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INTRODUCTION
Fuel is a Combustible substance containing Carbon as the major Constituent which on proper
burning gives large amount of heat that can be used for domestic and industrial purposes.
(or)
Fuel is a source of heat energy. Ex : Wood, Coal, Charcoal, kerosene, petrol, Producer gas etc.
During the Process of Combustion of a fuel, the atoms of Carbon, hydrogen etc combine with
oxygen with liberation of heat.
C + O2 → CO2 + 94kcals.
Definition
Fuel is a substance which by Combustion on air gives large amount of heat that can be utilized
economically for industrial and domestic purposes.
COAL
Coal is an important Solid fuel. The process of Conversion of vegetable matter to Anthracite is
called Coalification (or) Metamorphism of Coal.
CLASSIFICATION OF COAL
Coal is classified on the basis of percentage of Carbon, Moisture and the amount of heat content
present in it. The various types of Coals are
ANALYSIS OF COAL
In order to assess the quality of coal, the following two types of analysis are made.
PROXIMATE ANALYSIS
It involves the determination of % of
Moisture Content
Coal ×100
Volatile matter
After the analysis of moisture content the crucible with residual coal sample is covered with
lid, and is heated at 950±20°C for 7 minutes in a muffle furnace. The loss in weight of the
sample is found out and the % of volatile matter is calculated as
% of volatile matter in coal = Loss in weight of the coal/ weight of air-dried coal ×100
Ash content
After the analysis of volatile matter, the crucible with residual coal sample is heated without
lid at 700±50°C for half an hour in a muffle furnace. The loss in weight of the sample is found out
and the % of content is calculated as
Fixed carbon
It is determined by subtracting the sum, total of moisture, volatile, and ash contents from 100.
% of fixed carbon in coal = 100 – % of ( moisture content + volatile matter + ash content)
(ii) Ash causes hindrance to heat flow as well as produces clinkers which blocks the
air supply through the fuel.
(iii) It increases the transporting handling and storage costs
(iv) It involves additional cost in ash disposal.
(iv) Fixed carbon
(i) High % of fixed carbon is desirable because higher the % of fixed carbon in a
coal, greater is its Calorific value.
(ii) The % of fixed carbon helps in designing the furnace and the shape of the fire-
box.
ULTIMATE ANALYSIS
It involves the determination of percentage of
A known amount of the coal sample is burnt in a current of oxygen in a combustion apparatus.
The carbon & hydrogen , present in the coal sample, are converted in to CO2 and H2O
respectively, according to the following equations.
C + O2 → CO2↑
H2 + ½ O2 –→ H2O↑
The liberated CO2 & H2O vapours are absorbed respectively in KOH and anhydrous CaCl2 tubes of
known weights. The increase in wt of KOH tube is due to the formation of CO2 while increase in
weight of CaCl2 tube is due to the formation of H2O.
From the weights of CO2 & H2O formed, the percentage of carbon & hydrogen present in the coal
can be calculated as follows
% of Carbon
C + O2 → CO2
12 44
44gms of CO2 contains 12gms of carbon
% of carbon in coal = Increase in weight of KOH tube / weight of coal sample taken ×12/44× 100
% of hydrogen
H2 + ½ O2 →H2O
% of hydrogen = Increase in weight of CaCl2 tube / weight of coal sample taken ×2/18
×100
2. NITROGEN CONTENT
The determination of nitrogen content is carried out by kjeldahl’s method. Aknown amount of
powered coal sample is heated with conc.H2SO4 in presence of K2SO4 (catalyst) in a long necked
flask (kjeldahl’s flask). Nitrogen in the coal is converted in to ammonium sulphate and a clear
solution is obtained.
2N + 3 H2 + H2SO4 → (NH4)2SO4
The clear solution is then heated with excess of NaOH and the liberated ammonia is distilled over
and is absorbed in a known volume of standard N/10 HCl.
CALCULATION
We know that
1mole 1 mole
Therefore (V1 –V2) ml of N/10 HCl = 14 × (V1 –V2) × n/10 / 1000 × 1N gms of N2
‘m’ gms of coal sample contains = 14 × (V1 –V2) × n/10 / 1000 × 1N gms of N2
100 gms of coal sample contains = 14 × (V1 –V2) × n/10 / 1000 × 1N ×100/m gms of N2
% of nitrogen in coal = 14 × volume of acid consumed × Normality / 1000 × Weight of the coal
sample × 1
(or)
% of nitrogen in coal = 1.4 × volume of acid consumed × Normality / 1000 × Weight of the coal
sample .
