.

Module 4
GASEOUS FUELS
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Advantages of gaseous
fuels
Least amount of handling

Simplest burners systems

Burner systems require least maintenance

Environmental benefits: lowest GHG and

other emissions

GHG: Green house gas

Classification of gaseous fuels
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Fuels naturally found in nature

• Natural gas
• Methane from coal mines

Fuel gases made from solid fuel

• Gases derived from coal

• Gases derived from waste and biomass
• From other industrial processes

Gases made from petroleum

• Liquefied Petroleum gas (LPG)
• Refinery gases
• Gases from oil gasification

Gases from some fermentation

Calorific value 4
• Fuel should be compared based on the net calorific value (NCV),
especially natural gas

Typical physical and chemical properties of various gaseous fuels

Fuel Gas Relative Higher Heating Air/Fuel ratio Flame Flame speed
Density Value kCal/Nm3 m3/m3 Temp oC m/s

Natural Gas 0.6 9350 10 1954 0.290

Propane 1.52 22200 25 1967 0.460
Butane 1.96 28500 32 1973 0.870

Junker's Gas Calorimeter: estimating the calorific value of gaseous fuels

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Wobbe Index

 It is used for the classification of fuels.

 Wobble index is a key parameter for the heat capacity of a gaseous fuel or, in other words, it is an
indicator for the interchangeability of gases.

 Gases with same Wobble index produce an identical burner heat load at the same burner
pressure.
 The Wobble index of a gaseous fuel can be adjusted by diluting it with inert or lean gas (e.g.,
steam, nitrogen) or improved by adding rich gases (e.g., evaporated LNG).
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Wobbe index formula
Natural Gas

 Natural gas is obtained from deposits in sedimentary rock

formations which are also sources of oil.
 It is extracted from production fields and piped (at
approximately 90 bar) to a processing plant where
condensable hydrocarbons are extracted from the raw
product.

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 It is then distributed in a high-pressure mains system.
 Pressure losses are made up by intermediate booster
stations and the pressure is dropped to around 2500 Pa in
governor installations where gas is taken from the mains and
enters local distribution networks.

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 The initial processing, compression and heating at governor
installations uses the gas as an energy source.
 The energy overhead of the winning and distribution of a
natural gas is about 6% of the extracted calorific value.

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 The composition of a natural gas will vary according to where
it was extracted from, but the principal constituent is always
methane.
 There are generally small quantities of higher hydrocarbons
together with around 1% by volume of inert gas (mostly
nitrogen).

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 The characteristics of a typical natural gas are:
Composition (% vol) CH4 92
other HC 5
inert gases 3
Density (kg/m3) 0.7
Gross calorific value (MJ/m3) 41

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Acronyms for natural gas

 Natural gas :NG

 Natural gas in net :E, L
 Compressed natural gas :CNG
 Liquid Natural Gas :LNG
 (Lowcaloricnaturalgas) :LCNG

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Applications

Power generation
Domestic use
Transportation
Fertilizers
Aviation
Hydrogen

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Town gas (Coal Gas)

 The original source of the gas which was distributed to towns

and cities by supply utilities was from the gasification of coal.
 The process consisted of burning a suitable grade of coal in a
bed with a carefully controlled air supply (and steam injection)
to produce gas and also coke.

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 This is still the gas supplied by utility companies in many
parts of the world and there is continuing longer-term
development of coal gasification, since it is one of the most
likely ways of exploiting the substantial world reserves of solid
fuel.
 It was first introduced into the UK and the USA at the
beginning of the 19th century.

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 The gas was produced by heating the raw coal in the
absence of air to drive off the volatile products.
 This was essentially a two-stage process, with the carbon in
the coal being initially oxidized to carbon dioxide, followed by
a reduction to carbon monoxide:
C + O2 → CO2
CO2 + C → 2CO

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 The volatile constituents from the coal were also present,
hence the gas contained some methane and hydrogen from
this source.
 An improved product was obtained if water was admitted to
the reacting mixture, the water being reduced in the so-called
water gas shift reaction:
C + H2O → CO + H2

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 This gas was produced by a cyclic process where the reacting bed was
alternately blown with air and steam- the former exhibiting an
exothermic, and the latter an endothermic, reaction.
 A typical town gas produced by this process has the following
properties:
Composition (% vol) H2 48
CO 5
CH4 34
CO2 13
Density (kg/m3) 0.6
Gross calorific value (MJ/m3) 20.2

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 A more recent gasification process, developed since 1936, is
the Lurgi gasifier.
 In this process the reaction vessel is pressurized, and oxygen
(as opposed to air) as well as steam is injected into the hot
bed.
 The products of this stage of the reaction are principally
carbon monoxide and hydrogen.

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 Further reaction to methane is promoted by a nickel catalyst at
temperatures of about 250-350℃:
CO + 3H2 → CH4+ H2O
 The sulfur present in the coal can be removed by the presence of
limestone as follows:
H2 + S → H2S
H2S + CaCO3 → CaS +H2O +CO2

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Town gas production from naphtha and natural
gas

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Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)

 LPG is a petroleum-derived product distributed and stored as

a liquid in pressurized containers.
 LPG fuels have slightly variable properties, but they are
generally based on propane (C3H8) or the less volatile butane
(C4H10).

