Chem 10
Chem 10
Chem 10
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
The combustion is the process of oxidation that provides heat energy. Every
Classification of Fuels:
On the basis of occurrence, the fuels are further divided into two types.
2. artificial or secondary fuels: - These are prepared artificially from the primary
fuels.
Ex: - charcoal, coke, kerosene, diesel, petrol, coal gas, oil gas, producer gas,
b. It should be dry and should have less moisture content. Dry fuel
d. It must have a moderate ignition temperature and should leave less ash
after combustion.
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Fuels and Combustion
g. Its handling should be easy and should not give poisonous gases after
combustion.
1. Solid fuels
2. Liquid fuels
3. Gaseous fuels
fuel
Solid
coal
of petroleum
Gaseous Natural gas Coal gas, oil gas, bio gas, water gas etc.
S.NO
Characteristic
property of a
fuel
fuels Costly
Closed containers
storing
required is huge
proof.
4 Risk towards
highly inflammable
5 Combustion
rate
efficient
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6 Combustion
Cannot be controlled
or stopped when
necessary
Controlled by
regulating the
supply of air
7 Handling cost
required in their
can be transported
through pipes
Low, similar to
can be transported
through pipes
8 Ash
possess
problems
invariably
Smoke is not
produced
10 Calorific value Least High Highest
I. Solid Fuels:
The main solid fuels are wood, peat, lignite, coal and charcoal.
Coal: - Coal is a fossil fuel, which occurs in layers in the earths crust. It is formed by
the partial decay of plant materials accumulated millions of years ago and further
altered by the action of heat and pressure. The process of conversion of wood into coal
can be represented as
Fuel Percentage of
carbon
Calorific value
(k.cal/kg) Applications
coal is prevailing
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Metallurgical coke
Raising
Analysis of Coal:-
The assessment of the quality of coal is carried out by these two types of analyses.
A) Proximate analysis
B) Ultimate analysis
1. Moisture content
2. Volatile matter
3. Ash
4. Fixed carbon
maintained at 105 to 110 0C for one hour. The crucible is allowed to remain in
oven for 1 hour and then taken out, cooled in desiccators and weighed. Loss in
Percentage of Moisture =
Loss in weight
Weight of coal taken × 100
2. Volatile Matter: The dried sample taken in a crucible and then covered with a
lid and placed in an electric furnace or muffle furnace, maintained at 925 + 20C.
The crucible is taken out of the oven after 7 minutes of heating. The crucible is
cooled first in air, then inside desiccators and weighed again. Loss in weight is
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Loss in weight
3. Ash: The residual coal sample taken in a crucible and then heated without lid in
a muffle furnace at 700 + 50 C for 1⁄2 hour. The crucible is then taken out, cooled
first in the air, then in desiccators and weighed. Heating, cooling and weighing
are repeated, till a constant weight is obtained. The residue is reported as ash on
a percentage-basis.
Thus,
Percentage of Ash =
1. Moisture: Moisture is coal evaporates during the burning of coal and it takes
some of the liberated heat in the form of latent heat of evaporation. Therefore,
moisture lowers the effective calorific value of coal. Moreover, over, it quenches
the fire in the furnace, hence, lesser, the moisture content, the better the quality of
2. Volatile matter: a high volatile matter, content means that a high proportion of
fuel will distill over as gas or vapour, a large proportion of which escapes un-burnt,
So, higher volatile content in coal s undesirable. A high volatile matter containing
coal burns with a long flame, high smoke and has a low calorific value. Hence,
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value of coal. Moreover, ash causes the hindrance to the flow of air and heat, thereby
lowering the temperature. Also, it often causes trouble during firing by forming
clinkers, which block the interspaces of the grate, on which coal is being burnt. This
in-turn causes obstruction to air supply; thereby the burning of coal becomes
irregular. Hence, lower the ash content, better the quality of coal. The presence of
ash also increases transporting, handling and storage costs. It also involves
additional cost in ash disposal. The presence of ash also causes early wear of furnace
4. Fixed carbon: Higher the percentage of fixed carbon, greater is it’s calorific
and betters the quality coal. Greater the percentage of fixed carbon, smaller is the
percentage of volatile matter. This also represents the quantity of carbon that can be
burnt by a primary current of air drawn through the hot bed of a fuel. Hence, high
designing the furnace and the shape of the fire-box, because it is the fixed carbon
B. Ultimate analysis: This is the elemental analysis and often called as qualitative
analysis of coal. This analysis involves the determination of carbon and hydrogen,
coal are converted into CO2 and H2O respectively. The gaseous products of
combustion are absorbed respectively in KOH and CaCl2 tubes of known weights.
