Fuel contains mainly ‘C’ which undergoes

combustion and liberates large amount of heat

energy.

C+ O2  CO2 + heat (Exothermic)

Burning of a substance (in presence of O2) or

oxidation of a compound is called combustion.
Classification :
CHEMICAL FUELS

Primary / Natural Secondary / Derived /Synthetic

Solid Liquid Gaseous Solid Liquid Gaseous

Wood crude oil natural gas coke Tare water gas

Peat coal kerosene
Coal Diesel
Petrol Bio-gas
Characteristics of a good fuel :
 HCV
 Moderate ignition temperature.
 Low moisture content
 Low non-combustible matter
 Combustion products should not be harmful
 Low cost
 Easy to transport
 Should undergo spontaneous combustion
 Should leave less carbon residue.
Primary solid fuels :
1) Wood : Its C.V. depends on nature of wood, but now it is
not used as main fuel.
2) Coal : Is a stratified rock
contains organic material derived from decay of plant
material.
mineral mater and moisture.

Mechanism of coal formation :

Insitu theory : Coal formation takes place at the place of
vegetation itself.
Transportations theory : Trees uprooted and carried to Delta
area and deposited under earth. When this wood burns at
high temp, high press, in absence of air, cellulose material
of wood decompose liberating CO2 and CH4 gases.
Classification of coal:
WOOD ----- PEAT----- LIGNITE ----- BITUMINOUSCOAL------
ANTHRACITE COAL

PEAT: Brown, fibrous, jelly like mass. It is the first stage of

coalification. Uneconomical fuel. Contains
 80-90% of H2O. Composition C = 57%, H= 6%, O = 35%, ash
2.5 to 6%. Calorific value = 5400 kcal/kg.

 Lignite: (Brown coal) soft, brown, colored lowest rank coal

moisture content is 20 to 60%.
 Composition : C = 60%, O = 20%, Calorific value = 6,500 to
7,100 k.cal/kg
Bituminous coal : (common coal) Black colored. It has laminated
structure it is sub classified
based on carbon content.
70 – 95% carbon, 8600 kcal/kg calorific value.

Anthracite: Highest rank of coal.

 % of C = 98 % has lowest volatile matter hardest, dense,
lustrous.
 CV = 8650 to 8700 kg.
Coal analysis :
Depending on data required there are two types of analysis.
Proximate analysis : Empirical analysis
 Moisture, Volatile matter, ash, Fixed carbon content as % of original
weight of coal sample are recorded.
1) Moisture : About 1 gram of finely powdered air-dried coal sample is weighed
in a crucible. The crucible is placed inside an electric hot air-oven, maintained at
105 to 1100C. The crucible is allowed to remain in oven for 1 hour and then
taken out, cooled in a desiccator and weighed. Loss in weight is reported as
moisture.
% of moist = (Loss in weight/Weight of Coal) x 100
2) Volatile matter : The dried sample of coal left in the crucible in (1) is then
covered with a lid and placed in an electric furnace or muffle furnace,
maintained at 925 + 200C. 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 reported as volatile matter on percentage-basis.
% of volatile matter = loss in weight due to the removal of volatile matter/wt
of dry coal taken
 3.Ash: The residual coal in the crucible in (2) is
then heated without lid in a muffle furnace at 700
+ 500 C for ½ hour. The crucible is then taken
out, cooled first in air, then in desiccators and
weighed. Hearing, cooling and weighing is
repeated, till a constant weight is obtained. The
residue is reported as ash on percentage-basis.
 Thus,
 % of Ash = (weight of ash left/weight of coal) x
100

 4 )Fixed carbon : 100 – (% of moist + % of

volatile matters) + % of ash)
Significance :
Low moisture content, Low volatile matter, Low ash content, high
fixed carbon content are the features of good quality coal.
Disadvantages of high ash content :
 Lower C.V. of fuel
 Disposal of ash is a problem
 Ultimate analysis :
determines % of C, H,O…
 1.Carbon and Hydrogen: About 1 to 2 gram of accurately
weighed coal sample is burnt in a current of oxygen in a
combustion apparatus. C and H of the coal are converted into
CO2 and H2O respectively. The gaseous products of
combustion are absorbed respectively in KOH and CaCl2 tubes
of known weights. The increase in weights of these are then
determined.
C+O2  CO2
 H2 + ½ O2  H2O