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 Compared to the gaseous fuel described above, commercial
propane and butane have higher calorific values (on a
volumetric basis) and higher densities.
 Both these fuels are heavier than air, which can have a
bearing on safety precautions in some circumstances.

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 Typical properties of industrial LPG are given below:

Gas Propane Butane

Density (kg/m3) 1.7-1.9 2.3-2.5

Gross calorific value (MJ/m3) 96 122
Boiling point (℃ at 1 bar) -45 0

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Applications 33

Rural heating

Motor fuel

Refrigeration

Cooking
Processing of LPG from Petroleum Products
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CNG 35
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fossil fuel substitute for gasoline (petrol), diesel, or propane/LPG.
Although its combustion does produce greenhouse gases, it is a more environmentally clean
alternative to those fuels, and it is much safer than other fuels in the event of a spill (natural gas is
lighter than air, and disperses quickly when released). CNG may also be mixed with biogas,
produced from landfills or wastewater, which doesn't increase the concentration of carbon in the
atmosphere.
CNG is made by compressing natural gas (which is mainly composed of methane [CH4]), to less than
1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard
containers at a pressure of 200–248 bar (2900–3600 psi), usually in cylindrical or spherical shapes.

Applications
Cars
Locomotives
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Liquefied Natural Gas

 LNG is natural gas that has been super cooled to minus 260 ° F
becoming liquid for easier storage and shipping.
 LNG is a clear, odorless, colorless, non-corrosive and non-toxic
liquid.
 LNG takes up 1/600th of the space – simplifying storage and
transportation.
Comparing Fuels 37

Fuel Oil Coal Natural Gas

Carbon 84 41.11 74
Hydrogen 12 2.76 25
Sulphur 3 0.41 -
Oxygen 1 9.89 Trace
Nitrogen Trace 1.22 0.75
Ash Trace 38.63 -
Water Trace 5.98 -
38
Flue gas analysis by orsat analysis method 39
 Producer gas 40
Producer gas is a low calorific value fuel gas comprising of
mainly carbon monoxide and
nitrogen.

It is produced by passing air or a mixture of air and steam

through a burning bed of
solid fuel such as, coal, coke, wood or biomass

The exact composition of producer gas depends on

the type of fuel, composition of the blast and operating
condition
 Reactions involved 41
When only air is used as blast through the fuel bed (air-blast),
a) C + O2 + N2  CO2 + N2
b) CO2 + C  2CO
Reaction (a) is highly exothermic and occurs at temperature above 5000C. Due to heat generation
by this reaction, the fuel bed temperature increases. CO2 formed in that reaction reacts with
carbon of fuel to form CO. This reaction is named as Boudouard reaction and this reaction is
important in the sense that the main component of producer gas, CO, is obtained in this reaction.

The overall reaction is

c) 2C + O2 + N2  2CO + N2

After producer gas is formed in the bed, an opposite reaction to the Boudouard reaction may
occur, which is called Neumann reversal reaction, to form CO2 and C.
d) 2CO  CO2 + C
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When steam is used in admixture of air (steam blast)
At this condition, the above reactions occur (reactions a, b, c, d) and along with those, some
other reactions also occur. Carbon reacts with steam to form carbon monoxide and carbon
dioxide by the following reactions,

e) C + H2O  CO + H2
and f) C + 2H2O  CO2 + 2H2

Both the reactions (c) and (f) are endothermic. The reaction (e) is active at or above the
temperature 10000C but reaction (f) occurs at the temperature range of 500 to 6000C. The
later reaction (f) is not desirable as it produces CO2, which is not a component of producer
gas, hence, always the fuel bed temperature is kept high to avoid this reaction
The excess steam may also react with CO to form CO2 and H2 in water gas shift reaction as
shown below. This is also an undesired side reaction.
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g) CO + H2O  CO2 + H2

Methanation or methane formation is another side reaction observed.

h) C + 2H2  CH4

The above reaction is not favoured at high temperature.

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Water gas
• Water gas is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen produced from synthesis gas.

• Synthesis gas is a useful product, but requires careful handling due to its flammability and the risk of 
carbon monoxide poisoning.

• The water-gas shift reaction can be used to reduce the carbon monoxide while producing additional hydrogen,
resulting in water gas.

The water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) describes the reaction of carbon monoxide and 

water vapor to form carbon dioxide and hydrogen:

CO + H2O ⇌ CO2 + H2
Kinetics of Combustion
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1. Pure propane is burnt with an excess air to give the following analysis of
combustion products in volume percent:
CO2=5, CO=3.5, H2O=11.4, O2=7, N2=73.1
Calculate percent excess of air used

2. The gases entering a reactor contain A and B in mole ratio 1:4. The mole
ratio of these gases in the exit stream from the reactor is 1:4.25. What
volume of gas in m3 at STP must enter the reactor to produce 100 kmol of
product Cper hour? The reaction is A+3B= 2C
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