Combustion of Gaseous Fuels

Sana Ahmad Minhas

sanaahmad0070@gmail.com
Combustion of Gaseous Fuels
❑Combustion of gaseous fuels is more easily controlled than that solid
or liquid fuels because more perfect mixing of the fuel and combustion
air is possible.
❑It is very easy to produce oxidizing (excess air), reducing (excess of
fuel) and neutral (stoichometric proportion) environment with in the
flame gases.
❑With gaseous fuels, combustion is completed with little excess air in
mixture.
❑Heat out put can be easily controlled by varying flow rate of gas.
Combustion of Gaseous Fuels
❑The behavior of a fuel gas on combustion is determined
1. Temperature of gas/air mixture
2. Relative proportion of combustible gas and the air available
3. The velocity at which the fuel gas /air mixture emerges from burner
nozzle.
4. The proportion of the components of fuel.
❑The important parameters such as ignition temperature, limits of
inflammability and burning velocity , are all influenced by these
factors.
Gas Burners
Factors Affecting the Design of a Burner
❑Relative density.
❑Calorific value.
❑Flame speed.
❑Limits of flammability.
 Types of Gas Burners
❑Diffusion Flame:
Gas and air flow separately into the combustion chamber and intermix as
burning proceeds.

❑Pre-aerated flame:
Gas and air are mixed before the combustion chamber and burned as they
leave the mixing chamber.
 Diffusion Burners

Combustion in diffusion flames takes place when gas is allowed to burn at

an orifice by reaction with the surrounding air.
Diffusion Burners
• When "diffusion" burners, or "non-aerated" or "neat gas" burners are
used to burn gases containing a high proportion of hydrocarbons,
flames produced are very luminous.
• There is bright light produced by thermal cracking of a proportion of
the hydrocarbons.
• The gas is burned at the outlet of circular or square-sectioned pipe.
• Flame from simple diffusion burner is normally;
✓Large.
✓ever changing shape.
✓ relatively low flame temperature.
 Uses of Diffusion Burner
• Diffusion burners are particularly useful where large volumes, low
calorific value gases are to be burned.
• Where both gas and air must be preheated to produce a high flame
temperature.
• To avoid dangers of pre-ignition.
• Diffusion flame burners cannot backfire.
• Diffusion flame burners normally use gas at low pressure (up to 110kPa)
 Pre-aerated Burner
Burners of this type may be divided into two important groups:

• Low-pressure burners in which air is supplied at atmospheric or slightly

higher pressure.
• Air-blast burners in which combustion is at pressures significantly higher
than atmospheric and is blown into the gas stream.
Low-pressure Aerated Burner
Best known example is
the laboratory bunsen
burner.

• Gas issuing a jet.

• Air valve.
• Mixing chamber (length
of tube).
Air-blast Burner
❑When all the combustion air is pre-mixed
with the fuel in the air-blast burner, the
flame produced has only the inner cone of
the bunsen flame formed by a region of
intense combustion and high temperatures.
❑Mixture in the burner is near to
stoichiometric.
❑Flame speed is near to its maximum value.
Air-blast Burner
❑Linear velocity of the gas-air mixture must be maintained above this
value to avoid the dangers of "flash back".
❑"Blast" of compressed air may be supplied at pressures in the range
100-3500 kPa.
❑The air is injected into the gas stream whose pressure is much lower,
at between 100-2000kPa.
❑The resultant mixture permits high gas velocities in the burner tube
and gives rise to a high turn-down ratio.