Lecture 8 & 9

Fuels & their Classification

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 LECTURE OBJECTIVES

To develop an understanding of:

• Fuel
• Solid Fuels
• Liquid Fuels
• Gaseous Fuels
• Calorific Value

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 Fuel
It is defined as a substance which on burning
in the presence of oxygen in the atmosphere
results a large amount of heat.

This amount of produced heat is known as

calorific value of fuel.

The fuel are also known as hydrocarbon

since the major constituents of fuel are
carbon and hydrogen with small traces of
sulphur.
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An accurate chemical analysis for the fuel by
mass is called the "ultimate analysis",
which gives the percentage of the important
elements present in the fuel.

Another approximate analysis of fuel called

the "proximate analysis" gives the
percentage of moisture, volatile matter, and
combustible solid (fixed carbon) and ash.
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 Classification of Fuels
The fuels may be classified as follows;
i.Solid fuels
ii.Liquid fuels
iii.Gaseous fuel

These fuels may exist in natural and artificial

states or may be they are prepared fuels.

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 Solid Fuels
The natural solid fuel are wood, peat, lignite
or brown coal, bituminous coal. The prepared
fuels are wood charcoal, coke, briquetted coal
and anthracite coal.
The mostly used fuels are as follows;
i. Wood:
It consists of mainly carbon and hydrogen.
The calorific value of wood varies with its kind
and moisture content. The average calorific
value of wood is 19700 kJ/kg.
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ii. Peat:
It is a spongy humid substance found in
boggy land. It may be called as the first stage
in the formation of coal. Its carries moisture
contents up to 30% and need to be dried
before use as a fuel. Its average calorific
value is 23000kJ/kg.
iii. Lignite or brown coal:
It is the next stage of peat in coal formation. It
contains nearly 40% moisture content and
60% carbon. Its calorific value is 25000
kJ/kg.
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iv. Bituminous coal:
It is the next stage of lignite in coal formation and
contains little moisture content 4-6% and 75-90%
carbon. Its average calorific value is 35000 kJ/kg.
v. Anthracite coal:
It represents the final stage in coal formation and
contains more than 90% carbon and less than
moisture content lower than 4%. The anthracite
coal is comparatively smokeless compared with
other which produces smoke. Its average calorific
value is 36000 kJ/kg and it is very valuable for
steam raising for power production.
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 Ultimate Analysis of Coals

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vi. Wood charcoal:
It is made by heating wood by supplying limited
supply of air to a temperature of not less than
280 oC. It is a good quality prepared fuel and
used during varies metallurgical processes.
vii. Coke:
It is produced when coal is strongly heated
continuously for 42 to 48 hrs in the absence of air
in a closed vessel. The process is named as
carbonization of coal. It has a higher carbon
content from 85-90% and higher calorific value
than coal . The carbonization at 500-700 oC
results soft coal used for domestic applications
while at 900-1100 oC is called hard coal used in
blast furnace for extracting pig iron from iron
ores.
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 Liquid fuels
The liquid fuels are derived from natural
petroleum or crude oil. The liquid fuels consist of
hydrocarbons. The petroleum may be separated
into petrol or gasoline, kerosene, fuel oils,
lubricating oils by boiling the crude oil at different
temperatures and subsequent distillation.
The mostly used fuels as follows;

i. Petrol or gasoline:
It is the lightest and most volatile fuel and is used
as a heating and lighting fuel and light petrol
engines. It is distilled at a temperature from 65 to
220 oC.
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ii. Kerosene oil:
It is heavier and less volatile fuel than petrol.
It is used for heating and lighting and distilled
at temperature from 220 to 345 oC.

iii. Heavy fuel oils:

The fuels distilled after petrol and kerosene
oil is named as heavy fuel oils. These are
used in diesel engines and oil fired boilers.
These are distilled at a temperature from 345
to 470 oC.
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 Merits and Demerits of Liquid fuels
over Solid fuels
Merits
i.Higher calorific value
ii.Lower storage capacity required
iii.Better economy in handling
iv.Better control of consumption by using valves
v.Better cleanliness and freedom from dust
vi.Practically no ashes.
vii.Non-deterioration in storage.
viii.Non-corrosion of boiler plates.
ix.Higher efficiency.
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 Merits and Demerits of Liquid
fuels over Solid fuels

Demerits:
i.Higher cost.
ii.Greater risk of fire.
iii.Costly containers required for storage and
transport.

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 Gaseous fuels
• The natural gas found in or near petroleum fields under
earth’s surface. It consists of methane (CH4), along with
small amounts of ethane (C2H6), carbon dioxide (CO2),
carbon monoxide (CO). It is stored as compressed natural
gas (CNG) or as liquid (LNG) at pressure ranging between
70 to 210 kPa.
Following are the prepared gases.
i. Coal gas:
It is obtained by carbonization of coal and consists mainly of
hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and various hydrocarbons. The
quality of coal gas depends upon quality of coal used,
temperature of carbonization, and type of plant. It is used in
furnaces and for running gas engines. Its calorific value
varies between 21000 to 25000 kJ/m3.
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ii. Producer gas:
It is obtained by partial combustion of coal, coke,
anthracite coal or charcoal in a mixed air steam
blast. It is used for glass melting and for power
generation having calorific value between 5000
to 6700 kJ/m3.

iii. Blast furnace gas:

It is a by-product in the production of pig iron in
the blast furnace. This is used in steel works, for
power generation in gas engines and in steam
boilers. It has a low calorific value of 3750
kJ/m3.
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 iv. Liquid petroleum gas (LPG): It is mixture of
propane and butane and some other light
hydrocarbons. Propane and butane are the
main constituent of LPG; their quantity varies
with time of the year and place.

