Lecture9Principlesofcombustion

Contentsofthelecture Whatiscombustion Objectivesofcombustion Stoichiometricamountofair Air/fuelratioandrelationwithPOC Combustionefficiency WhatisCombustion?

Allfossilfuelscontaincombustibleandincombustiblecomponents(alsoknownasdiluents) Fossilfuel Combustiblecomponents Solidfuels:C,S,H LiquidfuelsC,H,S Incombustibleordiluents N,O,ashandmoisture N,O

Gaseous fuels H2, CO, N2,CO2,O2,SO2 hydrocarbons,NH3andH2S InthetableCiscarbon,Sissulphur,Hishydrogen,Nisnitrogen,Oisoxygen.Notethatinthesolidfuels theyarepresentintheelementalform. Combustion is a fast chemical reaction between combustible component(s) and an oxidizing agent. Mostlyairisusedforcombustion.Dryaircontains21%O2and79%N2andso1moleofO2carrieswithit 3.76molesofN2.Combustionequationswithair,whencompletecombustiontakesplaceare C+(O2+3.76N2)=CO2+3.76N2(1) S+(O2+3.76N2)=SO2+3.76N2(2) H2+ (O2+3.76N2)=H2O+1.88N2(3) CH4+2(O2+3.76N2)=CO2+2H2O+7.52N2(4)

Similarly,forotherhydrocarbonscombustionreactionscanbewritten.Notethatcompletecombustion referstoconversionofC,S,H2orCH4intoCO2,SO2andH2O.

Objectiveofcombustion
Allfuelswhethernaturallyoccurringorsyntheticallypreparedcontainpotentialenergy.Potentialenergy ofthefuel,oncombustionwithairisreleasedinproductsofcombustion(hereaftertermedPOC)atthe temperaturewhichistermedflametemperature.POCtransfertheirheattosink(sinkcouldbefurnace chamber,chargematerialsetc)andthenexitthesystem.Belowaregiventheproductsofcombustion whichcanbeobtainedwhenairisusedforcombustionoffossilfuels: POC Release of potential energy Objectiveofcombustionistoattaincompletecombustionwithstoichiometricamountofairasrequired inequations1to4.Completecombustionisalsotermedasperfectcombustion. Completecombustion CO2 H2O SO2 O2 N2 Maximum Incompletecombustion CO H2O H2 SO2 O2 N2 Unburntcarbon Soot Lower than that of complete combustion due toCO,H2,unburntCandsootinPOC.

Stoichiometricamountofair:
Theoretically complete combustion can be obtained when stoichiometric amount of air is used. Stoichiometric amount (also termed theoretical air or air for complete combustion) of air can be calculatedbyconsideringtheproductsofcombustionobtainedoncompletecombustion.Ingeneralany balancedchemicalequation(moleinput=molesoutput)canbeusedtocalculatestoichiometricamount ofair. Incombustionequations1to4,wenotethat1moleofCrequires1moleofO2or4.76molesofairto give1moleofCO2and3.76molesofN2.Similarly1moleofH2requires moleofO2or2.38molesofair togive1moleH2Oand1.88moleofN2. Inseveralothermetallurgicalprocesseslikeroasting(conversionofmetalsulphidetooxide,reductionof oxides,oxidationofimpuritiesetc,)airorpureoxygenisused.Inallthesecasesitisoftenrequiredto calculatestoichiometricamountofair.Forexampleconsiderroastingofsulphide;

ZnS+1.5O2=ZnO+SO25) PbS+1.5O2=PbO+SO2oringeneral 6)

MS+1.5O2=MO+SO27) M stands for metal. In all the above equations the amount of air can be easily calculated followingthestoichiometryofthereactions. Letuscalculatestoichiometricamountofairforcombustionofsolidfuelofcomposition84%C, 5%H,5%moistureand6%ash,perkgofcoal.Followingthestoichiometryofcombustion,theamout ofairwouldbe =10.12m3(1atm,273K)/kgcoal. Note1kgmole=22.4m3(1atm,273K).

