Introduction to

Chemical Engineering II

Engr. Ajibola T. Ogunbiyi

Looking back at CHE211
Chemical engineering functions,
Bench scale to industrial scale;
Units and dimensions; temperature; pressure;
The chemical equation and stoichiometry; (limiting reactants, excess
reactants, degree of completion);
Material balances.
The gas laws (Charles’, Boyle’s, Gay-Lussac’s, Dalton’s and Amagat real
gas relationships);

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Recommended Reading/Text
1. Himmelblau, D.M. and Brigs, J.B. (2012), Basic Principles and
Calculations in Chemical Engineering, 8th Ed., Prentice Hall.

2. Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes. (2005), 3rd Edition

by Richard M. Felder and Ronald W. Rousseau

(a) Other supplemental materials: Steam Tables, Table of physical

properties.

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COMBUSTION REACTIONS
Objectives: To develop skills in certain basic methods of chemical
process analysis
• Briefly and clearly explain in your own words the following terms:
(i) Theoretical air
(ii) Percent excess air in a combustion reaction
• Given a combustion reactor and information about the fuel
composition, calculate the feed rate of air from a given percent excess
air or vice versa.
• Given additional information about the conversion of the fuel and the
absence or presence of CO in the product gas, calculate the flow rate
and composition of the product gas.
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Module Content
• Introduction to Combustion reactions involving solids, liquids,
and gaseous fuels

• Terminology used in Combustion reactors and calculations

(Flue/stack gas, Orsat analysis (dry basis), Partial/complete
combustion, theoretical air, excess air)

• Material balances involving combustion reactions

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 Introduction
• What is Combustion?
The rapid reaction of a fuel with oxygen

• How important is combustion reaction relative to other

industrial reactions?
Probably more important than any other industrial reaction

• Why is combustion reaction so important?

The energy it generates
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Where does a chemical engineer stand in the
design of power generation equipment?
1. The analysis of combustion reactions and reactors

2. The abatement and control of environmental pollution caused

by combustion products like CO, CO2, and SO.

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Combustion Chemistry
Fuel used in power plant combustion furnaces can be categorized into:

(a) Coal, made of C, H, S, and ashes

(b) Fuel oil – high molecular weight hydrocarbon and some S

(c) Gaseous fuel – natural gas, predominantly methane

(d) Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) – propane and/or butane

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Figure 1: Industrial Power plant –
schematic and picture Engr. Ajibola T. Ogunbiyi CHE 221 10
• When a fuel is burned, carbon in the fuel reacts to form either CO or
CO2, hydrogen forms H2O, and sulfur forms SO2 . This is what is meant
by complete combustion.
• At temperatures greater than approximately 1800oC, some of the
nitrogen in the air reacts to form nitric acid (NO).
• Partial or incomplete combustion reaction is one in which CO is formed
from a hydrocarbon.
Examples:

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Air composition
For obvious economic reasons, air is the source of oxygen in most
combustion reactors.

Dry air has the following average molar composition:

In most combustion calculations, it is acceptable to simplify this

composition to 79% N2 , 21% O2 resulting into: 79 moles N2 /21
moles O2 = 3.76 moles N2 /mole O2.
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Composition of a flue gas
Stack gas or flue gas refers to the product gas, usually a mixture of gases,
that leaves the combustion furnace.

• The composition of the stack gas can be computed in two ways: without
the water (composition on a dry basis) or with the water (composition
on a wet basis).

• Orsat Analysis refers to the type of gas analysis which eliminates water as a
component (dry-free basis).

For example, a gas that contains 33.3 mole% CO2, 33.3% N2, and 33.3%
H2O (wet basis) contains 50% CO2 and 50% N2 on a dry basis.
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• When the flow rate of a gas in a stack is measured, it is the
total flow rate of the gas including water.

• Common techniques for analyzing stack gases provide

compositions on a dry basis.

• It is therefore important to know how to convert a

composition on a dry basis to its corresponding composition
on a wet basis before writing material balances on the
combustion reactor.

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 Examples:
1. A gas contains 1 mol H2, 1 mol O2, and 2 mol H2O. What
is the molar composition of this gas (a) on a wet basis
(b) on a dry basis?

2. A stack gas contains 60.0 mole% N2, 15.0% CO2, 10.0%

O2, and the balance H2O. Calculate the molar composition
of the gas on a dry basis.

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3. A flue gas contains 5 mole% H2O. Calculate the ratios

(a) kmol flue gas/kmol H2O.

(b) kmol dry flue gas/kmol flue gas.
(c) kmol H2O/kmol dry flue gas.

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Classwork (Solved in class)

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Quiz
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 QUIZ (10 mins)
Be as brief as possible:
1. Mention two important sub-topics to be covered in this
module.
2. Mention two important applications of combustion
reactions.
3. Why do you think combustion reactions are important?
4. Give two important roles of chemical engineers in the
design and operation of industrial power plants.
5. What property of a material is being exploited in a fuel?
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QUIZ (Continuation)
6. Mention three different categories of fuels and their
components.
7. Distinguish between complete and incomplete
combustion.
8. What is a stack gas?
9. Distinguish between Orsat analysis and wet analysis of
a flue gas.
10. Write a simple formula for the humidity of a stack gas.

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Theoretical and Excess air
1. Theoretical oxygen: The moles (batch) or molar flow rate
(continuous) of O2 needed for complete combustion of all the fuel fed
to the reactor, assuming that all carbon in the fuel is oxidized to CO2
and all the hydrogen is oxidized to H2O. It does not depend on how
much material is actually burned but on what can be burned.

2. Theoretical air: The quantity of air that contains the theoretical

oxygen.

Can you prove the above relationship?

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Excess air:
The amount of air in excess of that required for complete combustion.
Alternatively, it is the amount by which the air fed to the reactor
exceeds the theoretical air.

• The % excess air is the same as % excess O2.

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Two (2) points of confusion often arise in the calculation of
theoretical and excess air, both of which are caused by
ignoring the definitions of these terms.
1. The theoretical air required to burn a given quantity of fuel
does not depend on how much is actually burned. The fuel may
not react completely, and it may react to form both CO and CO2 ,
but the theoretical air is still that which would be required to
react with of the fuel to form CO2 only.

2. The value of the percent excess air depends only on the

theoretical air and the air feed rate, and not on how much O2 is
consumed in the reactor or whether combustion is complete or
partial.

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 Examples on Theoretical and
excess air
1. One hundred mol/h of butane (C4H10) and 5000
mol/h of air are fed into a combustion reactor.
Calculate the percent excess air. (Solved in class)

Hint: First calculate the theoretical air from the feed rate of fuel and
the stoichiometric equation from the complete combustion of butane

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Example 2

(Solved in class)

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CLASS EXERCISES

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Assignment 1
In a given process, 100 kmol of carbon is burned in a
furnace. It has been found that 20% of the carbon
undergoes incomplete combustion resulting to CO
production. The rest of the carbon undergoes complete
combustion. Determine the amount of air required (in
kmol) if 50% excess O2 must be satisfied.

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Question

Did you do material balances on reactive

systems or material balances involving
chemical reactions in CHE211?

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Example 1

Solved in class

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Solution: (Hint)

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 2

To be solved by students
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Example 3
Ethane is burned with 50% excess air. The percentage conversion of the
ethane is 90%; of the ethane burned, 25% reacts to form CO and the
balance reacts to form CO2 . Calculate the molar composition of the
stack gas on a dry basis and the mole ratio of water to dry stack gas.

Partly solved in the class

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Assignment 2

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