2KOH+CO2  K2CO3 + H2O

CaCl2+H2O  CaCl2 .7 H2O
%C = increase in wt of KOH tube/ wt of coal sample taken *
12/44 * 100

%H2 = increase in wt of CaCl2 tube/ wt of coal taken * 2/18 *100

2) Nitrogen (Kjeldhal’s method) :

About 1 gram of accurately weighed powdered coal is
heated with concentrated H2SO4 along with K2SO4
(catalyst) in a long-necked Kjeldahl’s flask. 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:
 % of N2 = vol. of acid consumed * N *1.4/wt of coal taken.

 3) Sulphur :
 Sulphur is determined from the washings obtained from the known
mass of coal, used in bomb calorimeter for determination of a calorific
value. During this determination, S is converted in to Sulphate. The
washings are treated with Barium chloride solution, when Barium
sulphate is precipitated. This precipitate is filtered, washed and heated
to constant weight.

S(32) + O2  SO4-2 + BaCl2  BaSO4 (233)

% of Sulphur =wt of BaSO4 / Wt of sample taken * 32/233 * 100.

4) Ash: ash determination is carried out as in proximate analysis.

 5.Oxygen: It is obtained by difference.
 Percentage of Oxygen = 100 – percentage of ( C + H + S + N + Ash)
LIQUID FUELS
 The main source of liquid fuels is petroleum which
on distillation gives several fractions.
 Petroleum is a complexes mix. Of
paraffinic,olefinnic, aromatic hydrocarbons.
 C = 80 – 87 % H = 11.1to 15% S = 0.1 -
3.5% N = 0.4- 0.9%
 REFINING OF CRUDE OIL:
 The crude oil is separated into various
fractions by fractional distillation.
Stages in refining
 A) Separation of water (Cottrell's process)

 B) Removal of harmful sulphur compounds

 C) Fractional distillation.
Removal of harmful Sulphur
compounds:
 Sulphur compounds are removed by
treating the crude oil with copper
oxide.
 Treatments results in the formation
of copper sulphide in solid from
which can be removed by filtration.
Separation of water:

 The crude oil separated from water

by allowing the crude to flow
between two highly charged
electrodes.
 The colloidal water drop less
coalesces to from large drops, which
separate out from the oil.
Fractional distillation:
 The crude oil is heated to about 4000c in a
pipe still where by all volatile constituents
are evaporated.
 The hot vapors are then passed through a
tall cylindrical tower, known as
fractionating column, containing a no. of
horizontal stainless steel trays at short
distances.
 These trays are provided with individual
chimneys which are covered.
Octane no :
 Indicates ability of fuel (petrol) to resist knock.
 N-heptane (maximum knocking tendency)
 Octane no = 0
 Iso octane octane no = 100 ( min knock tendency)
 Octane no of a given fuel is the percentage of iso
octane in a mixture of isoctane and n-heptane that
gives same knocking properties of fuel under test,
under similar conditions.
Cetane number :
 Indicates ignition quality of diesel engine fuel.

 Cetane (n-hexa decane) cetane no ‘100’ (ignite readily)

 2-methyl naphthalene cetane no ‘0’ (ignite slowly)

 Cetane no of given diesel fuel is the % of cetane. In a mixture of cetane and 2-methyl
napthalene which has same ignition qualities as the sample fuel under similar conditions in
a test engine.

 High cetane number fuels eliminate diesel knock.

 The cetane number of a diesel fuel may be increased by the addition of ethylnitrite,
amylnitrite etc.

