Combustion of Gaseous and Liquid Fuels December 2 and 7, 2015

Remember:

• If nitrogen in the fuel is negligible, the nitrogen present in the flue or stack gas maybe assumed
to be coming from the air supplied.
• When given the stack gas analysis one may calculate the excess oxygen supplied by subtracting
the oxygen required for the unburnt combustible from the free oxygen.
• An oxygen balance will allow one to determine the oxygen that was burned to produce water in
the stack/flue gas.
• When soot formation (loss in combustibles) is negligible, the carbon accounted in the stack is
equal to the carbon present in the fuel burned.
• If oxygen is not present in the fuel, the net hydrogen is equal to the hydrogen present in the fuel.
• Carbon is often used as a tie substance to relate the fuel and the stack gas.
• The complete analysis of the fuel allows the determination of the theoretical oxygen.

Sample Problem 1: A pure saturated hydrocarbon is burned with excess air.Orsat analysis of the products
of combustion shows 9.08% CO2, 1.63% CO, 5.28% O2, and no free H2. Calculate:

a. Determine the hydrocarbon burned.

b. Percent excess air
c. Kg dry air / kg of hydrocarbon.

Sample Problem 2: Orsat analysisof the stack gas from the combustion of a gaseous mixture of acetylene
and methane shows 9.82% CO2, 1.37% CO, 0.69% H2, 5.43% O2, and 82.69% N2. Determine:

a. Percent excess air

b. Mole composition of the gaseous fuel
c. Volume of wet air at 26°C, 765t torr and 70% RH per kg of fuel.

Sample Problem 3: Burning of pure butane with excess air gives a stack gas analysis which analyzes 11.55%
CO2, on a dry basis. Assuming complete combustion, calculate the excess air and determine the complete
Orsat analysis of the stack gas.

Sample Problem 4: A gaseous fuel at 22°C, 763 torr and saturated with water vapor is burned with excess
air. Air having 60% RH is supplied at the same temperature and pressure as that of the fuel. The
composition of the fuel shows 9.2% CO2, 0.4% C2H4, 20.9% CO, 15.6% H2, 1.94% CH4 and 52% N2. The stack
gas leaves at 400°C and 735 mmHg containing 13.16% CO2 and 1.84% CO on a dry basis. Calculate:

a. Percent excess air

b. Complete analysis of the stack gas
c. Dew point of the stack gas

Sample Problem 5: A furnace is fired with fuel oil containing 86% C, 1% N and 0.1% Swith a calorific value
of 46.4 MJ/kg. Air is supplied at 25°C, 740 mmHg and saturated with water. Average analysis of the stack
gas shows 10.62% CO2 1.17% CO, 6.34% O2 and 81.87% N2. The stack gas leaves at 400°C and 765 mmHg.
Calculate:
 a. Percent excess air.
b. Complete elemental analysis of the fuel oil
c. Volume of air per kg of fuel oil
d. Volume of stack gas per kg of oil
e. Percent loss in calorific value due to unburnt combustibles.

Sample Problem 6: Motor Benzole (75% benzene, 15% toluene and 10% xylene by weight) is used in a
combustion engine and resulted in an exhaust gas which analyzes 10.7% carbon dioxide and 1.07% carbon
monoxide. Calculate:

a. Percent excess air

b. Complete analysis of the stack gas
c. Percent loss due to CO

“The only way to learn a language is to speak it…”