Fuel and Energy

Combustions of Fuels: Some Basics to Solve Numerical

Problems

Dr Zakir Khan
Department of Chemical Engineering
CUI Lahore Campus, Lahore

Copyright © 2011 PETRONAS IONIC LIQUIDS CENTRE (PILC)

All right reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise) without permission of the copyright owner
 Objectives and Related CLOs
Objectives
§ Complete and incomplete combustion
§ Theoretical air, Excess air, Actual or total Air
§ Air to fuel ratio

Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)

• CLO-1 Describe the industrial fuels, combustion phenomena and fuel processing

• CLO-2 Explain the industrial combustion system and renewable and alternative
energy sources

• CLO-3 Demonstrate the knowledge of combustion through calculations

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 Combustion Modes

§ Complete and Incomplete Combustions

The formation of black smoke, soot, tar (liquid product) and

unburnt fuel are all sign of incomplete combustions
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 Types of combust5iob net
§ Types of Combustion
§ 1] Complete Combustion
§ One of the types of combustion is Complete Combustion. Complete
combustion occurs in an unlimited supply of air, oxygen in particular. Also,
complete combustion is also known as clean combustion. Here the
hydrocarbon will burn out completely with the oxygen and leave only two
byproducts, water, and carbon dioxide.

§ An example of this is when a candle burns. The heat from the wick will
vaporize the wax which reacts with the oxygen in the air. The two products
of the reaction are water and carbon dioxide. In an ideal situation all the wax
burns up and complete combustion takes place

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§ 2] Incomplete Combustion
§ Incomplete combustion takes place when the air is in limited
supply. And as opposed to complete combustion it is otherwise
known as dirty combustion. Due to lack of oxygen, the fuel will
not react completely. This, in turn, produces carbon monoxide
and soot instead of carbon dioxide.

§ An example is burning of paper. It leaves behind ash (a form of

soot) as a byproduct. In a complete combustion, the only
products are water and carbon dioxide. Also, incomplete
combustion produces less energy than complete combustion.

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§ 3] Rapid Combustion
§ Another type of combustion is Rapid Combustion. Rapid energy
needs external heat energy for the reaction to occur. The
combustion produces a large amount of heat and light energy and
does so rapidly. The combustion will carry on as long as the fuel
is available.

§ An example is when you light a candle. The heat energy is

provided when we light the candle with a matchstick. And it will
carry on till the wax burns out. Hence it is a rapid combustion

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§ 4] Spontaneous Combustion
§ As the name suggests the combustion occurs spontaneously. This means that it requires no
external energy for the combustion to start. It happens due to self-heating. A substance with
low-ignition temperatures gets heated and this heat is unable to escape.

§ The temperature rises above ignition point and in the presence of sufficient oxygen
combustion will happen. The reaction of alkali metals with water is an example.

§ 5] Explosive Combustion
§ Explosive Combustion happens when the reaction occurs very rapidly. The reaction occurs
when something ignites to produce heat, light and sound energy, The simple way to
describe is it to call it an explosion. Some classic examples are firecrackers or blowing up of
dynamite.

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§ Solved Question for You

§ Q: When sand is poured over some burning material, the fire goes
off. It is because:

§ Ignition temperature is brought down

§ Air Supply is cut off
§ Sand is a band conductor of heat
§ All of the above
§ Sol: The correct option is “B”. When sand is poured over any
burning substance it cuts off the air supply. Without air,
combustion cannot occur and so the flames disappear.
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Combustion Main Reactions

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 Combustion Process Requirements
§ Fuel preparation: The solid coal is crushed or ground according to the
combustion system adopted, while the liquid fuel is atomized using
different techniques

§ Supply of oxidant (e.g., air): The air in required quantity is supplied by

suitable system to sustain the combustion.

§ Use of appropriate combustion system : The system used for combustion

would depend on the purpose of combustion and type of fuel used

§ Autoignition Temperature: The fuel would sustain combustion after

reaching ignition temperature of the fuel
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 Air for combustion
§ Theoretical or stoichiometric air
Thus, theoretical or stoichiometric air could be defined as minimum amount of air
required for complete combustion of the fuel.
CH4 + 2(O2 + 3.76 N2 ) → CO2 + 2 H2 O + 7.52 N2
§ Excess Air
§ The excess air is the extra amount of air (in per cent) supplied over theoretical
air to complete the combustion of the fuel. This excess air is needed as the
§ Theoretical supplied air is not able to mix and react with fuel due to design
constrains.
§ The thermal efficiency would be at maximum with excess air depending on the
type of fuel and combustion system.
§ Typical excess air to achieve the highest efficiency for different fuels could be
5%–10% for natural gas, 5%–20% for fuel oil and 5%–60% for coal
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Air for combustion

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 Air for combustion
§ Total Air or Actual Air
The total or actual air supplied for combustion is the sum of
theoretical air and excess air.
Example: Considering the example cited earlier the combustion of
1 m3 methane requires 9.52 m3 theoretical air. If the burner is
supplied with 10% excess air, then actual air provided will be 10.47
m 3 (= 9.52 + 0.95).

The theoretical air–fuel ratio mixture for a gasoline fueled

engine, for complete gasoline fuel combustion, the
stoichiometric air–fuel ratio is about 14.7:1
Air to fuel ratio ( λ )
The ratio of air to fuel gas is represented by the greek letter lambda 13