C + O2 → CO2
H2 + 1⁄2 O2 → H2O
44
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After the solution becomes clear, it is treated with excess of KOH and the liberated
ammonia is distilled over and absorbed in a known volume of standard acid solution.
The unused acid is then determined by back titration with standard NaOH solution.
From the volume of acid used by ammonia liberated, the percentage of N in coal is
calculated as follows:
3. Sulphur: Sulphur is determined from the washings obtained from the known
4. Ash: The residual coal taken in the crucible and then heated without lid in a
muffle furnace at 700 + 500c for 1⁄2 hour. The crucible is then taken out, cooled first
in air, then in desiccators and weighed. Hearing, cooling and weighing are repeated,
till a constant weight is obtained. The residue is reported as ash on percentage-basis.
Thus,
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better is the coal in quality and calorific value. However, hydrogen is mostly
associated with the volatile mater and hence, it affects the use to which the coal is
put.
2. Nitrogen: Nitrogen has no calorific value and hence, its presence in coal is
undesirable. Thus, a good quality coal should have very little Nitrogen content.
combustion produces acids like SO2, SO3, which have harmful effects of corroding
the equipments and also cause atmospheric pollution. Sulphur is, usually, present to
the extent of 0.5 to 0.3% and derived from ores like iron, pyrites, gypsum, etc., mines
along with the coal. Presence of sulphur is highly undesirable in coal to be used for
making coke for iron industry. Since it is transferred to the iron metal and badly
affects the quality and properties of steel. Moreover, oxides of sulphur pollute the
lowering the temperature. Hence, lower the ash content, better the quality of coal.
The presence of ash also increases transporting, handling and storage costs. It also
involves additional cost in ash disposal. The presence of ash also causes early wear
5. Oxygen: Oxygen content decreases the calorific value of coal. High oxygen-
content coals are characterized by high inherent moisture, low calorific value, and
low coking power. Moreover, oxygen is a combined form with hydrogen in coal and
thus, hydrogen available for combustion is lesser than actual one. An increase in 1%
oxygen content decreases the calorific value by about 1.7% and hence, oxygen is
undesirable. Thus, a good quality coal should have low percentage of oxygen.
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Liquid fuels are the important commercial and domestic fuels used these days. Most of
these fuels are obtained from the naturally occurring petroleum or crude oil.
Primary Petroleum:
Petroleum or crude oil is a dark greenish brown, viscous oil found deep in the earth
crust. Crude oil is a source of many liquid fuels that are in current use. The composition
C = 80-85%
H= 10-14%
S= 0.1-3.5%
N=0.1-0.5%.
Refining of Petroleum:
Crude oil obtained from the mine is not fit to be marked. It contains a lot of
soluble and insoluble impurities which must be removed. Previously the purification of
crude oil is done by simple fractional distillation. Further treatment of the products is
done by refining. Refining can be defined as the process by which petroleum is made
free of impurities, division of petroleum into different fractions having different boiling
a. Removal of solid impurities: The crude oil is a mixture of solid, liquid and gaseous
substances. This is allowed to stand undisturbed for some time, when the heavy
solid particles settle down and gases evaporate. The supernant liquid is then
b. Removal of water (Cottrell’s process): The crude oil obtained from the earth’s crust
is in the form of stable emulsion of oil and brine. This mixture when passed between
two highly charged electrodes will destroy the emulsion films and the colloidal
water droplets coalesce into bigger drops and get separated out from the oil.
oil. It is treated with copper oxide. The sulphur compounds get converted to
insoluble copper sulphide, which can be removed by filtration. Substances like NaCl
and MgCl2 it present will corrode the refining equipment and result in scale
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dehydration.
d. Fractional distillation: Heating of crude oil around 4000C in an iron retort, produces
hot vapor, which is allowed to pass through fractionating column. It is a tall
and is provided with a small chimney covered with loose cap. As the vapors go up
they get cooled gradually and fractional condensation takes place. Higher boiling
The crude oil is fractionally distilled in a fractionating still, which is a tower like
structure having a bubble tower laid inside. The crude oil or the petroleum enters through
the bottom of the still by an inlet. This is made to pass through a pre-heater or it can heated
with steam inside the still to a temperature of about 400°C. As we move to the top
fractionating still the temperature goes on decreasing. A number of side pipes are fitted
at different heights of the column or still, to collect the fractions. As petroleum enters the
still, it gets vaporized and the vapours move up the bubble tower. The bubble tower
consists of number of horizontal trays, and each tray is provided with a number of small
chimneys through which the vapours rise. The chimneys are covered with loose caps so
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that the vapours bubble through and get condensed, dropping back into the trays. So as
the vapours go up, they become cooler and cooler and fractional condensation of the
The vapours of the liquid having the highest boiling point are the first to condense and go
out and those which have the lowest boiling points go last, along with the uncondensed
gases. The constituents of each fraction and the temperature at which they are obtained
1. Uncondensed
gases
L.P.G.
