Chapter 6.

Fuels and its Combustion

Fuels are the main energy sources for industry and domestic purposes.
● “A fuel is a substance containing carbon as the major substituent which provides energy on
combustion for industry and domestic purposes”.
● The combustion is the process of oxidation that provides heat energy. Every combustion is an oxidation but
every oxidation is not combustion.
● Fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as heat
energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of
releasing chemical energy but has since also been applied to other sources of heat energy such as nuclear
energy (via nuclear fission and nuclear fusion).

Definition: Fuel is defined as a combustible substance which on combustion produces a large amount of
heat energy without producing excess by-products.
Fuel + O2 → Products + Heat

I. Classification of fuels is based on two factors.

A. Occurrence (and preparation)

1. Natural or primary fuels (found in nature)- wood, peat, coal, petroleum, natural gas
2. Artificial or secondary fuels (prepared from natural fuels) – charcoal, coke, kerosene, diesel, petrol, coal
gas, oil gas, producer gas, blast, furnace gas

B. The state of aggregation

1. Solid fuels – natural: Wood, peat, lignite, dung, bituminous coal and anthracite coal; artificial: Artificial -
Charcoal, coke etc.

● COAL – Wood → Peat → Lignite→ Bituminous Coal → Anthracite

1) Peat:- Peat is brown-fibrous jelly like mass.
2) Lignite:- these are soft, brown coloured, lowest rank coals
3) Bituminous coals:- These are pitch black to dark grey coal
4) Anthracite:- It is a class of highest rank coal
Coal – hardwoods such as oak, mahogany, iroko, shea tree – contain high levels of carbon
● COKE - solid carbonaceous residue derived from low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal from which
the volatile constituents are driven off by baking in an oven at temperatures as high as 2,000
degrees Fahrenheit so that the fixed carbon and residual ash are fused together. Coke is used as a
fuel and as a reducing agent in smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Coke from coal is grey, hard, and
porous and has a heating value of 24.8 million Btu per ton
● Charcoal is a solid fuel used for heating and cooking that is created through the process of
carbonisation,

2. Liquid fuels - natural- Crude oil/petroleum; artificial - Petrol, diesel and various other fractions of
petroleum

● Crude oil/black gold- liquid petroleum that is found accumulated in various porous rock
formations in Earth's crust

Composition and uses of some liquid fuels:

Diesel
 It contains a mixture of hydrocarbons between pentadecane to octadecane (C15H32 to C18 H38).
  Average composition: C = 85%, H = 12%, Rest = 3%
 Calorific Value = 11,000 Kcal/kg
Uses: It is used as a fuel in diesel engine.

Petrol or Gasoline
 It contains a mixture of hydrocarbons between pentane to octane (C5H12 to C8H18).
 It is volatile and inflammable.
 Average Composition C = 84%, H=15%, O+S+N =1%
 Calorific Value = 11,250 Kcal / Kg.

Uses:
 It is used as a fuel for internal combustion engines of automobiles.
 It is used as a dry-cleaning agent.

Kerosene
 It consists of hydrocarbons between decane to hexadecane (C10H22 to C16 H34).
 Average Composition, C = 84 % , H = 16%, S < 0.1%
 Calorific value = 11,100 Kcal/ Kg
Uses:
 It is used as a domestic fuel in stoves.
 It is used as jet engine fuel for making oil gas.

3. Gaseous fuels – natural- Natural gas; artificial - Coal gas, oil gas, bio gas, water gas etc.

a. Water Gas
(i) It is a mixture of combustible gases CO and H2 with a little quantity of non-combustible gases
like CO2 and N2.
(ii) The average composition of water gas is H2= 51 %, CO = 41 %, CO2 = 4% & N2 = 4%,
(iii) Its calorific value is 2800 Kcal / m3
Uses: It is used:
 as a source of H2 Gas.
 as a fuel.
 as an illuminating gas.
 for welding purposes

b. Producer Gas:
(i) It is a mixture of combustible gases, CO and H2 with large quantities of non-combustible gases
CO2 and N2.
(ii) The avg. composition of producer gas is CO = 22-30%, H2 = 8-12 %, N2 = 52-55 % & CO2 = 3%
(iii) Its calorific value is 1,300 Kcal /m3
Uses: It is used:
 For heating open-hearth furnaces in steel & glass manufacture, muffle furnace in coke &
coal gas
manufacture.
 As a reducing agent in metallurgical operations.