 The cetane number decreases in the fillowing order:

 Straight chain paraffins > cyloparaffins > olefins > branched parrafins > aromatics.
GASEOUS FUELS
 The most imp gaseous fuels are Natural gas , producer
gas , water gas ….
 Natural gas:
 It is obtained from well dug in the oil bearing regions.
 It is mainly composed of methane , ethane $ other gases.
 Composition of natural gas is:
 Methane: 88.5% ethane 5.5%, propane 3.7% butane
1.8% pentane H2, CO, CO2 higher hydro carbons 0.5%.
 The calorific value of natural gas varies from 8000-14000
kcal/m3
Uses:
 It can be conveyed over very large distances in
pipelines, it is finding increasing use as domestic
& industrial uses.
 It is also used as a raw material for:
 i) The manufacture of carbon black & hydrogen
which in turn used as filler for rubber & ammonia
synthesis respectively.
 Methanol , formaldehyde & other chemicals.
 Methane on microbiological fermentation gives
synthetic proteins which are used as animal feed.
FLUE GAS ANNALYSIS BY
ORSAT’S APPARATUS
 PRINCILE of analysis is that the gas to be
analyzed is to be taken in burette which is
connected to several pipettes containing
suitable solutions.
 The gas is forced through three pipettes
one after the another.
 The certain constituent get absorbed or
volumes of the unabsorbed gases are
found from which from the volume of the
particular constituent is known.
 Orsat’s apparatus: It consists a water – jacketed measuring
burette, connected in series to a
 set of three absorption bulbs, through stop cocks. The other end is
provided with a three way stop cock,
the free end of which is further connected to a U – tube packed
with glass wool (for avoiding the
incoming of any smoke particles, etc.) The graduated burette is
surrounded by a water jacket to keep the
temperature constant of gas during the experiment. The lower
end of the burette in connected to a water
reservoir by means of along rubber tubing. The absorption bulbs
are usually filled with glass tubes, so
that the surface area of contact between the gas and the solution
is increased.
The absorption bulbs have solutions for the absorption of CO2, O2
and CO respectively. First bulb has
potassium hydroxide solution (250 g KOH in 500ml of boiled
distilled water), and it absorbs only CO2.
The second bulb has solution of alkaline pyrogallic acid (25 g
pyrogallic acid + 200g KOH in 500 ml of
distilled water) and it can absorb CO2 and O2. The third bulb
contains ammonium cuprous chloride(100g cuprous chloride +
125ml liquor ammonia + 375 ml of water) and it can absorb CO2,
O2 and CO.
 It gives valuable information for
regulating combustion in the furnace.
 Presence of free CO shows in
complete combustion & air supply to
be increased.
 If there is a large amount of free O2
if shows large excess of air.
Calorific value :

 The total quantity of heat liberated, when a unit mass/vol. Of

fuel is burnt completely.
Units : k-cal, cal, B.Th.U. C.H.U. (Centigrade heat).

Higher or gross calorific value :

Total amount of heat liberated by complete combustion of unit
quantity of fuel and products are cooled to R.T.
Lower calorific values : (L.C.V.)
It is the amount of heat liberated by compete combustion of unit
quantity of fuel and products get escaped.

H2 + O  H2O
1 16 18
1 8 9

LCV or net C.V = HCV – latent heat of condensed steam

= HCV – 9 x H/100 x 587 
Determination of calorific value by
bomb calorimeter:
 Working: A known mass of 0.5 – 1.0g of the given fuel
taken in clean crucible. The crucible is then supported over
the ring.
 A fine Mg wire, touching the fuel sample , is then stretched
across the electrodes.
 The bomb lid is tightly screwed and bomb filled with O2 to
25 atm pressure.
 The bomb is lowered in to copper calorimeter, containing a
known mass of water.
 The sample burns and heat is liberated. Uniform stirring of
water is continued and the maximum temp. attained is
recorded.
Calculations:
 Let x = mass in g of fuel sample taken in crucible
 W = mass of water in the calorimeter;
 w = water equivalent in g of calorimeter, stirrer,
thermometer, bomb etc.
 t1 = initial temp of water in calorimeter;
 t2 = final temp of water in calorimeter;
 L = higher calorific value in fuel in cal/g;
 Heat liberated by burning of fuel is = xL and

Heat liberated by water and apparatus, etc =(W+w)(t2-t1)

But heat liberated by the fuel = Heat absorbed water,
apparatus, etc.
xL =(W+w)(t2- t1) or
HCV or Fuel(L)= (W+w)(t2-t1)/x cal/g or kcal/kg