MEng 115

FUELS AND LUBRICATION

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 COURSE OUTLINE 3 (CO 3)
DISCUSS THE FUNDAMENTALS OF
FUELS AND COMBUSTION

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
LEARNING OUTCOMES

❑ To discuss the fundamental principle behind combustion and to determine certain

factors that contribute to different combustion properties.

TOPICS:

❑ Classification and properties of fuels

❖ Definition of Terms for Fuels and Combustion

❑ Principles of the combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel

❖ Air-Fuel Ratio

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 CLASSIFICATION AND PROPERTIES OF FUELS

❑ Classification of Fuels

❖ Gaseous Fuels – principal component is Hydrocarbon, 𝐶𝑛 𝐻𝑚

Ex. LPG and Methane
❖ Liquid Fuels – principal component is Hydrocarbon, 𝐶𝑛 𝐻𝑚
Ex. Gasoline and Diesel
❖ Solid Fuels – principal component is Carbon, C
Ex. Coal and Wood

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 CLASSIFICATION AND PROPERTIES OF FUELS

❑ Definition of Terms for Fuels and Combustion

➢ Hydrocarbon fuels are primarily consist of Hydrogen and Carbon.
➢ By distillation of crude oil, the most volatile fuel obtained is Gasoline.

➢ By distillation of crude oil, the less volatile fuels obtained are Diesel, kerosene and
fuel oil.

➢ A chemical reaction during which a fuel is oxidized and a large energy is released is
called Combustion.

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 CLASSIFICATION AND PROPERTIES OF FUELS

❑ Definition of Terms for Fuels and Combustion

➢ Dry air is composed of 21 percent Oxygen and 79 percent Nitrogen by volume and
its ratio is fixed.
➢ During a combustion process, the components which exist before reaction are
called Reactants.
➢ The components which exist after the reaction are called Products.
➢ The fuel must be brought above its ignition temperature to start the combustion.

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 CLASSIFICATION AND PROPERTIES OF FUELS

❑ Definition of Terms for Fuels and Combustion

➢ The minimum ignition temperature of various substances in atmospheric are
approximately 260 ℃ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒, 400 ℃ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑜𝑛, 580 ℃ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐻𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛,
610 ℃ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑜𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑥𝑖𝑑𝑒 and 630 ℃ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑀𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑒.

➢ The frequently used quantity in the analysis of combustion processed to quantify the
amounts of fuel and air is called the Air-Fuel Ratio. Air-Fuel Ratio is the ratio of
mass of air to mass of fuel.

➢ The reciprocal of Air-Fuel Ratio is Fuel-Air Ratio.

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 CLASSIFICATION AND PROPERTIES OF FUELS

❑ Definition of Terms for Fuels and Combustion

➢ The combustion process is complete if all the carbon in the fuel burns to 𝐶𝑂2 , all the
hydrogen burns to 𝐻2 𝑂 and all Sulfur burns to 𝑆𝑂2 .

➢ The combustion process is incomplete if the combustion products contain any

unburned fuel or components such 𝐶, 𝐻2 , 𝐶𝑂, 𝑜𝑟 𝑂𝐻.

➢ Insufficient Oxygen is an obvious reason of incomplete combustion.

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 CLASSIFICATION AND PROPERTIES OF FUELS

❑ Definition of Terms for Fuels and Combustion

➢ The minimum amount of air needed for the complete combustion of fuel is called the
Stoichiometric or Theoretical Air.

➢ The Theoretical Air is referred to as the chemical correct amount of air or the 100%
theoretical air.

➢ A combustion process with less than the theoretical air is bound to be complete.

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 CLASSIFICATION AND PROPERTIES OF FUELS

❑ Definition of Terms for Fuels and Combustion

➢ The amount of air excess of the stoichiometric amount is called Excess Air.

➢ The amount of air less than the stoichiometric amount are called deficiency of air.

➢ The combustion reaction is an Exothermic Reaction.

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBUSTION OF A HYDROCARBON FUEL

❑ Air-Fuel Ratio of Solid Fuels Remember:

❖ Theoretical Air-Fuel Ratio 𝐴Τ𝐹 𝑡
✓ 𝑚𝑎 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑖𝑟
✓ 𝑚𝑓 𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙
𝑚𝑎 ✓ 𝐶 𝑖𝑠 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑜𝑛
𝐴 Τ𝐹 𝑇 = ✓ 𝐻 𝑖𝑠 𝐻𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛
𝑚𝑓
✓ 𝑂 𝑖𝑠 𝑂𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛
✓ 𝑆 𝑖𝑠 𝑆𝑢𝑙𝑓𝑢𝑟
𝑂 𝑘𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑖𝑟
𝐴 Τ𝐹 𝑇 = 11.5𝐶 + 34.5 𝐻 − + 4.3𝑆 ,
8 𝑘𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙𝑠

