CLASSIFICATION OF FUELS
Fuels can be classified according to whether :
1. They occur in nature called primary fuels or are prepared called
secondary fuels ;
2. They are in solid, liquid or gaseous state
SOLID FUELS
Coal. Its main constituents are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur,
moisture and ash. Coal passes through different stages during its formation
from vegetation. These stages are enumerated and discussed below :
Plant debrisPeatLigniteBrown coalsub-bituminous coalBituminous
coalSemibituminous coalSemi-anthracite coalAnthracite coal
Graphite.
Peat. It is the first stage in the formation of coal from wood. It contains huge
amount of moisture and therefore it is dried for about 1 to 2 months before it
is put to use. It is used as a
domestic fuel in Europe and for power generation in Russia. In India it does
not come in the categories of good fuels.
Lignites and brown coals. These are intermediate stages between peat
and coal. They have a woody or often a clay like appearance associated with
high moisture, high ash and low heat contents. Lignites are usually
amorphous in character and impose transport difficulties as they break
easily. They burn with a smoky flame. Some of this type are suitable for local
use only.
Bituminous coal. It burns with long yellow and smoky flames and has high
percentages
of volatile matter. The average calorific value of bituminous coal is about
31350 kJ/kg. It may be of two types, namely caking or noncaking.
Semi-bituminous coal. It is softer than the anthracite. It burns with a very
small amount of smoke. It contains 15 to 20 per cent volatile matter and has
a tendency to break into small sizes during storage or transportation.
Semi-anthracite. It has less fixed carbon and less lustre as compared to
true anthracite and gives out longer and more luminous flames when burnt.
Anthracite. It is very hard coal and has a shining black lustre. It ignites
slowly unless the furnace temperature is high. It is non-caking and has high
percentage of fixed carbon. It burns either with very short blue flames or
without flames. The calorific value of this fuel is high to the tune of 35500
kJ/kg and as such is very suitable for steam generation.
Wood charcoal. It is obtained by destructive distillation of wood. During the
process the volatile matter and water are expelled. The physical properties
of the residue (charcoal), however depends upon the rate of heating and
temperature.
Coke. It consists of carbon, mineral matter with about 2% sulphur and small
quantities of hydrogen, nitrogen and phosphorus. It is solid residue left after
the destructive distillation of certain kinds of coals. It is smokeless and clear
fuel and can be produced by several processes. It is mainly used in blast
furnace to produce heat and at the same time to reduce the iron ore.
Briquettes. These are prepared from fine coal or coke by compressing the
material under
high pressure.
LIQUID FUELS
The chief source of liquid fuels is petroleum which is obtained from wells
under the earths crust. These fuels have proved more advantageous in
comparison to sold fuels in the following respects.
Advantages :
1. Require less space for storage.
2. Higher calorific value.
3. Easy control of consumption.
4. Staff economy.
5. Absence of danger from spontaneous combustion.
6. Easy handling and transportation.
7. Cleanliness.
8. No ash problem.
9. Non-deterioration of the oil in storage.
Petroleum. There are different opinions regarding the origin of petroleum.
However, now it is accepted that petroleum has originated probably from
organic matter like fish and plant life etc., by bacterial action or by their
distillation under pressure and heat. It consists of a mixture of gases, liquids
and solid hydrocarbons with small amounts of nitrogen and sulphur
compounds. In India, the main sources of Petroleum are Assam and Gujarat.
Heavy fuel oil or crude oil is imported and then refined at different refineries.
The refining of crude oil supplies the most important product called petrol.
Petrol can also be made by polymerization of refinery gases. Other liquid
fuels are kerosene, fuels oils, colloidal fuels and alcohol.
GASEOUS FUELS
Natural gas. The main constituents of natural gas are methane (CH4) and
ethane (C2H6). It has calorific value nearly 21000 kJ/m3. Natural gas is used
alternately or simultaneously with oil for internal combustion engines.
Coal gas. Mainly consists of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons.
It is prepared by carbonisation of coal. It finds its use in boilers and
sometimes used for commercial purposes.
Coke-oven gas. It is obtained during the production of coke by heating the
bituminous coal. The volatile content of coal is driven off by heating and
major portion of this gas is utilised in heating the ovens. This gas must be
thoroughly filtered before using in gas engines.
