FUELS

Introduction
 Fuel is source of heat.
 Fuel releases its energy either through a chemical reaction, such as
during combustion, or via nuclear fission or fusion. An important
property of a useful fuel is that its energy can be stored and released
only when needed, and that the release is controlled in such a way
that the energy can be harnessed to produce the desired work.
 Fuels are broadly classified as fossil or organic or chemical fuel,
nuclear fuel, and rocket fuel.
Fosil Fuels

 Fossil fuels
are hydrocarbons, primarily coal and petroleum (liquid petroleum or
natural gas), formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants and
animals by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth’s crust over
hundreds of millions of years.

 Fossil fuels generate substantial quantities of heat per unit of mass or

volume by reacting with an oxidant in a combustion process.
Nuclear Fuels
 Energy generation by a nuclear fuel takes place either by
the process of nuclear fission of heavy fissile elements in
a nuclear reactor resulting in chain reactions or by the
process of nuclear fusion, in which simple atomic nuclei
are fused together to form complex nuclei, as in case of
fusion of hydrogen isotopes to form helium.
ROCKET FUELS
 Unlike fossil fuel, rocket fuel does not depend on its surroundings for
the oxidant. The propellant is the chemical mixture burned to
produce thrust in rockets and consists of a fuel and an oxidizer.
Propellants are classified according to their state liquid, solid, or
hybrid.
 Liquid propellants used in rocketry can be highly refined kerosene,
liquid hydrogen (LH), liquid methane, etc.
 Solid propellant motors are the simplest of all rocket designs.Solid
propellant motors cannot be shut down. Once ignited, they will burn
until all the propellant is exhausted. The fuel is generally aluminum
and the propellant is ammonium perchlorate. In hybrid propellant
engines fuel is generally solid and the oxidizer is liquid.
Sources Of Chemical Energy
 Fossil fuels consist of a large number of complex compounds of five
elements: carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), sulfur (S), and
nitrogen (N).
 Besides these elements, all fuels contain mineral matter (A) and
moisture (M) to some extent.
 There are just three combustible elements of significance in a fuel,
e.g., carbon, hydrogen, and sulfur, of which carbon is the principal
combustible element with a HHV of 32.780 MJ/kg.
 Hydrogen has a very high HHV of 141.953 MJ/kg, but its content in
solid fuel is quite low, about 24%. The HHV of sulfur is only 9.257
MJ/kg.
Cont..
 Gases fuels are mixtures of combustible and non-combustible gases.
 NFPA 85 defines natural gas as “A gaseous fuel occurring in nature and
consisting mostly of organic compounds, normally methane (CH4),
ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), and butane (C4H).
 The calorific value of natural gas varies between 26.1 and 55.9
MJ/m3, the majority averaging 37.3 MJ/m3. Natural gas on average
contains 80-90% methane, 6-9% ethane, and 2-5% propane.
Noncombustible gases present in minor quantities in natural gases are
nitrogen (0.52-0%) and carbon dioxide (0.11-0%).
 LPG, as per NFPA 85, is “A material composed predominantly of the
following hydrocarbons or mixtures of them: propane, propylene, n-
butane, isobutene, and butylenes”. The mixture is liquefied at room
temperature at very high pressure. An average mixture of LPG is
comprised of about 80% butane and about 20% propane.
Heating Value
 The heating value of a fuel is the amount of heat recovered when the
products of complete combustion of a unit quantity of fuel are cooled
to the initial temperature (298 K) of the air and fuel.
 As the heating value of fuel increases, the heat content delivered to
the burners increases.
 The heat of combustion of a fuel is also called its potential heat.
Availability Of Fuels
 Fossil solid fuels are available in almost all countries but are
distributed unevenly.
 The largest producer of hard coal is the People’s Republic of China
(about 3561*109 kg was produced in the year 2013),followed by the
United States, India, Indonesia, Australia, Russia, and South Africa.
 Germany, Poland, and Kazakhstan also contribute to global coal
production to some extent.
Petroleum
 Petroleum is a term that includes a wide variety of liquid hydrocarbons.
 The most familiar types of petroleum are tar, oil, and natural gas.
 Petroleum is found in porous rock formations in the upper strata of some
areas of the earth’s crust. There is also petroleum in oil sands (tar sands).
Petroleum deposits can be found in almost all parts of the world, but
commercial exploration stretches from Indonesia throughout Myanmar, India,
the Middle East, Central Europe, Africa, to North and South America. Over
50% of the world’s oil reserves are in the Middle East. As of 2012, the known
reserves of petroleum are typically estimated to be around 210.5109m3
Cont..
 Oil accounts for a large percentage of the world’s energy consumption, ranging
from a low of 32% for Europe and Asia, up to a high of 53% for the Middle East.
Other geographic region consumption patterns are as follows: South and Central
America (44%), Africa (41%), and North America (40%).
 Crude oil is also found in semi-solid form mixed with sand as in the Athabasca oil
sands in Canada, where it is usually referred to as crude bitumen. Venezuela also
has large amounts of oil in the Orinoco oil sands. Canada and Venezuela contain
an estimated 570 109 m3 of bitumen and extra-heavy oil
 Oil shales are found in many countries, but the United States has the world’s
largest deposits. Oil shales can be converted into crude oil using heat and
pressure in process called destructive distillation.
 Natural gas is a major source of electricity generation through the use of gas
turbines and steam turbines in combined cycle modes. Natural gas burns cleaner
than other fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, and produces less carbon dioxide per
unit energy released. For an equivalent amount of heat, burning natural gas
produces about 30% less carbon dioxide than burning petroleum and about 45%
less than burning coal.
Characteristic of coal
 It is a fossil fuel or an organic sedimentary rock, formed by the result of
temperature and pressure on plant debris; it is far more plentiful than oil or
gas.
 Contains carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, together with small amounts of
nitrogen, sulfur, and trace elements such as mercury, selenium, arsenic,
fluorine, etc.
 It also contains various amounts of moisture and minerals