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBUSTION OF A HYDROCARBON FUEL

❑ Air-Fuel Ratio of Solid Fuels

❖ Actual Air-Fuel Ratio 𝐴Τ𝐹 𝐴

𝐴 Τ𝐹 𝐴 = 𝐴 Τ𝐹 𝑇 1+𝑒
Remember:
✓ 𝑒 𝑖𝑠 excess air

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBUSTION OF A HYDROCARBON FUEL

❑ Typical Combustion Reaction of Liquid Fuels

❖ Molecular Weights

▪ 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑏𝑜𝑛 𝐶 = 12 ▪ 𝑁𝑖𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑁 = 14
▪ 𝐻𝑦𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛(𝐻) = 1 ▪ 𝑆𝑢𝑙𝑓𝑢𝑟 𝑆 = 32
▪ 𝑂𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛(𝑂) = 16
𝑘𝑔
▪ 𝐴𝑖𝑟 = 28.92 𝑘𝑔−𝑚𝑜𝑙

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBUSTION OF A HYDROCARBON FUEL

❑ Typical Combustion Reaction of Liquid Fuels

❖ Composition of Air by Volume

▪ 𝑂𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑂 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 21%

▪ 𝑁𝑖𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑁 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 79%
▪ 3.76 𝑜𝑓 𝑁2 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑂2

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBUSTION OF A HYDROCARBON FUEL

❑ Typical Combustion Reaction of Liquid Fuels

❖ Composition of Air by Weight

▪ 𝑂𝑥𝑦𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑂 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 23.20%

▪ 𝑁𝑖𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑛 𝑁 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 76.80%

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBUSTION OF A HYDROCARBON FUEL

❑ Typical Combustion Reaction of Liquid Fuels

❖ Theoretical Air-Fuel Ratio 𝐴/𝐹 𝑇

𝐹𝑢𝑒𝑙 + 𝐴𝑖𝑟 = 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝐶𝑛 𝐻𝑚 + 𝑥𝑂2 + 3.76𝑥𝑁2 = 𝑦𝐶𝑂2 + 𝑧𝐻2 𝑂 + 3.76𝑁2

Remember:
✓ 𝑥, 𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑧 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑠

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBUSTION OF A HYDROCARBON FUEL

❑ Typical Combustion Reaction of Liquid Fuels

❖ Theoretical Air-Fuel Ratio 𝐴/𝐹 𝑇

➢ For perfect combustion

4𝑛 + 𝑚
𝑥=
4

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBUSTION OF A HYDROCARBON FUEL

❑ Typical Combustion Reaction of Liquid Fuels

❖ Theoretical Air-Fuel Ratio 𝐴/𝐹 𝑇

➢ Molal Basis

𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑎𝑖𝑟
𝐴/𝐹 𝑇 = 𝑥 + 3.76𝑥 ,
𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙
➢ Mass Basis
32𝑥 + 28 3.76 𝑥 𝑘𝑔 𝑎𝑖𝑟
𝐴/𝐹 𝑇 = ,
12𝑛 + 𝑚 𝑘𝑔 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBUSTION OF A HYDROCARBON FUEL

❑ Typical Combustion Reaction of Liquid Fuels

❖ Actual Air-Fuel Ratio 𝐴/𝐹 𝐴

𝐹𝑢𝑒𝑙 + 𝐴𝑖𝑟 = 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝐶𝑛 𝐻𝑚 + 𝑥 1 + 𝑒 𝑂2 + 3.76𝑥 1 + 𝑒 𝑁2 = 𝑦𝐶𝑂2 + 𝑧𝐻2 𝑂 + 3.76 1 + 𝑒 𝑁2 + 𝑒𝑥𝑂2

𝐴
𝐴/𝐹 𝐴 = (1 + 𝑒)
𝐹 𝑇

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBUSTION OF A HYDROCARBON FUEL

❑ Sample Problem

A boiler burns fuel oil with 15% excess air. The fuel oil may be represented by 𝐶14 𝐻30 .
Calculate the Molal Air-Fuel Ratio.

𝐴𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟: 117.69 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑎𝑖𝑟ൗ𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering
 PRINCIPLES OF THE COMBUSTION OF A HYDROCARBON FUEL

❑ Sample Problem

A steam generator burns fuel oil with 20% excess air. The fuel oil may be represented by
𝐶14 𝐻30 . The fuel gas leave the preheater at 0.31 Mpa. Determine the actual –air fuel ratio in
kg air per kg fuel.

𝑘𝑔 𝑎𝑖𝑟
𝐴𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟: 17.89 ൗ𝑘𝑔 𝑓𝑢𝑒𝑙

Visayas State University

College of Engineering and Technology
Department of Mechanical Engineering