COMBUSTION THEORY

COMBUSTION
What is Combustion:

Combustion is the chemical reaction

which takes place when a combustible
element combines with oxygen and in
doing so gives off large quantities of
heat.
CHEMICAL FORMULAE:
Consider the combustion of carbon and oxygen to form carbon
dioxide. This is written as, symbol C+O2 CO2 + Heat.
Weight 12 + 32 = 44
If we consider weight unit to be grams then we can say that 12 gms
of carbon will combine with 32 gms of oxygen to form 44 gms of
CO2.

Similarly : S+O2 = SO2

Weight 32 +32 = 64 or we can say hat 32 gms of Sulphur requires 32
gms of oxygen for complete conversion to Sulphur dioxide.

In the chemical reaction between carbon and oxygen if oxygen

supply is not sufficient then instead of CO2, CO will form.
2C+O2 = 2 CO here 24 gms of carbon will chemically combine with
32 gms of oxygen to form 56 gms of carbon mono-oxide.
C + O2 = CO2 + Heat ( 407 KJ)
12 + 32 = 44
For 1 gm of carbon
12 32 44 407
------ + ------- = ------ + ------ or say for every 1 gm of carbon 2.67 gms of O2 is required
12 12 12 12 and 3.67 gms of co2 is formed + 33.94 KJ of heat is librated

In Case of formation of carbon mono-oxide

2C + O2 = 2 CO + Heat. ( 242.88KJ)
24 + 32 = 56
For 1 gm of carbon
24 32 56
------ + ------- = ------ or say for every 1 gm of carbon 1.33 gms of O2 is required
24 24 24 and 2.33 gms of CO is formed + 10.12 KJ of heat is librated

Notice the above two equations heat librated in burning of carbon to carbon
mono-oxide is much less i.e only 10.12KJ in place of 33.94 KJ which results in
the burning carbon to carbon mono-oxide. This gives a very strong conclusion
that carbon must be burnt to form CO2 and not CO as the former gives more
heat per gm of carbon. Burnt.
In the same way , oxygen required for all other combustible
substances can be calculated. However we are more concerned with
AIR required for combustion rather than oxygen. We know oxygen is
present in air 23.2% by weight so for I gm of oxygen we need
100/23.2 gms or say 4.31 gms of air. Now this is more meaningful to
us.
Since air is fed into the boiler for burning of carbon and air has
23.2% by weight O2, remaining is nitrogen mainly. i.e 76.8%
neglecting other trace gases, and since nitrogen donot take any part
in combustion it simply passes through the Boiler and stack as hot
gas but it takes away valuable heat with itself.
QUANTITY OF AIR REQUIRED FOR COMBUSTION:
The necessity of oxygen in the combustion of fuel has already been stressed. If the
amount of oxygen available is in abundant then complete oxidation, and therefore
complete combustion of carbon and heat release will take place.
We have already seen
C + O2 = CO2 + Heat. ( 407 KJ)
12 + 32 = 44
For 1 gm of carbon
12 32 44
------ + ------- = ------ or say for every 1 gm of carbon 2.67 gms of O2 is required
12 12 12 and 3.67 gms of co2 os formed + 33.94 KJ of heat is librated

Since 1 gm of oxygen is contained in 4.31 gm of air so amount of

air required to achieve the above combustion is 2.67 X 4.31 gms
of air = 11.49 gms of air.

In a 500 MW boiler which requires about 1700 tons of air 1300

tons is nitrogen alone.
Therefore to burn 1 gm of carbon completely,
11.49 gms of air is needed of which 2.67 gms is
oxygen and remaining 8.82 gms nitrogen. The
products of combustion will be 3.67 gms CO2 and
8.82 gms of nitrogen.
 COMBUSTION DATA Table-1

Substance Molecular Theoretically Products of combustion

Symbol required Grams / Gram
Grams/gram
O2 Air CO2 H2O N2 CO SO2
Carbon (to CO2) C 2.67 11.49 3.67 - 8.82 - -
Carbon (to CO) C 1.33 5.75. - - 4.42 2.33 -
CO to CO2 CO 0.57 2.46 1.57 - 1.89 - -
Sulphur (to SO2) S 1.00 4.31 - - 3.31 - 2.00
Hydrogen (to H2O) H2 8.00 34.48. - 9.00 36.48 - -
Methane CH4 4.00 17.24. 2.75 2.25 13.24 - -