Devided by:
 Mature forms of coal _ such as “bituminous” (soft) and “anthracite” (hard) _
contain more carbon and less moisture
 The most immature forms of coal _“peat” and “lignite”_ contain the high
moisture and lowest carbon
Cont..
 Peat
is the earliest formation of coal from decomposition of organic matter. With
increasing depth and increasing temperature this peat changes into lignite.
 Lignite
is a very soft coal whose constituents are mainly moisture and volatile
matter with very little presence of fixed carbon hard coal comprised of mainly
carbon with little volatile matter
 Anthracite
is a hard coal comprised of mainly carbon with little volatile matter. Its
moisture content is negligibly small
Caking, coking

 An essential property of coal that is important for the production of coke is

caking. When caking coals are heated they soften, swell, become plastic,
then form lightweight, porous coke particles. These coals are also called
agglomerating coals (free swelling index of 1 or greater).
 ‘free swelling index’ is determined by heating 1 gm of coal sample for a
specified time and temperature
 Coal that shows little or no fusing action is called free-burning coal.
 Sub-bituminous coals and lignite are classified as free-burning coals.
Reactivity of coal
 rate of combustion of coal is defined as the rate at which coal combines with
oxygen at temperatures above the ignition point.
 As the oxygen level increases, the fuel reactivity increases.
 Reactivity is influenced by the particle size as well as by the surface area to
mass ratio of the particle.
Ash fusibility
 Ash fusion Temperature is the means of measuring the performance of coals related
to slagging and deposit build-up.
Devided by:
 Initial deformation temperature (IDT)
The temperature at which the tip of the cone starts to deform
 Softening temperature (ST)
The temperature at which the cone fuses down into a round lump, in which the
height is equal to the width at the base
 Hemispherical temperature
The temperature at which the cone has fused down to a hemispherical lump, where
the height of the cone equals one half the width of the base.
 Fluid temperature
When the melted cone spreads out in a flat layer
Cont. Ash fusibility

 CONCLUSION
The temperature differential between initial deformation and fluid
temperatures, if small, indicates that the wall slag will be thin, runny,
adhesive, and sticky. This type of slag is extremely difficult to control by
soot blowing.
Sulfur