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Merits and Demerits of Gaseous
Fuels
Merits
i.The supply of gas, temperature of furnace is easily
and accurately controlled.
ii.High temperature is obtained by pre-heating gas and
air with heat of waste gases of combustion.
iii.Can be directly used in internal combustion
engines.
iv.Free from solid and liquid impurities.
v.Do not produce ash or smoke.
vi.Undergo complete combustion with minimum air
supply.
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 Merits and Demerits of
Gaseous Fuels

Demerits:
i. They are readily inflammable.
ii. Require large storage capacity.

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 BIO FUELS

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 BIO FUELS

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 Requirements of a Good Fuel
i. Should have low ignition point.
i. Should have a higher calorific value.
ii.Should freely burn with high efficiency.
iii.
Should not produce harmful gases.
iv.Should produce least quantity of smoke and
gases.
v. Should be economical, easy to store and
convenient for transportation.
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 Calorific Value of Fuels

The calorific value (C.V) or heat value of a solid fuel

is defined as the amount of heat given out by
complete combustion of 1 kg of fuel.

It is expressed in terms of kJ/kg of fuel.

The calorific value of gaseous fuel is expresses as

kJ/m3 at a specified temperature and pressure.

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• The combustion of fuel also generates water as a
combustion product which is converted into
vapour or steam.
• Hydrogen reacts with oxygen and forms water
vapour.
2H2+ O2= 2 H2O (Water vapour)
• The vapour formed carries some amount of heat
with it.
• Certain techniques make it possible to recover
this heat content form water.

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• Natural gas has high hydrogen contents so its
combustion results in high water formation.
• Water vapour formation is low in case of coal
burning and largest for pure hydrogen fuel
burning.
• According to recovery of heat content from
combustion product (water), Calorific value is
divided into two types.
i. Gross or higher calorific value (HCV)
ii. Net or lower calorific value (LCV)

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 i. Gross or higher calorific value:

When fuel is burnt, heat is produced along with

hot flue gases and water, by taking heat is
converted into vapors or steam.

If the heat is recovered from flue gases and

vapor or steam is condensed back to water at
room temperature (15 oC) then the amount of
total heat produced per kg of fuel is known as
gross or higher calorific value of fuel.
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In other words, the amount of heat obtained by the complete
combustion of 1kg of fuel when the products of its combustion
are cooled down to the temperature of supplied air usually at
15 oC is called gross or higher calorific value.

The higher calorific value can be calculated using Dulong’s

formula if chemical analysis of fuels is known.
H.C.V= 33800 C + 144000H2 + 9270 S (kJ/kg)

Where; C, H2 and S represents the mass of carbon, hydrogen,

and sulphur in 1 kg of fuel and the numerical values indicate
their respective calorific values.

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ii. Net or lower calorific value:
When the heat carried by the products of combustion is not
recovered and vapor or steam produced is not condensed,
then the amount of heat obtained per kg of fuel is known as
net or lower calorific value.

The lower calorific value can be calculated by subtracting the

amount of heat carried away by products of combustion from
H.C.V.

Actually water vapors leave with combustion products without

being condensed.

Since most gas burning appliances cannot utilize the heat

content of the vapor, so GCV is of little interest. Fuel should
be compared based on net calorific value.
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 Net or lower calorific value
L.C.V. = H.C.V. – (mass of H2O x Latent Heat)

The latent heat is referred at std. atm. Pressure

i.e. at 760 mm Hg or at 1.01325 bar)

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 Combustion of Fuels
• Combustion of fuel is accomplished by mixing fuel
with air at elevated temperature:
Fuel + Air Products of Combustion + Heat

• The oxygen contained in the air unites chemically

with carbon, hydrogen and other elements in fuel to
produce heat.

• The amount of heat liberated during the

combustion depends on the amount of oxidation of
the constituent of fuel and the nature of fuel.
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In order that the combustion of fuel may take
place with high efficiency, the following
conditions must be fulfilled:

1. The amount of air supplied should be sufficient.

2. The air and fuel should be thoroughly mixed.

3. The temperature of the reactants should be high

enough to ignite the mixture.

4. Sufficient time should be available to burn fuel

completely.
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• The minimum amount of air needed for the complete
combustion of a fuel is called the stoichiometric or
theoretical air.

• In actual combustion processes, it is common practice to

use more air than stoichiometric amount. The amount of
extra air than the stoichiometric is called (excess air).

• Amount of air less than stoichiometric amount is called

(deficiency of air).

• Equivalence ratio is the ratio of the actual fuel- air ratio to

the stoichiometric fuel-air ratio.
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 THANKYOU

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