14
Fuels, Combustion
and Flames
Fuels
We use various materials as a source of heat energy for domestic and industrial purposes.
These are mainly wood, charcoal, petrol, kerosene, LPG, coal gas, etc. These substances
are called fuels. Almost all fuels have some amount of carbon which is responsible for
generating heat energy on burning the fuel in air.
Characteristics of a good fuel are:
(i) It must be readily available and cheap.
(ii) It must burn easily in air at a moderate rate.
(iii) It must produce a large amount of heat.
(iv) It does not leave behind any undesirable substances.
(v) It does not have volatile substances.
(vi) It must be easily storable and conveniently transportable.
(vii) Its calorific value must be high and specific.
Types of Fuels
There are three types of fuels depending upon their physical ■ There is probably no fuel
state: that could be considered
(i) Solid Fuels , e.g. coal, coke, wood, cow dung cakes, etc. as an ideal fuel.
(ii) Liquid Fuels , e.g. petrol, kerosene, diesel, fuel oil, etc. ■ Gaseous fuels are the
most suitable and
(iii) Gaseous Fuels , e.g. LPG, CNG, bio gas, coal gas, producer preferable
gas, hydrogen gas, oil gas, water gas, etc.
than solid or liquid fuels.
Calorific or Fuel Value
It is defined as the heat obtained when 1 g of a fuel is burned in excess of oxygen and is
generally expressed in kcal/g.
Calorific Value of Some Important Fuels
Fuel Calorific Value (kJ/g) Fuel Calorific Value (kJ/g)
Coke or coal or charcoal 25-32 Wood 17
Kerosene oil or gasoline 48 Cow dung 6-8
Petrol
50 Ethanol 30
Diesel 45 Methane 55
Bio gas 35-40 Hydrogen 150
LPG 50 Natural gas 35-50
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Calorific value of water gas is higher than that of producer gas (calorific value of which
is lowest among all fuels).
Although calorific value of hydrogen is maximum but it is not used as a fuel because of its
inflammable nature and difficulty of storage. However, some light vehicles working on
sophisticated technology are running on it.
Fats have more calorific value than protein and carbohydrates.
Fossil Fuels
Fuels generated from the resid ues of living organisms (which remained buried under the
earth since million of years) are called fossil fuels. Coal, petroleum and natural gas are the
examples of fossil fuels. Since, these sources are present in limited quantity, so they are
called non-renewable natural resources.
Coal
It was formed from the remains of vegetation. Due to natural processes like flooding,
dense forests got buried under the soil. Over millions of years, absence of air, high
temperature and high pressure transformed the dead vegetation into coal
(carbonisation). Coal contains about 60-90% carbon or its compounds, while
compounds of nitrogen, sulphur, etc., present in small quantities.
Types of Coal
It generally occurs in following four varities:
(i) Peat coal (50-60% C) is obtained in the first phase of extraction.
(ii) Lignite coal (60-70% C) is also called brown coal.
(iii) Bituminous coal (78-86% C) is most common very soft and is used for domestic purpose.
(iv) Anthracite coal (94-98% C) [best coal, produce high heat with no smoke] is obtained in last
phase of coal extraction.
Uses of Coal
(i) Coal is processed in industry to get useful products such as coke, coal gas and coaltar by
the process of destructive distillation.
(ii) It is used as a fuel in boilers, engines and furnaces.
Coaltar
It is a black, thick liquid obtained by the destructive distillation of coal. It is a
mixture of about 200 substances. These substances are used for manufacturing
synthetic dyes, drugs, explosives, paints, naphthalene balls, etc.
Petroleum
It is a dark oily liquid also called black gold or crude oil or rock oil. It has an unpleasant
odour. It is, infact, a mixture of several hydrocarbons and sulphur, calorific value of
which is very high. It was formed from living organisms in the sea. As these organisms
died, their bodies settled at the bottom of the sea and got covered with layers of sand and
clay. Over millions of years, absence of air, high temperature and high pressure
transformed the dead organisms into petroleum and natural gas.
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When subjected to fractional distillation, it gives different products at different
temperatures which are tabulated below.
Fraction Boiling Range Uses
Uncondensed gases Room temperature
Fuel gases, refrigerants, production of carbon
black, hydrogen
Crude naphtha 30-150°C
[It on refractionation gives
(i) petroleum ether 30-70°C
(ii) petrol or gasoline Solvent
70-120°C Motor fuel, dry cleaning, petrol gas
(iii) benzene derivatives]
120-150°C solvent, dry cleaning
Kerosene 150-250。Cl
Gas oil 250- Fuel, illuminant, oil gas
〉
As a fuel for diesel engines converted to gasoline
by cracking
Fuel oil 250-350°C
Diesel oil 250-350°C
Lubricating oil
350-450°C
Lubrication
Paraffin wax > 500°C Candles, boot polish, wax paper
Vaseline > 500°C Ointments, lubrication paints, road surfacing as
Thus, petrol, kerosene oil, diesel, petroleum gas, etc., are obtained by the fractional
distillation of petroleum.
Composition and Uses of Some Fuels
Some important fuels and their compositions areas follows:
Coke
It is obtained by the destructive distillation of coal (strong heating of coal in the absence
of air) as a residual substance. Coke contains 80-85% carbon. Coke is used in the
extraction of metals as reducing agent, as fuels in electrodes.
Coal Gas
It contains 55% hydrogen, 30% methane, 4% carbon monoxide (CO), 3% unsaturated
hydrocarbon and 8% non-volatile impurities.
