1. Power Plant Technology Fuel and Combustion (Lecture 2)by
Mohamad Firdaus Basrawi, Dr. (Eng) Mechanical Engineering Faculty

2. COMBUSTION REACTION
Combustion: heat release with high temperature oxidation of fuel.
Combustible elements in fuel: C, H and S.
Basic chemical equation for complete combustion:
The formation of CO happened when oxygen is insufficient and C will be burned incompletely.

3. Four basic conditions (MATT) for complete combustion:
Mixture: To have enough turbulence for through mixing of fuel+air.
Air: Adequate supply of air for complete combustion.
Temperature: Sufficient temperature inside chamber to ignite the incoming fuel air mixture.
Time: Provide sufficient time for complete combustion.
Stoichiometric air (O2 based)
The ultimate analysis of the fuel ,
C + H + O + N + S + M + A = 1.0
O2 needed for the oxidation can be calculated as follows:
C O = CO2
12 kg kg kg
1 kg kg kg
C kg C kg C kg

4. WO2 = 2.67 C + 8 H + S - O 2 H2 + O2 = 2H2O 4 kg 32 kg 36 kg
H kg H kg H kg
S O = SO2
32 kg kg kg
1 kg kg kg
S kg S kg S kg
O2 needed for complete combustion of 1 kg fuel is:
WO2 = 2.67 C + 8 H + S - O
O: oxygen in the fuel

5. Air contents 23.2% oxygen by mass. Thus, theoretically air
(stoichiometric & air) needed for complete combustion of 1 kg fuel is
However, ｔheoretical or stoichiometric air is insufficient for complete combustion
EXCESS AIR (stoichiometric & air & excess air) is needed for complete combustion.
The percentage of excess air supplied is:
WA : actual amount of air supplied.

6. The dilution coefficient d, is given by
In the combustion of the methane
CH O CO2 + 2H2O
Considering N2 in chemical equation (Stoichiometric & air & N2)
Atmospheric air contains
Oxygen: 21%v , nitrogen: 78%v, argon: 1%v.
*In combustion calculations, the argon is neglected
Thus, nitrogen: 79%v.
Since 21O2 -> 79N2, 1O2 -> 3.76N2
Thus, if 2O2 -> 2(3.76)N2
The combustion of methane, the reaction can be written as:
CH O (3.76)N CO H2O N2

7. The combustion of methane, the reaction can be written as:
CH O (3.76)N CO H2O N2
With 150% theoretical air (50% excess) air,
CH4 + 2(1.5) O2 + 2(3.76) (1.5) N CO2 + 2H2O + O N2
With less than needed excess air, e.g. with 115% theoretical air (15 % excess air),
CH4 + 2 (1.15) O2 +2 (1.15) (3.76) N2
0.95 CO CO +2H2O+0.325O2+8.65N2
There may be a small amount of CO present in the products, depending on mixing and turbulence during combustion,

8. Example 1
The analysis of a fuel oil is given to be; Carbon 78 %, hydrogen 6%, oxygen 9% and Ash 7% with 50% excess air is supplied to the boiler. If the flue gas temperature is 320oC, and surrounding temperature of boiler house is 20oC,
determine the energy that is carried by DFG per kg of fuel. Assume Cp for dry flue gas to be kJ/kg K.

9. Example 2
The analysis of a fuel oil is given to be; Carbon 84 %, hydrogen 10%, oxygen 1.6% and Sulfur 3.2%. Determine:
The air that is required to burn 1 kg fuel
Product of combustion and its percentage

10. ACTUAL AIR-FUEL RATIO

11. The flue gas analysis is measured is on dry basis which is:
CO2 + CO + O2 + N2 = 100% By Volume
Assume that the DFG analysis of a gas sampling is: 12% CO2, 3% CO, 5% O2 and 80% N2 by volume.
Therefore 1 mole of DFG contains 0.12 mole CO2, 0.03 mole CO, 0.05 mole O2 and 0.8 mole N2.
The Mass of the DFG then becomes equal to :
44 (0.12) + 28 (0.03) + 32 (0.05) + 28 (0.8) = kg/kg mole fuel.
In general the Mass of dry flue gas (dfg) is given by:
Mdfg = 44CO2 + 28CO + 32O2 + 28N2