3. SULPHUR CONTENT
A known amount of coal sample is burnt completely in a bomb calorimeter. During this process
sulphur is converted in to sulphate, which is extracted with water. The extract is then treated with
BaCl2 solution. So that sulphates are precipitated as BaSO4. The precipitate is filtered, dried and
weighed.
From the weight of BaSO4 obtained, the sulphur present in coal is calculated as follows.
CALCULATION
32 233
32 x x
x gms of BaSO4. contains = gms of S
233
32 x x
‘m’ gms of coal sample contains = gms of S
233
32 x x 100
100 gms of coal sample contains = × gms of S
233 m
32 x x
% of sulphur in coal = ×100
233 x m
Ash content
Oxygen content
(i) Nitrogen does not have any calorific value, and its presence in coal is undesirable.
(ii) Good quality of coal should have very little nitrogen content.
Though sulphur increases thr calorific value, its presence in coal is undesirable
because,
(i) The combustion products of S, SO2, & SO3 are harmful and have corrosion effects on
equipments.
(ii) The coal containing sulphur is not suitable for the preparation of metallurgical coke as it
affects the properties of the metal.
(4) OXYGEN CONTENT
(i) Lower the percentage of oxygen higher is its calorific value.
(ii) As the oxygen content increases its moisture holding capacity increases, and the
calorific value of the fuel is reduced.
CALORIFIC VALUE
The Calorific value of a fuel is defined as “ The total quantity of heat liberated, when a unit mass
of fuel is burnt completely in presence of oxygen”.
The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gm of water through 1˚C (15 to 16˚C)
The amount of required to raise the temperature of 1kg of water through 1˚C (15 to 16˚C)
The amount of required to raise the temperature of 1 lb of water through 1˚C (15 to 16˚C)
The total amount of heat produced, when a unit of mass of fuel is completely burnt and the
products of combustion are cooled to room temperature.
The net heat produced when unit mass of fuel is burnt completely and the products are
permitted to escape.
CLASSIFICATION OF COAL
Wood → Peat → Bituminous coal → Anthracite.
1. WOOD
Wood is obtained from forests, which burns producing a long and non-smoky flame and
leaves behind little amount of ash. The air dried & moisture free wood have the calorific value
about 3500 to 4500 kcal/ kg. wood is largely used as a domestic fuel.
2. PEAT
(i) Peat is the first stage in the coalification of wood.
(ii) It is brown, fibrous jelly like mass and its calorific value is about 5450kcal/kg.
(iii) It is uneconomical fuel due to its higher proporation (80 -90%) of moisture and on
air drying it burns freely.
3. LIGNITE
(i) Lignites are soft, brown coal, the intermediate stage in the process of coalification
consist of vegetable matter
(ii) It burns with long smoky flame due to the presence of volatile matter.
(iii) Its calorific value is about 6500 to 7000 kcal/kg ( On air-dry basis)
(iv) It is mostly used in the manufacture of producer gas.
4. BITUMINOUS COAL
It is common coal dark-grey, which usually soil hands. Bituminous coal are further sub-
classified in to 3 types based on carbon content.
5. ANTHRACITE COAL
(i) It is obtained in the last stage of coalification.
(ii) It is highest rank coal, containing highest % of carbon (92- 98%)
(iii) It has lowest volatile matter, moisture content & ash contents.
(iv) They possess no caking power and their calorific value is about 8650kcal/kg.
Metallurgical coke
When bituminous coal is heated strongly in the absence of air, the volatile matter escapes
out and the mass becomes hard, strong, porous and where which is called metallurgical coke.
Manufacturing
Each chamber is
chambers are heated to 1200˚C by during the preheated air and the producer gas mixture in the
The air & gas are preheated by sending them thro’ 2nd & 3rd hot regenerators. Hot flue gases
produced during carbonization are allowed to pass thro’ 1st & 4th regenerators until the temp has
been raised to 1000C while 1st & 4th regenerators are heated by hot flue gases, the 2nd & 3rd
regeneration are used for heating the incoming air & gas mixture.
For economical heating, the direction of inlet gases & flue gases are changed frequently.
The above system of recycling flue gases to produce heat energy is known as the regenerative
When the process is complete, the coke is removed & quenched with H20.
Time taken for complete carbonization is about 12 – 20hrs. The yield of coke is about 70%.