Sulfur in coal exists in three forms:

 Organic sulfur
Sulfur that is an inherent constituent of coal. which is considered as
a nonremovable impurity
 Pyritic sulfur
Occurs primarily as pyrite or mercasite.
 Sulfate sulfur
Usually exists as calcium sulfate or iron sulfate.
Analysis of coal
The two different methods of analyzing coal are known as ultimate and
proximate.
 Ultimate analysis
Determines the proportion of the main chemical elements contained in the
coal, i.e., carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, and carbonate contents.
 Proximate analysis
Provide information regarding moisture, ash, volatile matter, and by
difference, the fixed carbon content of coal.

The major contributor to the heating value of coal is fixed carbon together
with the amount of volatile matter content of coal.
The higher the value of volatile matter the easier the ignition of fuel
Moisture

 contains some natural moisture, since all coals are mined wet called inherent
moisture.
 The surface moisture may be removed from coal by heating it to 373_378 K.
 Moisture is generally determined quantitatively in two steps: by air-drying
and oven-drying.
 The air-dried component of total moisture is required in the design and
selection of coal-handling and coal-preparation equipment.
 High moisture content may cause serious difficulties in the fuel combustion
process. It reduces the heating value of fuel, increases fuel consumption, and
the volume of products of combustion
Ash

 The ash content of coal is the incombustible mineral matter residue that is
left behind after coal burns completely.
 Ash is chiefly comprised of SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, with smaller amounts of
TiO2, MgO, K2O, Na2O, SO3, P2O5, etc.
 While ferric oxide, lime, magnesia, potassium oxide and sodium oxide are
basic components of ash, silica, alumina and titania are acidic components
 The ash-fusion temperature increases as the “percentage of acidic
components”
Cont: ash

 The slagging index of ash can be determined by using the following formula:
Volatile matter
 Volatile matter is When dry coal is heated gradually in an inert medium in the
absence of air, the total loss of weight.

 During the process of combustion it is driven off in gaseous form from coal.

 The yield of volatile matter from coal takes place at a temperature range of
383_1373 K, and the highest yield takes place at around 1073 K.

Fixed carbon
 The fixed carbon is that portion of coal that remains as residue after volatile
matter distills off, after the sum of moisture and ash content in the coal is
100 Thermal Power Plant subtracted.
OTHER SOLID FUELS
 Biomass
an organic matter that has been in use since human beings started burning wood to make fires.
It is a source of renewable energy derived from plant material,urban garbage, and animal waste. It
can regrow over a relatively short period of time.

Some of the biomass used to generate bio-power includes the following:

i. Agricultural wastes, e.g., wheat straw, rice husk, jute stick, etc.
ii. Energy crops, e.g., bagasse, bamboo, special type of grass, e.g., switchgrass, etc.
iii. Wood and forest residues, e.g., dry leaves, twigs, etc.
iv. Wood wastes, e.g., sawdust, wood shavings
v. Clean industrial and municipal wastes
vi. Cattle dung, poultry litter, etc.
Peat
 Peat is the earliest formation of coal from decomposition and disintegration
of wetland vegetation, e.g., bogs, mosses, sedges, shrubs, and other plants,
yet it is not considered a coal or a fossil fuel. Peat forms when plant material,
in wetlands, where flooding obstructs the flow of oxygen from the
atmosphere, is prevented from decaying fully

Charcoal
 is the light-black residue left on heating wood or other organic substances
such as saw dust, coconut shell, bark, bamboo, etc., in the absence of air.
 Charcoal is comprised of mainly pure carbon with varying amounts of
hydrogen, oxygen, and ash. It can be ignited easily.
Petroleum and Natural gas

 Petroleum is comprised of a mixture of innumerable hydrocarbons of differing

molecular weight and structure that may be classified into three groups as
follows:
1. GROUP A: Paraffins (CnH2n12, where n51 to 35)
 When n51 to 4, constituents are gases
(e.g., Methane: CH4, Ethane: C2H6, Propane: C3H8 and Butane: C4H10)
 When n55 to 15, constituents are liquids
(e.g., Pentane: C5H12, Hexane: C6H14, Heptane: C7H14, . . .)
 When n516 and above, constituents are solids/semisolids
(e.g., Wax: C17H36, . . .)
Cont..