Blast furnance gas. It is obtained from smelting operation in which air is
forced through layers of coke and iron ore, the example being that of pig iron
manufacture where this gas is produced as by product and contains about
20% carbon monoxide (CO). After filtering it may be blended with richer gas
or used in gas engines directly. The heating value of this gas is very low.
Producer gas. It results from the partial oxidation of coal, coke or peat
when they are burnt with an insufficient quantity of air. It is produced in
specially designed retorts. It has low heating value and in general is suitable
for large installations. It is also used in steel industry for
firing open hearth furnaces.
which is _393,520 kJ/kmol for carbon at the standard reference state. The
enthalpy of combustion of a particular fuel is different at different
temperatures and pressures. The enthalpy of combustion is obviously a very
useful property for analyzing the combustion processes of fuels. However,
there are so many different fuels and fuel mixtures that it is not practical to
list hC values for all possible cases. Besides, the enthalpy of combustion is
not of much use when the combustion is incomplete. Therefore a more
practical approach would be to have a more fundamental property to
represent the chemical energy of an element or a compound at some
reference state. This property is the enthalpy of formation h f , which can
be viewed as the enthalpy of a substance at a specified state due to its
chemical composition. To establish a starting point, we assign the enthalpy
of formation of all stable elements (such as O2, N2, H2, and C) a value of
zero at the standard reference state of 25C and 1 atm. That is,
H f _ 0 for all stable elements. (This is no different from assigning the
internal energy of saturated liquid water a value of zero at 0.01C.) Perhaps
we should clarify what we mean by stable. The stable form of an element is
simply the chemically stable form of that element at 25C and 1 atm.
Nitrogen, for example, exists in diatomic form (N2) at 25C and 1 atm.
Therefore, the stable form of nitrogen at the standard reference state is
diatomic nitrogen N2, not monatomic nitrogen N. If an element exists in
more than one stable form at 25C and 1 atm, one of the forms should be
specified as the stable form. For carbon, for example, the stable form is
assumed to be graphite, not diamond. Now reconsider the formation of CO2
(a compound) from its elements C and O2 at 25C and 1 atm during a
steady-flow process. The enthalpy change during this process was
determined to be _393,520 kJ/kmol. However, Hreact _ 0 since both
reactants are elements at the standard reference state, and the products
consist of 1 kmol of CO2 at the same state. Therefore, the enthalpy of
formation of CO2 at the standard reference state is _393,520 kJ/kmol (Fig.
1518). That is, The negative sign is due to the fact that the enthalpy of 1
kmol of CO2 at 25C and 1 atm is 393,520 kJ less than the enthalpy of 1
kmol of C and 1 kmol of O2 at the same state. In other words, 393,520 kJ of
chemical energy is released (leaving the system as heat) when C and O2
combine to form 1 kmol of CO2. Therefore, a negative enthalpy of formation
for a compound indicates that heat is released during the formation of that
compound from its stable elements. A positive value indicates heat is
absorbed. You will notice that two h f values are given for H2O in Table A
26, one for liquid water and the other for water vapor. This is because both
phases of H2O are encountered at 25C, and the effect of pressure on the
enthalpy of formation is small. (Note that under equilibrium conditions, water
exists only as a liquid at 25C and 1 atm.) The difference between the two
enthalpies of formation is equal to the hfg of water at 25C, which is 2441.7
kJ/kg or 44,000 kJ/kmol. Another term commonly used in conjunction with
the combustion of fuels is the heating value of the fuel, which is defined as
the amount of heat released when a fuel is burned completely in a steady-
flow process and the products are returned to the state of the reactants. In
other words, the heating value of a fuel is equal to the absolute value of the
enthalpy of combustion of the fuel. That is, The heating value depends on
the phase of the H2O in the products. The heating value is called the higher
heating value (HHV) when the H2O in the products is in the liquid form,
and it is called the lower heating value (LHV) when the H2O in the
products is in the vapor form (Fig. 1519). The two heating values are related
by
where m is the mass of H2O in the products per unit mass of fuel and hfg is
the enthalpy of aporization of water at the specified temperature. The
heating value or enthalpy of combustion of a fuel can be determined from a
knowledge of the enthalpy of formation for the compound involved.