Intheaboveexampleifactualamountofairis0.5molesthen Wecanalsocallthat110.62%theoreticalairisusedforcombustion. Note: Complete combustion can occur only when amount of air is equal to or greater than stoichiometric air. When excess air is used, POC will contain O2 in addition to CO2, H2O, N2 and SO2.

ImportanceofAir/fuelratio
Foragiventypeoffuel,air/fuelratiocontrolsthecombustionandamountofPOC. Considercombustionoffuelofamount Let withair whichproducesPOC

when

isconstant.

Stoichiometricamountofair Theoreticallyif i. K<1 which means or this situation leads to incomplete

combustion.POCwillcontainCO,smokedustbesidesCO2N2.etc. ii. Thissituationsleadstocompletecombustion. iii. CompletecombustionbutPOCwillcontainexcessO2inadditiontoCO2H2O,SO2andN2 etc.TheoreticallyCOwillbeabsent. AmountofPOCdependsonvalueofK.IncreaseinKbeyond1increasetheamountofPOC

Combustionefficiency
TheoreticallycompletecombustionisobtainedbystoichiometricamountofairandPOCshould not contain CO. But in actual, combustion of any fuel does not occur with just stoichiometric amountofair.Excessairisrequired.Excessairdependsontypeoffuel.Normallysolidfuelsrequire moreexcessairthanliquidfuelsandgaseousfuels.Gaseousfuelsrequireleastamountofexcess air. Mixing of fuel and air is important simply because 1 mole of oxygen is accompanied by 3.76 moles of N2. In an air + fuel mixture, statistically the probability of finding nitrogen in the neighborhoodofcarbonismorethanoxygen. Thus mixing determines combustion efficiency, i.e. the ability of a device (used for mixing of fuelandair)toconvertpotentialenergyoffuelintothermalenergy. Ideally =100%whenthermalenergy=Potentialenergyofthefuel.Inefficiencyincombustion isduetopoormixingwhichmayleadtoformationofCO.Poorcombustionefficiencyleadsto Wastageoffuel Environmentalpollution. Expensivetorun.

Foranygiventypeoffuel,someamountofCOisalwaysobservedinPOCevenatstoichiometricamount ofairinallpracticalcombustionsystems.PresenceofCOinPOCdenotesincompletecombustionand combustion efficiency will be low. So,excess air has to be used to increase combustion efficiency. IncreaseinexcessairdecreasesdrasticallyCOinPOCbutatthesametimeincreasesamountofPOCdue to increase in nitrogen and oxygen (at stoichiometric air no oxygen is present in POC). The additional nitrogenandoxygeninPOCduetoexcessairwillcarryheatofcombustionwiththem.Thus,controlof excessairisimportant.ThefollowingplotillustratestherelationshipbetweenexcessO2,COandheat losses.

Figure:PlotofvariationofCOandheatlosseswithexcessoxygeninPOC.Notezerovalueofoxygenin POCdenotesstoichiometricoxygenusedforcombustion X axis on the figure is % O2 in POC. Theoretically percent oxygen in POC is zero at theoretically amountofair.IncreaseinexcessairincreasespercentoxygeninPOC(seeblacklineinthefigure).Itcan beseeninthefigurethatamountofCO(seegreenline)decreasesdrasticallybyusingslightamountof excessair.Beyondaround1to2%O2COinPOCdisappearscompletely.Butincreaseinexcessairatthe sametimeincreasesO2inPOCasshownby(blueline). Heat losses are shown by the blue line. Heat losses decrease drastically with the excess air and becomeminimalataround1%O2whichisduetodecreaseinCO.Beyond1%O2heatlossesincreases furtherbecausenownitrogenandoxygeninPOCincreases. Ref.:O.P.Gupta:elementsoffuels.furnacesandrefractories. Keywords:Combustion,materialbalance,furnace,stoichiometry