2. GROUP B: Naphthenes (CnH2n, where n $5)

(e.g., Cyclopentane: C5H10, Cyclohexane: C6H12, . . .)

3. GROUP C: Aromatics (CnH2n-6, where n $6)

(e.g., Benzene: C6H6, Toluene: C7H8, Xylene: C8H10, . . .)
Liquid fuels
 Gasoline : Liquid fuel that is used in a reciprocating spark-ignition internal
combustion engine
 Jet fuel : Because of its low freezing point and wider boiling point,
commercial jet airlines run on this fuel. The vapor pressure of jet fuel is quite
low (1420 kPa at 311 K).
 Kerosene : The volatility of kerosene is lower than that of gasoline. Kerosene
is basically paraffin used for burning in oil lamps and stoves
 Diesel fuel : The characteristics of diesel fuel vary from heavy kerosene to
residual fuels.
 Fuel oil : There are five commercial grades of fuel oil, also known as bunker
fuel oil, or furnace oil, viz. high speed diesel (HSD), light diesel oil (LDO),
heavy fuel oil (HFO), furnace oil (FO), low sulfar heavy stock (LSHS).
Properties liquid fuels
 Specific gravity : The specific gravity of a fuel determines the carbon-hydrogen
contents of that grade of fuel.

 Viscosity
 Flash point and fire point : The flash point of a flammable liquid is the lowest
temperature to which it must be heated to give off sufficient fuel vapor to form an
ignitable mixture with air.
 Pour point and cloud point: The pour point of oil is the lowest temperature at which it
will remain still fluid or can be poured under prescribed conditions.
 Carbon residue
 Sulfur
 Moisture
 Ash
 Sediment
 Calorific value
Cont: Properties

 Octane number
 Cetane number
 Hazardous areas
Gaseous fuels

 Fuels naturally found in nature, e.g., natural gas, methane from coal mines,
etc.
 Fuel gases made from solid fuels
 Gases made from petroleum, e.g., liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), refinery
gases, gases from oil gasification
 Gases from some fermentation process
Properties of gases fuels

 Three factors helps determine which of the gases can be used in an

appliance:
a. Is the heat release roughly the same as for the same pressure drop?
b. Is the flame shape the same as for the same air and fuel flows?
c. Are pollutants within a specified tolerance for the same heat-release
conditions?
 Wobbe index or wobbe number : This index or number gives an indication of
the interchangability of the gases.
 The Wobbe Index (Wo) is found by dividing the calorific value (CV) of the gas
by the square root of its specific gravity and isdenoted by
Cont: Propeties of gases fuels

 The Wobbe Index of natural gas ranges from 35.871.5 MJ/Nm3 and of liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG) from 71.587.2 MJ/Nm3. These two gases are mostly used for
steam or power production.
Cont:

 Weaver flame speed factor

The Weaver factor (We) for gases may be classified into three groups:
i. High flame speed gases,We53245, having calorific value between 1721 MJ/Nm3
ii. Intermediate flame speed gases, We52532, having calorific value between
2131 MJ/Nm3
iii. Low flame speed gases, We51325, having calorific value between 3142
MJ/Nm3
 Calorific value
Natural gas

 Pure form is obtained from gas fields and is also extracted in association with
crude petroleum from oil fields.
 its principal heat-producing constituents are methane (CH4) and hydrogen.
 Natural gas also contains ethane, propane,butane, and pentane in varying
proportions along with the presence of iso-paraffins and naphthenes in small
quantities.
 Terms used to describe natural gases are:
i. Dry or lean natural gasthis gas contains high methane and <15 g/m3
recoverable condensate
ii. Wet natural gasit is comprised of high concentration of higher
hydrocarbons (C5C10) and recoverable condensate >50 g/m3
iii. Sour or foulgas containing H2S
iv. Sweetgases free from H2S
 Natural gases divided by : Liquefied natural gas (LNG) contains mostly
methane, and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) mostly butane and propane.
Thank you..