:INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY: What is fuel?

Ans: Any substance which on burning or oxidation in air or oxygen produce heat and light is called fuel. The characteristic of a good fuel are 1. It should be economical. 2. It should have high calorific value. 3. It should have low ash content. 4. It should produce minimum undesirable product on combustion. Classification of fuel : Fuel are classified into three type : 1. Solid fuel : Coal,wood 2. Liquid fuel : Petrol,Kerosene. 3. Gaseous fuel : Natural gas. Water gas Calorific Value of fuel: The calorific value of a fuel is the amount of heat in calories/joule released when 1g of the given fuel is completely burned . A good fuel will have a high calorific value. FLASH POINT: The flash point of a liquid fuel is the minimum temperature at which it would produce sufficient vapors to produce an explosive mixture with air which can be ignited by temporary contact with open flame. More volatile fuel has lesser flash point. In India minimum flash point permitted for fuel is 44C. Natural Gas : Natural gas is a mixture of gasses which is available from natural sources such as petroleum well. The constituents of natural gasses are C1 C4 alkenes, of which methane (90%) is the major constituent . Beside natural gas also contains impurities like CO 2, H2S, water vapor etc. Natural gas is formed by putrefaction of buried vegetable matter. Natural gas has high calorific value and is used for a. Cooking b. Preparation of methyl alcohol c. Used for the production of C.N.G .

WATER GAS: Water gas is a mixture of equal vol of CO & H2. It is obtained by passing steam over white hot coke at temperature between 1100-1200 C. CO + H2 - 39KcalmolC + HO
2

The reaction is endothermic and after some time the temp of the coke bed drops down. The bed has to be again heated because at temp below 1000 CO2 gas is produced instead of CO .The approximate composition of water gas is H2 = 48% CO = 42% CO2 = 03% N2 = 06% Uses: (i) Preparation of methanol (ii) Used in the production of synthetic petrol.

PRDUCERS GAS: Producers gas is also called as air gas and is a mixture of CO and N2. It is manufactured by passing a stream of air through white hot coke at 1100 C in a gas producer. The overall reaction is exothermic. 2C + O2 2CO H = -58 Kcalmol-1 C + O2 2CO2 H = -97 Kcalmol-1 CO2 + C 2CO H = +39 Kcalmol-1 The average composition of producers gas is : CO = 20% N2 = 62% CO2 = 18% The calorific value of producers gas is 150 B.Th.U per cubic feet. Uses: (i) For heating coal retorts (ii) For heating metallurgical furnaces. L.P.G (Liquefied Petroleum Gas): L.P.G stands for liquefied petroleum gas. It is a mixture of C 3 C4 alkane and alkenes. The major constituent of L.P.G is Butane, iso-Butane and Butene .The average composition of L.P.G is : Butane ( 27.2 %), IsoButane(24.7 %) Butene-1 & Butene-2(42.8%),Propane( 02.8%), Propene(2.5%) In our country L.P.G is manufactured by catalytic cracking of petroleum and is supplied to our kitchen by compressing it in under pressure as liquid filled in steel cylinder.

To permit the detection of leakage L.P.G, foul smelling ethyl mercaptan (C2H5SH ) is added in trace quantity. L.P.G does not produce any poisonous gas like CO on burning. It also has a high a calorific value compared to other gaseous fuel. POWER ALCOHOL: Nowdays demand for petrol is very high that is resulting gradual depletion of our petroleum reserve. To minimize petrol consumption, power alcohol is nowadays used in many countries. Power alcohol is a mixture of 70-80% petrol and 20-30 % ethyl alcohol and a small amount of benzene . Compared to petrol power alcohol is less polluting. OCTANE NUMBER: The quality of gasoline is measured in terms of octane number. It is found that n-Heptane cause maximum knocking while iso-Octane (2,2,4Trimethylpentane) cause minimum knocking as a fuel in internal combustion engine. Arbitrarily octane number for iso-Octane is fixed to be 100 and nHeptane as 0.
CH3 CH3 CH2 CH CH3

CH3

( CH2 )5

CH3

CH3

C CH3

n- Heptane

iso-Octane

The octane number for gasoline is defined as the percentage iso-octane by volume in a mixture of iso-Octane and n-Heptane that will have the same knocking capacity like the given fuel under investigation. For example , petrol with octane number 92 means that the sample of petrol has the same knocking quality like a mixture of iso-Octane and nHeptane having 92% iso-Octane by volume. Higher the octane number better is the fuel. ANTIKNOCK COMPOUND : The knocking capacity of a fuel can be reducedand its octane number can be increased by adding certain compounds into the fuel called antiknock compounds. Common antiknock compound are Tetraethyllead, Iron carbonyl etc. Tetraethyl lead causes lead pollution and is seldom used. However Ironcarbonyl do not create pollution.