The valuable by-products like coal gas, tar, ammonia, H2S, benzene etc.. can be recovered
Recovery of by – products
i) Tar:-
The flue gases are first passed. thro’ a tower in which liquor NH3 is sprayed. Tar & dust get
ii) Ammonia
The gases are passed thro’ tower in which water is sprayed. Ammonia recovered as
NH4OH.
iii) Naphthalene
The gas passed thro’ tower in which cooled water sprayed naphthalene gets condensed.
iv) Benzene: -
The gases passed thro’ tower in which petroleum is sprayed benzene gets condensed to
liquid.
v) H2S:-
The remaining gases passed thro’ the purifier packed moist Fe203. Here H2S is retained.
The final gas left out is called coal gas which is used as a gaseous fuel.
Advantages
1. Valuable by – products are recovered.
The crude oil obtained from the earth is a mixture of oil, water and unwanted impurities. After the
removal of water and other impurities, the crude oil is subjected to fractional distillation the crude
Thus, the process of removing impurities and separating the crude oil into various fractions
The crude oil from oil well is an extremely stable emulsion of oil and salt water. The crude
oil is allowed to flow between two highly charged electrodes, where colloidal water droplets
combine to form large drops, which is then separated out from the oil.
Sulphur compounds are removed by treating the crude oil with copper oxide. The copper
The purified crude oil is then heated to abort 4000C in an iron retort, where the oil gets
vapourized. The hot vapours are then passed into the bottom of a “fractioning column” (Fig).
The fractionating column is a tall cylindrical tower containing a number of horizontal
stainless steel trays at short distances. Each tray is provided with small chimney covered with a
loose cap
different trays.
name of LPG
2. Petroleum ether 30 – 70 C5 – C7 As a solvent
5. Kerosene oil 180 – 250 C10 – C16 Fuel for stoves and jet
engines
7. Heavy oil 320 – 400 C17 – C30 Fuel for ships and for
production of gasoline
by cracking
5. Pitch at above 4000C Used for making roads water proof roofing etc.
CRACKING
Def:
The crude oil on fractional distillation yields only about 15 – 20% gasoline. This is known
as straight run gasoline the quality of straight run gasoline is not so good. It contains mainly straight
chain paraffin’s, which ignite readily and move rapidly than any other hydrocarbons and hence it
In order to overcome these difficulties and also improve the quality and quantity of gasoline,
high boiling fractions are cracked into more valuable low boiling fractions suitable for SI engines.
Thus gasoline obtained by cracking is called cracked gasoline. During cracking the following
(ii) Saturated higher hydrocarbons are converted to mixture of saturated and unsaturated lower
hydrocarbons.
(iv) All the hydrocarbons obtained by cracking have lower boiling point than the parent
Hydrocarbons.
Types of cracking
1. Thermal cracking
2. Catalytic cracking
Thermal cracking
If the cracking is carried out at higher temperature and pressure without any catalyst, it is
In this method, the heavy oil is cracked at a temp of 475 – 5300C under high pressure of
100kg/Cm2 to keep the reaction product in liquid State. The cracked products are then separated in
to various fractions in a fractioning column. The yield of gasoline is about 50 – 60% and the octane
number is 65 – 70.
In this method, the heavily oil is first vapourized and then cracked at a temp of 600 – 6500C
under a lower pressure of 10 – 20kg/Cm2. The yield of gasoline is about 70%. This process is
Catalytic cracking
If the cracking is carried out at lower temp & pressure in the presence of suitable catalyst, it
is called catalytic cracking. The catalyst used are aluminum silicate (or) alumina.
The heavy oil vapour is heated to 420 – 4500C in a preheater. The hot vapours are then
passed thro’ a catalytic chamber maintained at 425 – 4500C and 1.5kg/Cm2 pressure, where catalyst
[artificial clay mixed with zirconium oxide] are kept in fixed beds.
During this passage, through the catalytic chamber, about 40% of the heavy oil is converted
into gasoline and about 2 – 4% carbon is formed. The carbon gets adsorbed on the catalyst bed. The
cracked vapours are then pass through the fractionating column, where heavy oil gets condensed at
the bottom.
The vapours of gasoline are then bent through the cooler where gasoline gets condensed
along with some gases the gasoline containing some dissolved gases is then sent to a stabilizer,
where the dissolved gases are removed and pure gasoline is recovered.
After 8 – 10 hrs, the catalyst loses its activity due to the deposition of carbon. It is
In this process, the solid catalyst is finely powdered, so that it behaves as a fluid, which can be
The heavy oil vapour is heated to 420 – 4500C in a preheater and it is mixed with the
catalyst powder. Then this mixture is forced into the reactor, which is maintained at a temperature
Near the top of the reactor, there is a centrifugal separator called (cyclone) which allows
only the cracked oil vapours to pass on to the fractionating column leaving behind the catalyst
powder in the reactor itself. The catalyst powder gradually becomes heavier due to coating of
carbon and it settles down at the bottom of the reactor. Then it is forced into the regenerator
maintained at 600˚C, where carbon is burnt and the regenerated catalyst is again recirculated along
oil settles down and the vapours are then passed through the cooler where gasoline condenses along
with some gases. The dissolved gases are separated from gasoline by passing it through a stabilizer.