Acetylene C2H2 3.08 13.26 3.38 0.69. 10.18 - -

Ethylene C2H4 3.43 14.78 3.14 1.29 11.35 - -
Hydrogen H2S 1.41 6.09 - 0.53 4.68 - 1.88
Sulphide
DERIVATION OF A GENERAL FORMULA FOR
WEIGHT OF AIR REQUIRED
Components of Table-1 can be used for normally all calculations
however sometimes air required may have to be calculated with the
help of other formulas. Most fuels contains very few combustible
substances, normally they are carbon, hydrogen and sulphur.
Consider each of them in turn.
CARBON: C + O2 = CO2 + Heat. ( 407 KJ)
12 + 32 = 44
For 1 gm of carbon 12 32 44
------ + ------- = ------
12 12 12
1 + 8/3 = 11/3
Thus the Oxygen required is 8/3 times the weight of carbon and CO2 formed is
11/3 times that of the carbon.

O2 = 8C/3 and CO2 produced is 11C/3

Hydrogen:
2H2 + O2 = 2H2O
Weight 4 + 32 = 36
Ratio 1 + 8 = 9
The oxygen required is 8 times by weight that of Hydrogen and
water vapor produced is 9 times that of weight of hydrogen or O2
= 8H and H2O = 9H

Sulphur:
S + O2 = SO2
Weight 32 + 32 = 64
ratio 1 + 1 = 2
The oxygen required is the same as sulphur and sulphur dioxide
produced is 2 times that of sulphur. Thus O2 = 1S and SO2 = 2S

Combining all above equations oxygen in gms = 8C/3 + 8H +1S.

However there is one major correction to be applied to the above
formulae for calculating amount of Oxygen required for burning the
total constituents of coal together, that is the coal itself has got certain
amount of O2 absorbed in it which is available for burning. Let us
assume that all this O2 will combine with hydrogen present in the fuel
(Coal) i.e by 1/8 of its weight of hydrogen.
i.e if there is x gms of oxygen present in the fuel then it will combine
with x/8 gms of hydrogen and remaining hydrogen will be (H-O/8)
gms. Here H is the original amount of hydrogen present in the fuel by
weight and O is the original weight of the oxygen in the fuel.
Now the equation 8/3C+8H+S is modified as follows. 8/3C+8(H-O2/8)+S
Where C = is the weight of carbon per gm of fuel (Coal)
H = is the weight of hydrogen per gm of fuel
O = is the weight of oxygen per gm of fuel
S = is the weight of Sulphur per gm of fuel
The air required to supply this O2 from Air is = 4.31 gms for per gms of O2
So the general equation for air required becomes as follows:
4.31(8/3C + 8(H-O2/8) + S
Example: A fuel contains 54% carbon, 3.7% hydrogen, 1.0% suphur,
0.8% oxygen and remaining percentage mainly ash and moisture.
What is the theoretical weight of air required per gm of fuel.
Air Required is : 4.31(8/3C + 8(8H –O/8) + S) gms substituting
= 4.31(8/3X0.54) + 8(0.037-0.008/8) + 0.01)gm
= 4.31(1.44 + 8(0.036) + 0.016)gms
= 4.31 ( 1.44 + 0.288 + 0.016) gms
= 4.31 X 1.744 gms
= 7.517 gms
When the combustion is complete with theoretical amount of air
then it is said to be perfect STOICHIMETRIC COMBUSTION
In the above calculation no excess air has been given for
complete combustion. A sample data sheet has been
shown in the next slide for finding the air and gas weight
based on ultimate analysis of fuel.

Model Table for air and gas weight calculation

AIR AND GAS WEIGHT DOC. NO. REV. NO
CALCULATIONS DEPT / SEC SHEET NO
DATE PPRD BY
CONT. NO APPROV. BY
PROJECT
AMBIEN AIR TEMP. relative humidity
MOISTURE IN AIR, M Kg / kg of dry air Excess air
Fuel HHV Kcal/Kg
Cont. next slide
 Constituent Fraction O2 req. per O2 req. per Products of combustions Kg/Kg
kg of const. kg of fuel fuel