c. Coal gas:
(i) It is a mixture of a number of hydrocarbons along with N2, H2, CO & CO2.
(ii) It is a colourless gas and burns with a sooty flame.
(iii) The average composition of coal gas is
H2=40%, CH4=32%, CO=7%, C2H2=2%, C2H4=3%, N2=4%, CO2=1% & rest=11%
(iv) Its calorific value is 4900 Kcal /m3
Uses: It is used:
 as a fuel.
 as a reducing agent in metallurgical operations.
 as an illuminant.

d. LPG (Liquified petroleum gas):

(i) It is mainly C3, C4 hydrocarbons of alkane & alkene.
(ii) It is highly inflammable.
(iii)It is colourless and odourless but a smelling agent called ethyl mercaptan(C2H5SH) is
added to it
 to detect the leakage.
(iv)The average composition of LPG is

n-butane=27%, iso-butane=25%, butene=43%, propene=2.5% & propane=2.5%.

(v) Its calorific value is 27,800 Kcal /m3

Uses: It is used:
 As a domestic fuel.
 As an industrial fuel.
 As a vehicular fuel.

e. CNG (Compressed Natural Gas):

(i) It is a colourless, odourless gas and burns with a pale blue flame.
(ii) The average composition of CNG is:
CH4=70-90%, C2H6=4-9% & traces of propane and butane.
(iii)Its calorific value is 12500 Kcal /m3
Uses: It is used:
 as a fuel in low emissive vehicles like ULEV (ultra-low emission vehicles).
 as a domestic and industrial fuel.
 as a source of carbon in tyre industry.
 for the production of H2 gas needed in fertilizer industry.

II. Calorific value of fuel:

Calorific value may be defined as ―the amount of heat energy produced by the complete combustion of a unit
mass or unit volume of fuel in air.‖
Units of Calorific value are: Cal/gm, Kcal/Kg, KJ/Kg, B.Th./lb (British Thermal Unit/pound) etc.

BURN FUEL HEAT BOILING OF WATER - STEAM- TURBINE - MECHANICAL ENERGY ELECTRICAL ENERGY

III. Characteristics of good fuel:

1. It should have high calorific value.
2. It should be cheap and readily available.
3. It should leave only small amount of residue or ash when burnt.
4. It should have a controllable combustion rate.
5. It should not produce harmful combustion products.
6. It should not produce much smoke.
7. It should have moderate ignition temperature.
8. It should not be explosive in nature.
9. It should have low moisture content.
10.It should require low storage volume.
11.It should be easy to transport.
IV. ANALYSIS OF COAL
The analysis of coal is helpful in its ranking. The assessment of the quality of coal is carried out by these
two types of analyses.
A) Proximate analysis
B) Ultimate analysis

A. Proximate analysis: In this analysis, the percentage of carbon is indirectly determined. It is a

quantitative analysis of the following parameters.
1. Moisture content
2. Volatile matter
3. Ash
4. Fixed carbon

i. MOISTURE CONTENT

ii.
VIDEO LINKS:
Coal formation –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqas6KdOgM0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN6LvH_4Q3g

Cow dung as fuel

https://www.scmp.com/video/technology/3245057/company-using-cow-dung-fuel-japans-space-ambitions

Crude Oil formation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Uh7r0DUn4k

Charcoal Making
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyqmmgecThs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzLvqCTvOQY

Petroleum Refinery
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYRwWyG3Qqw

How is gasoline made from crude oil?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCJ04-kKL0U