Unit - II

Fuels & Combustion

Liquid Fuels
 C.I. & S.I. Engines
Spark Fuel
Plug Injector

Intake
Compression
Expansion
Exhaust

Sparked Ignition Compressed Ignition

S.I. Engine C.I. Engine
 Detonation (Engine Knocking)
 Detonation or Knocking in engines is known as
premature combustion or abnormal combustion.
 Knocking is defined as the ignition of fuel inside the
cylinder at an undesired timing.
 For example normally the fuel ignites when the piston
reaches TDC.
 In case of knocking, the fuel ignites before or after
( at incorrect timing ).
 It occurs generally at high speeds when the fuel is
not ignited properly by the spark plug.
 High Compression ratio
 Octane Number
 Octane rating or octane number is a measure of the
resistance of gasoline to detonation (engine
knocking) in spark-ignition I.C engines.

 High-performance engines typically have higher

compression ratios and are therefore more prone to
detonation, so they require higher octane rating fuel.

 Higher octane rating means higher knocking

resistance tendency.

 The octane number of a fuel is measured in a test

engine against a mixture of iso-octane and heptane.
 Octane Number
 If a gasoline sample has the same antiknock quality
as that of a mixture containing 90% iso-octane and
10% heptane, then the octane number for that
sample is defined as 90.
 Some hydrocarbons have higher anti-knocking
capacity than iso-octane. Hence, octane number
definition is extended to allow octane numbers higher
than 100.
 If we go in compressing, a point will reach where the
mixture will catch fire on its own due to the
temperature which is called the auto ignition
temperature.
 Octane Number
 In general, smaller hydrocarbon molecules has lower
auto ignition temperature.
 So if the fuel contains lower hydrocarbons, then it
can ignite before the optimum compression of the
cylinder happens and this is called knocking.
 There are two ways to prevent this.
 One is by using larger molecules in the fuel. This will
prevent knocking but will prevent the fuel from
burning also. The same reason why a diesel fuel will
not work in a gasoline engine.
 The other way is to use molecules which are
complex but not large. i.e. Aromatic compounds
 Hydrotreatment

 Hydrotreatment is an important step of refining

process.

 Hydrotreatment is the reaction of organic

compounds to remove impurities.

 The reaction occure in the presence of high pressure

hydrogen to remove oxygen (deoxygenation) along
with other heteroatoms (nitrogen, sulfur, and
chlorine).
 Hydrotreatment

 Hydrotreating achieves the following objectives:

 Removing impurities, such as sulphur, nitrogen and

oxygen for the control of a final product specification
or for the preparation of feed for further processing
(naphtha reformer);

 Removal of metals, usually in a separate guard

catalytic reactor when the organometallic
compounds are hydrogenated and decomposed,
resulting in metal deposition on the catalyst pores.

 Saturation of olefins and their unstable compounds

Gaseous Fuel
 Gaseous Fuel

 Gaseous fuels are obtained either naturally or by the

treatment of solid or liquid fuel.

 Among the naturally occurring gaseous fuels, natural

gas and liquefied petroleum gas are most important.

 These gases have high calorific value.

 The calorific value (CV) and specific gravity (G) of a

gaseous fuel determine the thermal output of a
heating appliance.

 Gaseous fuels have lower energy content than liquid

fuels such as, petrol or diesel.
 Gaseous Fuel

 Gaseous fuels are potentially more deserved fuel as

they produce very low greenhouse gas upon
burning.

 Hence air quality benefits are obtained compared to

conventional fuels, petrol and diesel products.

 Gaseous fuels occur in nature, besides being

manufactured from solid and liquid fuels.

 They have many advantages in comparison to solid

and liquid fuels.
 Advantages
 Gaseous fuels due to ease and flexibility of their
applications, possess the following advantages over
solid or liquid fuels:
 They can be conveyed easily through pipelines to
thereby eliminating manual labour in transportation.
 They have high heat contents and hence help us in
having higher temperatures.
 Their combustion can readily by controlled for change
in demand like oxidizing or reducing atmosphere,
length flame, temperature, etc.
 They are clean in use and they burn without any
shoot, or smoke and ashes.
 Disadvantages
 Gaseous fuels are always better in comparison to
solid and liquid fuels. However, they also have
disadvantageous which are following:

 Very large storage tanks are needed.

 They are highly inflammable, so chances of fire

hazards in their use is high.
Thank You