4. No external fuel is necessary for cracking the heat required for cracking is desired by burning the
7. The octane number of cracked gasoline is higher when compared to straight – run gasoline. This
is due to the presence of branched paraffin’s and aromatic Hydrocarbons, in cracked gasoline.
8. The cracking process can be easily controlled, so the desired products can be maintained.
SYNTHETIC PETROL
The gasoline, obtained from the fractional distillation of crude petroleum oil, is called
straight run petrol. As the use of gasoline is increased, the amount of straight run gasoline is not
enough to meet the requirement of the present community. Hence, we are in need of finding out a
Coal contains about 4.5% hydrogen compared to about 18% in petroleum. So, coal is a
If coal is heated with hydrogen to high temp under high pressure, it is converted to gasoline.
The preparation of liquid fuels from solid coal is called hydrogenation of coal (or) synthetic petrol.
In this process the finely powdered coal is made into a paste with heavy oil and a catalyst
powder [tin (or) nickel oleate] is mixed with it. The paste is pumped along with hydrogen gas into
the converter, where the paste is heated to 400 – 4500C under a pressure of 200 – 250 atm.
During this process hydrogen combines with coal to form saturated higher hydrocarbons,
hydrocarbons. The mixture is led to a condenser, where the crude oil is obtained.
(i) Gasoline
The middle oil is further hydrogenated in vapour phase to yield more gasoline. The heavy
oil is recycled for making paste with fresh coal dust. The yield of gasoline is about 60% of the coal
used.
Fischer – Tropsch process (or) Indirect method
In this process coal is first converted into coke. Then water gas (C0+H2) is produced by
1200˚c
C + H2O → CO + H2
The water gas is mixed with H2 and the mixture is purified by passing through Fe203 [to
remove H2S] and then into a mixture of Fe203 + Na2C03 [To remove organic sulphur compounds].
The purified gas is compressed to 5 to 25 atm and then led through a converter, which is maintained
parts thoria, 8 parts magnesia and 200 parts keiselghur earth. A mixture of saturated and
The out coming gaseous mixture is led to a condenser, where liquid crude oil is obtained the
(i) Gasoline
(ii) Heavy oil
KNOCKING
Def:
In a petrol engine, a mixture of gasoline vapour and air at 1:17 ratio is used as fuel.
This mixture is compressed and ignited by an electric spark. The products of oxidation
reaction (combustion) increases the pressure and pushes the piston down the cylinder.
If the combustion proceeds in a regular way there is no problem in knocking but in some
cases, the rate of combustion (oxidation) will not be uniform due to unwanted chemical constituents
of gasoline. The rate of ignition of the fuel gradually increases and the final portion of the fuel air
Knocking property of the fuel reduces the efficiency of engine so a good gasoline should
resist knocking.
The knocking tendency of fuel hydrocarbons mainly depends on their chemical structures.
Straight chain paraffin’s > Branched chain paraffin’s > Cyclo paraffin’s > Olefins > Aromatics
Thus olefins of the same carbon-chain length possess better anti-knock properties than the
corresponding paraffin’s.
i) Blending petrol of high octane number with petrol of low octane number, so that the octane
iii) Now a days aromatic phosphates are used as antiknock agent because it avoids lead pollution.
OCTANE NUMBER
Octane number is introduced to express the knocking characteristics of petrol. It has been
found that n-heptane knocks very badly and hence, its anti-knock value has been given zero on the
other hand, iso-octane gives very little knocking and so its anti-knock value has been given 100.
Def:
additives. Tetra ethyl lead (TEL) (C2H5)4 Pb is an important additive added to petrol. Thus the
CETANE NUMBER
Cetane (hexa decane) C16 H34 has a very short ignition lag and hence its cetane number is
taken as 100. On the other hand α-methyl naphthalene has a long ignition lag and hence its cetane
Def:
mixture of hexadecane and α-methyl naphthalene, which has the same ignition lag as the fuel
under test”.
Straight chain paraffin’s > Cyclo paraffin’s > Olefins > Branched paraffin’s > Aromatics.
The cetane number of a diesel oil can be increased by adding additives called dopes.