ME 305 IC Engines

Assignment 3

Thermochemistry of IC Engines
Q1. Describe the effect of pressure on the equilibrium mole fractions for the following reactions
O2  2O
N2 + O2  2NO
CO + ½O2  CO2
What is the effect of temperature?
Q2. Make a list of major and minor species associated with combustion products at T  3000K, and
T1500K at equivalence ratio of 0.8 and 1.2. Give approximate numerical values of the mass
fraction of these components
Q3. In propane fuelled combustion process, 3% by volume oxygen is measured in the dry gas
exhaust stream analysis. Assuming complete combustion without dissociation, determine the
air/fuel of this process.
Q4. Consider a fuel mixture that has equi-molar composition of propane and methane. Determine
the system of equation for adiabatic flame temperature at constant volume and constant
pressure process at the following equivalence ratio:  = 0.8, 1, 1.1. Assume there is no
chemical dissociation.
Q5. For the above question, determine the system of equation if the following dissociation
reactions are to be considered:
CO + ½O2  CO2
N2 + O2  2NO
H2O  H2 +½O2
Q6. The lower heating value of vapour n-decane is 44.6MJ/kg. The enthalpy of vaporization of n-
decane is 276.8 kJ/kg. The enthalpy of vaporization of water at 298 K is 244.2 kJ/kg. Determine
the following
a) Determine the lower heating value at constant volume of liquid n-decane
b) Determine the higher heating value at constant pressure of vapour n-decane
Q7. Determine the heat of formation for methane given that the lower heating value is
50,016kJ/kg
Q8. Consider a constant pressure, adiabatic combustion process at stoichiometric condition with
A/F = 15. Assume the following simplified properties for fuel, air and products with Tref = 300K
Fuel
Air Products
Cp (J/kg-K) 3500 1200 1500
o 7
h f (J/kg) @ 300K 210 0 -1.25106
a) Determine the adiabatic flame temperature for the air/fuel mixture initially at 600K
b) Determine the heat value of the fuel at 600K.
Q9. Consider the equilibrium reaction O2  2O in a closed vessel. Assume the vessel contains 1
mol of O2 when there is no dissociation. Give the system of equation to determine the mole
fraction of O2 and O for this dissociation reaction. Discuss the effect of pressure when it is
increased
Q10. In the above problem, add one mole of diluent like Ar. What is the effect of diluent?
Q11. Consider the equilibrium reaction CO + ½O2  CO2. At 10 atm and 3000K, the equilibrium
mole fraction of the particular mixture of CO2, CO and O2 are 0.6783, 0.2144 and 0.1072,
respectively. Determine equilibrium constant Kp.
Q12. Consider the equilibrium reaction H2O  H2 +½O2. At 0.8 atm, the mole fraction for H2O, H2
and O2 are 0.9, 0.03 and 0.07. Determine the equilibrium constant Kp for this situation.
Q13. Calculate the equilibrium composition for the reaction H2O  H2 +½O2 when the ratio of the
number of moles of elemental hydrogen and elemental oxygen is unity. The temperature is
2000K and pressure is 1 atm. G for this reaction at 2000K is 135,643kJ/kmol.
Q14. An upper estimate of the amount of NO formed in an engine can be estimated from the
equilibrium chemical reaction N2 + O2  2NO. Calculate equilibrium concentration of NO at
2500K and 30 atm when log10 Kp = -1.2. Assume elemental ratio of nitrogen and oxygen is 15.
N2, O2 and NO are the only species present.
Q15. Carbon monoxide reacts with air at 1 atm and 1000K in a exhaust gas reactor. The mole
fraction of the exhaust gas-air mixture flowing into the reactor are CO 3%, O2 7%, N2 74%, CO2
6% and H2O 10%.
a) Calculate the concentration of CO and O2 in moles/cm3 in the entering mixture
b) The reaction rate is given by
[ ]
[ ][ ] [ ]
Note: [ ] is concentration in moles/cm3 and E/R = 20,000K. Calculate the initial reaction
rate of CO in seconds
c) The equilibrium constant Kp for the reaction CO + ½O2  CO2 at 1000K is 1010. Find
equilibrium concentration of CO
d) Determine the time required to reach this equilibrium concentration of CO using the initial
reaction rate and instantaneous reaction rate.