3. Gasoline or
petrol(11,250
kcal/kg)
I.C.engine
4. Naphtha
(11,000 kcal/kg)
5. Kerosene oil
(11,100 kcal/kg)
engine fuel
7. Heavy oil
This on refraction
gives;
(Vaseline)
(c) Grease
As lubricant
In cosmetics and
medicines.
As lubricant
paper
8. Residue may be
either;
(a) Asphalt
Or bitumen
As a fuel
Cracking:
cracking.
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A. Thermal Cracking
B. Catalytic Cracking
A. Thermal cracking: If the cracking takes place at high temperature then it is thermal
cracking.
The liquid phase cracking takes place at 4750C to 5300C at a pressure 100kg/cm2
. While
the vapor phase cracking occurs at 600 to 6500C at a low pressure of 10 to 20 kg/cm2
B. Catalytic cracking: If the cracking takes place due to the presence of catalyst than
it is named as catalytic cracking. Catalytic cracking may be fixed bed type or moving
bed type.
i. Fixed bed catalytic cracking: The oil vapors are heated in a pre-heater to
cracking temperatures (420 – 450 0C) and then forced through a catalytic
passage through the tower, about 40% of the charge is converted into gasoline
and about 2 – 4% carbon is formed. The latter adsorbed on the catalyst bed. The
vapour produced is then passed through a fractionating column, where heavy oil
fractions condense. The vapors are then led through a cooler, where some of the
gases are condensed along – with gasoline and uncondensed gases move on. The
gasoline containing some dissolved gases is then sent to a ‘stabilizer’, where the
The catalyst, after 8 to 10 hours, stops functioning, due to the deposition of black
layer of carbon, formed during cracking. This is re-activated by burning off the
deposited carbon. During the re-activated interval, the vapors are diverted
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ii. Moving bed catalytic cracking: This is also known as fluid bed catalytic cracking.
In this type of cracking, the catalyst is in the form of fine powder which flows down
to the cracking chamber, through a hopper. The catalysts gets mixed with the heavy
oil vapours and behave much like a fluid which can be circulated in gas streams. The
plant for fluid bed or moving bed catalyst cracking consists of a reactor and a
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Fuels and Combustion
Knocking
Premature and instantaneous ignition of petrol – air (fuel-air) mixture in a petrol engine,
In an internal combustion engine, a mixture of gasoline vapor and air is used as a fuel.
After the initiation of the combustion reaction, by spark in the cylinder, the flame should
spread rapidly and smoothly through the gaseous mixture; thereby the expanding gas
The ratio of the gaseous volume in the cylinder at the end of the suction-stroke to the
volume at the end of compression ratio. The efficiency of an internal combustion engine
increases with the compression ratio, which is dependent on the nature of the
constituents present in the gasoline used. In certain circumstances (due to the presence
of some constituents in the gasoline used), the rate of oxidation becomes so great that
the last portion of the fuel air mixture gets ignited instantaneously, producing an
2. Mechanical damage
6. preignition
flame temperature.
6. Use of high octane fuel can eliminates detonation. High octane fuels
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Straight-chain paraffins > Branched-chain paraffins (i.e., iso paraffins) > Olefins >
Thus, olefins of the same carbon chain length possess better anti knock properties than the
Octane number:
The knocking characteristic of a fuel can be easily expressed by octane number. The
anti- knocking value of n-heptane is taken as 0 (zero) because n-heptane knocks very
because iso-octane knocks very little. Actually the octane number is the percentage of
the fuel. In this way, an “80-octane” fuel is one which has the same combustion
rating as high as 135 are used for aviation purposes. The octane number of poor fuels
can be raised by the addition of extremely poisonous materials as tetra ethylene lead
CH3
CH3CH3
Lead petrol: The variety of petrol in which tetra ethyl lead is added, it is leaded petrol.
