Heated with H2SO4 (conc.) and K2SO4 Treated with excess KOH to
liberate NH3

Unused acid is back titrated with Absorbed in known volume of standard acid
Known NaoH solution
 From calorimetric determination------when all S in coal is
For S converted to SO4 and then converted to BaSO4.

Ash Same as in proximate analysis

O 100-%(C+H+S+N+ash)