12. Therefore, the percentage of each combustion product is given by
Mass of Carbon per kg DFG is determined as below:
C O2 → CO2
12 kg kg kg
2C O2 → 2CO
24 kg kg kg OR
12 kg kg kg
For 44 kg of CO2 gas, it has 12 kg Carbon
For 28 kg of CO gas, it has 12 kg Carbon

13. Let Cab be the mass fraction of carbon C in the fuel which has beed oxidized either to CO2 o CO. Then (C-Cab) is the mass fraction of unburnt carbon in the refurse. For 1kg fuel burnt, there should be Cab kg of carbon in the dfg.
Therefore,
Mass of dfg produced per kg fuel.
From Eqs (4.31) and (4.33)
Mass of N2 in dfg per kg fuel

14. The nitrogen in dfg comes from fuel as well as air
The nitrogen in dfg comes from fuel as well as air. So, nitrogen coming with arir per kg fuel.
Where N is the mass fraction of nitrogen in fuel. The actual amount of air supplied per kg fuel is
Since N in fuel is small,
This is the actual air-fuel-ratio used for combustion of the fuel, where Cab is the fraction of carbon in fuel which has been burnt to CO2 and CO. If WA is measured by an air flow meter, the degree of burnout of carbon, Cab can be estimated from the relation

15. Combustion Equation (With Excess air)
Consider a coal have the results of ultimate analysis as below:
C-60%, H-4%, S-3.2%, O-4.8%, N-2%, M-5%, and A-21%.
Exhaust gas has the volumetric analysis as below:
CO2 + SO2=12%, CO=2%, O2=4% and N2=82%
Let a mole of O2 is supplied to the 100kg of coal.
Write the combustion equation.

16. Consider moles of oxygen be supplied for 100kg fuel
Consider moles of oxygen be supplied for 100kg fuel. Then, the combustion
equation can be expressed as
By the equating the coefficients
From the dry flue gas (dfg) analysis

17. Combustion Equation (With less air)
Let us now consider the combustion of propane gas (C3H8) with 80% theoretical air
C3H8 + 5 O (3.76) N CO2 +4 H2O N2
With 80% theoretical air, the combustion equation becomes:
C3H8 + 5 (0.8) O (3.76)(0.8) N a CO+bCO2 +4 H2O N2
Carbon balance: 3 = a + b
N2 amount reduced
Oxygen balance: 8 = a + 2b + 4
CO2 amount reduced
CO will be produced by the incomplete combustion
By solving balances above, finally : a = 2 , b= 1
The equation for combustion can therefore be expressed as:
C3H8 + 4 O N CO + CO H2O N2

18. Heating Value of a Fuel:
Heat of reaction of coal constituents are given in table below:
Table1. Heats of reaction of coal constituents
Formula and state
Product of combustion and state
Heat of reaction (kJ/kg mol)
Carbon (Coke)
Carbon
Carbon monoxide
Hydrogen
Sulpur
C (s)
CO (g)
H2 (g)
S (s)
CO2 (g)
H2O (l)
SO2 (g)
-407,000
-397,000
-283,000
-286,000
-291,000
For 1 kg of coal containing C kg carbon, the heat released by the carbon combustion ( taking carbon to have heat of reaction of coke) at standard condition is
Heat released by carbon combustion is

19. Similarly, heat released by sulphur
The available hydrogen is that hydrogen which is available for combustion, and is the total hydrogen less than that required to combine with the oxygen in the coal, (H-O/8).
Heat released by hydrogen combustion
Therefore, the total heat released by complete combustion of 1 kg coal is
(27)
The equation is very close to Dulong’s formula, as given by Equation (5)

20. Control of Excess Air
Proper control of the proper amount of excess air maintains optimum combustion efficiency. Excess air is indicated by CO2 and O2 in gases.
CO2 level depends on the fuel and the optimum excess air supplied (fig. 6 ).
O2 level depends much less on the type of fuel ( fig. 7). Thus, it is prefered.
Fig. 6. CO2 variation of flue
Fig.7. O2 variation in flue