CO2 H2O SO2 N2

Carbon 2.664

Hydrogen 7.937

Oxygen

Sulphur 0.998

Nitrogen

Moisture

Ash

Total

Total O2 required shall be obtained by deducting the oxygen present in

the fuel stoichimetric dry air Kg/Kg fuel fired = O2 Kg/Kg X 4.3103
Table Contd. Next slide
Calculation wt. of wet air kg/106 kcal fired Stoich. Dry air kg/kg x 1.013 x 106
HHV=
Std wet air requirement kg/106 kcal fired =
Variation kg/106 kcal fired =
Adopted wt. of wet air kg/106 fired =
A –Wet combustion air kg/106 kcal fired = Adopted weight X (1+M) (1+ Ea/100)/1.013
Solid Combustible loss (% heat loss) =
Solid Combustion loss (% by wt of fuel) C’ =
C = (1-C’) / 100 =
Combustible air kg/106 kcal fired CXA =
Fuel in produtcs, kg/106 kcal fired F = 104 (100 - %ash - % solid combustion wt. loss) /
HHV
Total products, kg/106 kcal fired P = (CXA) + F

Customer /Plant : Prop/Cont. No

Engineer : Date
Checked by: : Date
Excess Air: In practice if the fuel is burnt with only the theoretical
amount of air then the combustion will be very poor. Due to incomplete
mixing of air with the fuel. To meet the complete burning some
amount of excess air supply is required than the theoretical one. The
effect of incomplete burning has been shown in figure 4.1. Some coal
remain unburnt and some oxygen may pass through fire without
entering such as chemical reaction with coal. The free oxygen appears
at the chimney along with unburnt such as carbon monoxide. This
represent a great losis of available heat as the gases are partly burnt.
15% unburnt gas loss

No Excess Air
In Complete combustion
In the above case 10% of the heat may be lost as unburnt carbon in
the ash and another 15% up to chimney as unburnt gases. Thus about
75% of the heat is librated to furnace. Adding more air will reduce
these losses considerably. The additional oxygen enables more of the
carbon to be burnt and so reduces the loss due to carbon in ash.
1% unburnt gases loss Zero % unburnt gases loss

15% Excess
Air Less 100 % excess
incomplete Air . Almost
Combustion complete
combustion
Losses influenced by Excess air:
There are six boiler losses . Three are significantly influenced
by Excess air.
1) Loss due to unburnt gas
2) Loss due to dry gas
3) Loss due to combustible matters in ash. i.e carbon
And these are not significantly influenced by excess air.
1) Loss due to burning hydrogen
2) Loss due to moisture in fuel
3) Radiation and unaccounted losses. i.e moisture in air etc
UNBURNT GAS LOSS Heat Loss
The unburnt gas loss is mainly due due to
to burning of carbon to carbon unburnt
mono oxide instead of carbon di- gas
oxide. An abundant supply of
oxygen i.e more air around 20% will
quickly reduce this loss to zero.
% Excess Air
DRY FLUE GAS LOSS Dry flue
gas loss
A further loss of heat due to dry flue gas, often
referred to as the stack loss. As more excess
air is supplied to the stack loss increases as
shown in the figure.

% Excess Air
Combustible in ash Loss:
This loss is very high with little no excess air,
because mixing of combustible material with Loss
oxygen is very poor. As the air quantity is
increased this loss falls rapidly but will not
become zero because of two factors.
1) Firstly the loss depends upon thorough
mixing air and coal, i.e firing pattern etc
2) Secondly depends upon fineness of the
coal. In case PF firing the grinding is done to
% Excess Air
the order of 200 mesh number which
increases the surface area of the fuel ( carbon
particles) resulting into intimate mixing.
COMBINED HEAT LOSS: Percent
If all three losses mentioned age
above are added it will result as heat
shown in the figure. The loss is Loss
reduced as excess air is added but
increase as it is increased beyond
a certain point. Thus there is only % Excess Air
value of excess air for which the
losses are minimum
 IGNITION TEMPERATURE:
The minimum temperature at which a substance will start burning is
known as its ignition point. Following table shows ignition point of
some substances present in the fuel
.
IGNITION TEMPERATURE
Substance Chemical Symbol Ignition Temperature
0C

Sulphur S 243
Fixed Carbon C
-- Bituminous Coal -- 408
-- Semi Bituminous Coal -- 466
--Anthracitr -- 496
Acetylene C2H2 482
Ethane C2H6 538
Hydrogen H 610
Methane CH4 650
Carbon Mono-oxide CO 654
HEATING VALUE OF FUEL:
The heating value per unit quantity of a fuel is known ac its calorific
value. It is the number of heat units per unit weight of the fuel when
completely burnt in oxygen. It is expressed as CV and its unit is KJ/Kg
or KJ/m3 for gases.
There are two calorific values:
The higher or Gross calorific Value.
The lower or net calorific value.