C2H5
C2H5 – Pb – C2H5
C2H5
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Octane rating: It has been found that n-heptane, Knocks very badly and hence,
its anti-knock value has arbitrarily been given zero. On the other hand, isooctane
(2: 2: 4 – trimethyl pentane). It gives very little knocking, so its anti-knock value
has been given as ‘100’. Thus, octane number (or rating) of a gasoline (or any
other internal combustion engine fuel) is the percentage of isooctane in a
mixture of isooctane and n-heptane, which matches the fuel under test in
knocking characteristics. In this way, an “80-octane” fuel is one which has the
Advantages: Usually petrol with low octane number is not good quality petrol.
proper way.
When tetra ethyl lead is added, it prevents knocking, there by saves money and
First TEL will be transformed into finely divided particles of PbO which looks
like a cloud. This takes place in the cylinder. Then the PbO particles react with
process and prevent early detonation. Thus either knocking may be stopped or
greatly reduced.
eliminated from the engine. For this purpose, little amount of ethylene dibromide
is added to petrol. It converts the harmful PbO to volatile PbBr2 and eliminated
TEL.
Cetane Number:
mixture of hexadecane and 2-methyl naphthalene, which has the same ignition
characteristic of diesel fuel in test. Generally diesel fuels with cetane numbers of 70-80
are used.
The knocking tendency of diesel fuel is expressed in terms of cetane number. Diesel
The gaseous fuels are most preferred because of their ease of storage, transport,
Natural Gas:
The natural gas is obtained from the wells dug in the earth during mining of
If the lower hydrocarbons are present, the gas is called dry gas or lean gas but if the
hydrocarbons having the higher molecules are present, the gas is known as rich or
wet gas.
Methane – 88.5%
Ethane – 5.5%
Propane – 3.7%
Butane – 1.8%
Applications:
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The gas is obtained from natural gas or as a byproduct in refineries during cracking
of heavy petroleum products. Nowadays LPG has been a common fuel for
domestic work and also in most of the industries. The main components of LPG
are n-butane, isobutane, butylenes and propane (traces of propene and ethane). The
LPG is kept in metallic cylinder attached with burner through pipe. It has
two stoppers, one at the cylinder and other at burner. LPG has special odour
due to the presence of organic sulphides which are added specially for safety
measure.
Characteristics of LPG:-
)
2. It gives less CO and least unburnt hydrocarbons. So it causes least pollution.
Applications
food industry.
2. In Glass & Ceramic: The use of a clean fuel like LPG enhances the
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LPG is, it is free of lead, Very low in sulphur, other metals, aromatics
5. In Farming industry: LPG in the farming industry can be used for the
following:
• Drying of crops
• Cereal drying
• Soil conditioning
• Horticulture etc
Natural gas contains mainly CH4. When natural gas is compressed at high
during its combustion. In some of the metro cities, CNG vehicles are used to
reduce pollution.
Characteristics of CNG:-
1. Natural Gas being lead/sulphur free, its use substantially reduces harmful
engine emissions.
2. Natural gas being lighter than air, will rise above ground level and
mostly methane
Applications:-
2. Natural gas is also consumed in homes for space heating and for water
heating
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4. In some of the metro cities, CNG vehicles are used to reduce pollution.
Combustion
Combustion may be defined as the exothermic chemical reaction, and refers to the
rapid oxidation of fuel which is accompanied by production of heat, or heat and light.
In common fuels it involves the burning of carbon and hydrogen in air and also to a
of oxygen. Oxygen (O2) is one of the most common elements on earth making up 20.9%
of our air. Rapid fuel oxidation results in large amounts of heat. Solid or liquid fuels
must be changed to a gas before they will burn. Usually heat is required to change
liquids or solids into gases. Fuel gases will burn in their normal state if enough air is
present. Most of the 79% of air (that is not oxygen) is nitrogen, with traces of other
present to obtain the oxygen required for combustion. Nitrogen reduces combustion
efficiency by absorbing heat from the combustion of fuels and diluting the flue gases.
This reduces the heat available for transfer through the heat exchange surfaces. It also
increases the volume of combustion by-products, which then have to travel through the
heat exchanger and up the stack faster to allow the introduction of additional fuel air
mixture. This nitrogen also can combine with oxygen (particularly at high flame
temperatures) to produce oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which are toxic pollutants.
moisture may be present in coal naturally or by adding i.e. moistening the coal before
use. The presence of some sort of moisture in coal helps to keep the temperature of the
fire bars low and prevents the formation of clinkers. The excess presence of moisture
leads to heavy smoking and leads to slow starting of combustion process. Optimum free
moisture content is 7 to 9% when coal has minimum density. The presence of moisture