21. The excess air is than adjusted by controlling the amount air supply to show the optimum value of CO2 and O2. The optimum value of excess air for the best combustion efficiency is as below (fig. 8).
Fig. 8. Optimum excess air for maximum combustion efficiency

22. Excess air can also be determined by the following relation (Strotzki and Vapot, 1960).
where CO, O2, and N2 are percentages in volume in DFG.
An approximate formula for the excess air is
Where (CO2)0=%CO2 in the stoichiometric dry product,
CO2, CO, O2=% in the actual products.

23. CL2A
The ultimate analyis of coal was 85% Carbon, 4.5% Hydrogen, 4% Sulphur the remaining is ash. 100kg of coal. On the other hand, the analysis of DFG was 14% Carbon dioxide, 4% Oxygen and 3% Sulphur Dioxide and Nitrogen 79% by volume. Determine:
Combustion equation
Actual air supplied for the combustion
Theoretical air required
Percentage of excess air

24. CL2B Explain the Mechanism of Pulverized Coal Firing System
Overall system
Crusher
Pulverizer
Firing

25. CL2B
Study on the history and current utilization of Anthracite, Bituminous, Lignite and Peat
Requirement:
5 pages
Double Column
A4 size
Font: 12point
Reference must be clearly cited

26. WA+C+H+O+S+N+M+A=Wdfg+9H+M+A+C-Cab
MASS BALANCE OF A STEAM GENERATOR
Figure 9 gives material balance for a boiler furnace on basis of 1 kg coal, where WA is the amount of air supplied.
1kg coal =
C + H + O + S + N + M +A
Wdfg= CO2+CO+O2+N2+SO2
Boiler furnace
Figure 9: Material balance for a boiler furnace
WA+C+H+O+S+N+M+A=Wdfg+9H+M+A+C-Cab

27. Mass of dfg produced per kg coal:
(30)
Volume of flue gases (wet) produced per kg coal
(31)
Where the pressure of gas pg is in kPa and Mdfg is the molecular weight of dfg. The dry refuse analysis by mass gives AR +CR =1.00, where subscript R reperesents the refuse.

28. In 1 kg coal, A = WR x AR, where WR is the amount of refuse per kg coal and AR is the mass fraction of ash in the refuse.
Mass of un burnt carbon in refuse per kg coal
Carbon burnout in dry gas
(32)

29. ENERGY BALANCE OF A STEAM GENERATOR
The fuel supplied to a furnace when completely burned releases its heating value. This energy converts the feedwater pumped to the boiler into steam
Figure 10: Energy balance of a steam genarator
1.Energy loss due to dry exhaust gas
6.Energy loss due to moisture coming with air supplied
2.Energy loss due to unburnt carbon
7.Energy loss due to ash and slag
3.Energy loss due to incomplete combustion
8.Energy loss due to convection and radiation from the boiler surface
4.Energy loss due to moisture in fuel
5.Energy loss due to hydrogen in fuel

30. dry exhaust gas
unburnt carbon
incomplete combustion
Loss of energy per kg of C oxidized to CO ( see table 1)

31. Loss of energy per kg of fuel
moisture in fuel
Where, tf=temperature of fuel entering the furnace
hydrogen in fuel
moisture coming with air supplied
= specific humidity of air, (kg moisture)/(kg dry air)
= Specific heat of superheated water vapour

32. ash and slag
=the average specific heat of ash, kJ/kg K
=the temperature of the furnace, OC
convection and radiation from the boiler surface
hc= convective heat transfer coefficient, W/m2
hr= radiative heat transfer coefficient, W/m2
A= total surface area exposed to the ambient air, m2
tw= temperature of the wall surface of the boiler, OC
ta= ambient temperature, OC

33. Energy released by complete combustion of 1 kg fuel= HHV
Energy utilized in the heating of the working fluid
(43)
Therefore, efficiency of steam generator
(44)