COMBUSTION CALCULATIONS

Solid & Liquid Fuels:

Astoi = 11.53*C + 34.34*(H2 - (O2/8)) + 4.29*S

where
Astoi = Dry stoichiometric air required for combustion, lb/lb of fuel
C = weight fraction of Carbon in Solid/Liquid fuel
H2 = weight fraction of Hydrogen in Solid/Liquid fuel
O2 = weight fraction of Oxygen in Solid/Liquid fuel
S = weight fraction of sulfur in Solid/Liquid Fuel

Gaseous Fuels:

Astoi = 2.47*CO + 34.34*H2 + 17.265*CH4 + 13.3*C2H2 + 14.81*C2H4 + 16.12*C2H6 + 15.69*C3H8

+ 15.44*C4H10 + 15.31*C5H12 + 6.086*H2S - 4.32*O2
where
Astoi = Dry stoichiometric air required for combustion, lb/lb of fuel
Mol Wt
Pure Mol Wt of
Comp., Mix, lb/lb-
CO = weight fraction of Carbon Monoxide Gaseous fuel Gas Comp Mole % lb/lb-mol mol Wt. Fraction
H2 = weight fraction of Hydrogen in Gaseous fuel CO 0.00044 28.01 0.0001232 6.51898E-06
CH4 = weight fraction of Methane in Gaseous Fuel H2 0.00004 2.01 8.04E-07 4.25275E-08
C2H2 = weight fraction of acetylene in Gaseous Fuel CH4 78.2 16.04 12.54328 0.663475391
C2H4 = weight fraction of ethylene in Gaseous Fuel C2H2 14.6 26.04 3.80184 0.201097901
C2H6 = weight fraction of ethane in Gaseous Fuel C2H4 2.545 28.05 0.7138725 0.037760206
C3H8 = weight fraction of propane in Gaseous Fuel C2H6 1.152 30.07 0.3464064 0.018323128
C4H10 = weight fraction of butane in Gaseous Fuel C3H8 0.982 44.1 0.433062 0.022906766
C5H12 = weight fraction of pentane in Gaseous Fuel C4H10 0.46 58.12 0.267352 0.014141554
H2S = weight fraction of hydrogen sulfide in Gaseous Fuel C5H10 0.32 72.15 0.23088 0.012212372
O2 = weight fraction of Oxygen in Gaseous fuel H2S 1.07 34.08 0.364656 0.019288438
O2 0.00006 32 0.0000192 1.01558E-06
HHV's (Higher Heating Value) for API fuel oils: N2 0.57 28.02 0.159714 0.008448054
CO2 0.10046 44.01 0.0442124 0.002338612
HHV = 17887 + 57.5*°API - 102.2*S 100 18.91 1
where
°API = Degree API of Fuel Oil (measure of specific gravity)
S = weight percent of sulfur in fuel oil

MM Btu method of combustion:

This method for combustion is based on the concept that the weight of air required in the combustion of a unit weight of
any commercial fuel is more nearly proportional to the unit heat value than to the unit weight of the fuel. Hence the
quantity of air required is expressed in lb per million btu (lb/MMBtu) fired.

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 COMBUSTION CALCULATIONS

Examples for calculation of thoretical/stoichiometric Air:

Example 1:
A Fuel oil has the following characteristics:
Degree API 28 °API
weight percent C = 87.5 %
weight percent H = 12.5 %
weight percent S = 0 %
weight percent O = 0 %

Calculate the amount of theoretical air required per million Btu fired for above fuel oil

Calculations:
HHV = 19497 Btu/lb
Astoi = 14.38 lb/lb fuel

1 MM Btu fired requires = 51.29 lb fuel

Hence air required per 1 MM Btu fuel = 737.6 lb

Example 2:
Natural gas is used as fired fuel for boiler. It has the following volumetric analysis:
CH4 = 83.4 %
C2H6 = 15.8 %
N2 = 0.8 %

Calculate the amount of theoretical air required per million Btu fired for natural gas

Calculations:
Component volume % Molecular wt weight % wt fraction Combustion
Constants
or HHV,
Btu/lb
CH4 83.4 16 72.89 0.7289 23876 yellow colored cell are inputs
C2H6 15.8 30 25.89 0.2589 22320
N2 0.8 28 1.22 0.0122 -

Astoi = 16.76 lb/lb fuel

HHV = 23181.0 Btu/lb
1 MM Btu fired requires = 43.14 lb fuel
Hence air required per 1 MM Btu fuel = 722.9 lb

Total Atmospheric Air required for Combustion in fired Heaters:

Atot = Astoi*(1000000/HHV of fuel)*(1+ H)*(1 + Aexc)

where
Atot = total atmospheric air, lb/MM Btu
Astoi = Dry stoichiometric or theoretical air required, lb/lb fuel
HHV = Higher Heating Value, Btu/lb
H= absolute humidity of atmospheric air expressed as a fraction - lb of water vapor per 1 lb of dry air
(to be calculated from % Relative Humidity (RH) & Dry Bulb Temperature using psychrometric chart,
example: at 105°F & 100% RH, H = 0.0507 from Humid Air chart)
Aexc = excess air expressed as a fraction (10% excess air will be entered as 0.1, 15% = 0.15 etc.)

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 COMBUSTION CALCULATIONS

Common Combustion Reactions & the Heats of Combustion:

Heating Value (Btu/lb)

HHV LHV
H2 + 1/2O2 = H2O 61100 51600
C + O2 = CO2 14093 14093
C + 1/2O2 = CO 4440 4440
CO + 1/2O2 = CO2 4345 4345
S + O2 = SO2 10160 10160
CH4 + 2O2 = CO2 + 2H2O 23885 21500
C2H6 + 3.5O2 = 2CO2 + 3H2O 22263 20370
C3H8 + 5O2 = 3CO2 + 4H2O 21646 19929
C4H10 + 6.5O2 = 4CO2 + 5H2O 21293 19665
C5H12 + 8O2 = 5CO2 + 6H2O 21090 19497
H2S + 1.5O2 = H2O + SO2 7094 6534

Note that where no water is formed during combustion reaction the HHV & LHV are the same.

Heating Value (LHV(net) & HHV(gross)) @ 60°F, 14.696 psia (Source: Fig 23-2, GPSA Engg. Data Book)

Heating Value, 60°F

Net Gross
3 3
Btu/ft , Btu/ft ,
Compound
ideal gas, ideal gas,
14.696 Btu/lbm 14.696 Btu/lbm Btu/gal
psia Liquid psia Liquid Liquid
Methane 909.4 - 1010 - -
Ethane 1618.7 20277 1769.6 22181 65869
Propane 2314.9 19757 2516.1 21489 90830
Isobutane 3000.4 19437 3251.9 21079 98917
n-Butane 3010.8 19494 3262.3 21136 102911
Isopentane 3699 19303 4000.9 20891 108805
n-Pentane 3706.9 19335 4008.9 20923 110091
Neopentane 3682.9 19235 3984.7 20822 103577
n-Hexane 4403.8 19232 4755.9 20783 115021
Hydrogen 273.8 - 324.2 - -
Carbon 320.5 - 320.5 - -
Monoxide
Hydrogen
sulfide 586.8 6337 637.1 6897 46156

Prepared by: Ankur Srivastava

Chemical Engineer
e-mail: ankur2061@yahoo.co.in

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