In determining the GCV the total heat released from the fuel is
measured until the products of the combustion are reduced to 250C.

IN case of Boiler the final flue gas temp. is considerably higher than
1000 C and water vapors present in the form of moisture in fuel will
evaporate consuming heat and pass through stack as it is. The
enthalpy of water is calculated as 2,442KJ/kg of water vapors.
It is now clear that useful heating value of the fuel is less than GCC.
Hence the Net Calorific value is Gross calorific value – 2,442(M+9H)
KJ/Kg of Fuel. Here the M and H stands for weight of Moisture and
Hydrogen.

Heating Value of Fuel

Substance Symbol Higher Lower
GCC LCC
Hydrogen H2 144000 122000
Carbon to CO C 10200 ---
Carbon to C02 C 33820 ---
C0 to C02) CO 10250 ----
Methane CH4 55700 50100
Sulphur S 9304 -----
Fuel oil 44000 41400
Coal gas 36800 32800
Natural gas 58700 56500
As is evident from the above table that hydrogen has highest calorific fuel and along
with carbon constitute for heat in the boiler, Other substances being small in quantity
donot play that important role as much is played by hydrogen and carbon. So the term
hydrogen to carbon ration is taken as a measure of the calorific value of the fuel. Higher
this ratio higher the CV.

Effect of Hydrogen : Carbon Ration on Heating value of Fuel

Fuel % Hydrogen % Carbon %Sulphur H2:C ratio GCV
Natural gas 24.30 74.06 --- 1 : 3.0 50,986
Fuel gas 11.63 83.52 3.27 1 : 7.2 43,612
Midlands 4.40 65.10 2.210 1:14.8 21,687

DULONG’S Formula for calculating the GCV

GCV = 33,820C + 144000(H – O/8) + 9.204S KJ/Kg
The ultimate analysis of Coal
Moisture ---- 18.0%
Ash ------------ 8.0 %
Carbon ------- 59.0 %
Hydrogen --- 3.7 %
Nitrogen ---- 1.2 %
Sulphur ------ 1.7 %
Oxygen ------- 8.4 %
GCV ----------- 23,842 KJ/Kg as determined by Bomb
Calorimeter. Substituting these values in the above formulae
We have GCV = (33,820X0.59) – 144,000(0.037-0.084/8)+(9.304+
0.017) = 24,000 KJ/Kg Which is approximately the same as given.
PULVERISED FUEL FIRING:
Coal is ground to about 200 mesh size and then fed to the furnace
with help of stream of air.
High temperature flames first bring the carbon particles up to
ignition temperature and then it reacts with O2 of the hot air in the
furnace to release it’s chemical energy.
Volatile gases further releases heat and create more flame in the
furnace.
Blanketing of the coal particle is prevented by turbulence created
by air stream and tangential firing.

Condition required for thorough burning of Coal and other

constituents.
Supply proper proportion of air
Thorough mixing of fuel and air
Provide enough furnace volume to complete the ignition
Maintain furnace temperature.
The success of the pulverized coal burning is due to the greater
surface exposed by breaking larger particles to fine powder say 200
mesh size.
This also reduces the excess air needed to ensure complete burning.
In turns it reduces the dry gas loses through chimney.
A stabilizing flame sufficient long in size is required for PF firing.
Surface to volume ration of the flame should be decreased so that
average heat loss from the flame is decreased.
Flame speed is nearly 60Ft/sec
Burner tiltable by 600 total.

Three types of firing

Vertical: used for burning low volatile fuel
Horizontal: High Volatile fuel
Corner or tangential Fuel is fired horizontally and tangentially to a
imaginary 4ft dia ball. It offers turbulent combustion.
Advantages of PF fuel firing:
1) Combustion is complete with low percentage of excess air.
2) Higher combustion efficiency
3) Ability to burn wide variety of coal; A wide variety of coal can be used from coal of low
volatile matter in large combustion spaces to high volatile bituminous coal.
4) Lower fan power
5) Fast response to load changes.
6) Ease of burning alternatively with or in combination with gas and oil.
7) Ability to release large amount of heat
8) For metallurgical purposes high flame temperatures are possible.
Disadvantages of PF firing:
1) Added investment in coal preparation equipment
2) Added power needed for pulverization.
3) Large volume furnace needed to withstand high gas temperatures.
4) Investment in stack fly ash removal equipments.
However Advantages are much higher as compared to dis-advantages there PF firing only is
employed in modern Boilers.