It is used as a fuel in many industries situated near the coal processing plants and in the
metallurgical reduction. It is also used in Bunsen burner.
■ In coal gasH2 , CO and CH4 provide heat but unsaturated hydrocarbon is light emitter.
■ Coal gas was used for street lighting for the first time in London in 1810 and in New York
in 1820.
■ Now-a-days, it is used as a source of heat rather than light.
Water Gas
It is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen in which nitrogen and water vapours
are remained as impurities. It as produced by passing steam over superheated coke.
Water gas mixed with coal gas is a good fuel.
It is used in industrial production of hydrogen, ammonia and methyl alcohol.
Producer Gas
It is a mixture of nitrogen and carbon monoxide (in 2 : 1 ratio). It is used in the
manufacture of glass and for metallurgy.
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Oil Gas
It is a mixture of simple saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons such as methane,
ethylene, acetylene, etc. It is obtained by the fractional distillation of kerosene oil or
another petroleum substance. It is used in burners in the laboratory.
Natural Gas
It is a mixture of 83% methane and 16% ethane. It is generally present at the exporation
sites of the petroleum substanc e. Because of the inflammable nature of its constituents,
natural gas is considered as a best fuel.
It is used in the production of artificial chemical fertilizers.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)
It is a mixture of butane (C 4 H 10 ), iso-butane (C 4 H 10 ) and some propane (C 3 H 8 ). Its
major sources are oil wells. A strong foul smelling substance ethyl mercaptan or
thioethanol (C 2 H 5 SH) is also added to LPG to detect its leakage because LPG is a
colourless and odourless gas.
It is used in cylinders for domestic purposes. The liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder
that we get in our home for cooking (under the name of various agencies like Bharat gas,
Indane gas, etc.) or the oxygen supplied to hospitals in iron cylinders is compressed gas
(under pressure).
Bio Gas or Gobar Gas
It is a mixture of 75% methane, hydrogen, hydrogen sulphide ■ After the use of biogas,
and carbon dioxide. It is obtained by the anaerobic the spent slurry left
decomposition of bio mass like cow dung, sewage, vegetable behind in the tank is used
wastes, etc. This gas burns smoothly and provides sufficient as excellent manure (i.e.
heat without any smoke. That’s why it is generally used for used to improve the
domestic purposes. It is used for cooking the food. fertility of soil), rich in
nitrogen and phosphorus.
Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)
CNG mainly consists of methane and some ethane is used as a fuel in vehicles
now-a-days because it produces less pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide,
etc., in comparison to petrol and diesel.
Petrol
Petrol is used as a fuel in light automobiles such as scooters and cars, etc.
Quality of Petrol or Gasoline
It is measured in terms of octane number. Octane number is defined as the
percentage by volume of iso-octane in the mixture of iso-octane and n-heptane
which has the same anti-knock qualities as the fuel under consideration. A metallic
sound or rattle known as knocking is produced due to preignition of fuel in the
cylinder (engine).
Knocking damages the engine, so anti-knock compound such as tetra ethyl lead
(TEL) or benzene toluene xylene (BTX), etc., is mixed with petrol.
In general, 0.15 mL TEL is mixed with ethyl bromide in each litre petrol. Fuel having
high octane value is rich in lead content.
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Diesel ■ Diesel, coal and kerosene have high
Diesel is used as a fuel in heavy motor vehicles carbon percentage and on burning form
such as trucks, tractors, submarines, etc., oxides of carbon (like CO, CO2) but
because of its high power and lower cost.
hydrogen
Quality of diesel is measured in cetane number.
produces only water on combustion. So, it
is called pollution-free fuel.
Biodiesel
■ LNG is principally used for transporting
It is made from vegetable oils, animal fats or
natural gas to markets, where it is
recycled greases. It is safe, biodegradable and
regasified and distributed as pipeline
produces less air pollutants than
petroleum-based diesel but currently, is more natural gas. It can be used in natural gas
vehicles, although it is more common to
expensive.
design vehicles to use compressed
Biodiesel can be used as a fuel for vehicles in its natural gas. Its relatively high cost of
pure form (B100), but it is usually used as a production and the need to store it
diesel additive to reduce levels of particulates, inexpensive
carbon monoxide and hydro carbons from cryogenic tanks have
diesel-powered vehicles. It is produced from hindered widespread
oils or fats using trans-esterification. commercial use.
■ Dahej is the first regasification project
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in India. It is promoted by four of
It is, infact, natural gas (predominantly India’s
methane) in liquefied form. Natural gas is Navratans BPCL, GAIL, IOCL and ONGC.
liquefied at a pressure of 25 kPa and ■ Green diesel is the best diesel in
temperature of –162°C. It is odourless, quality because on combustion, it
colourless, non-toxic and non-corrosive in produces very low pollutants.
nature.
■ Ultra low sulphur diesel or city diesel
is the purest form of diesel. It also
produces very low pollutants because of
the presence of low sulphur.
Its energy density is 2.4 times greater as compared to that of CNG and 60% of diesel.
That’s why it is highly cost efficient for transportation purposes. Specially, designed
cryogenic sea vessels or cryogenic road tankers are used for its transportation.
Brent Crude Oil
It is light crude oil with approximately 0.37% sulphur. It is also called sweet crude and is
suitable for the production of petrol and middle distillates. Its specific gravity is 0.835. It
is typically sourced from North-West Europe.
Cracking
It is the process in which high boiling hydrocarbons are converted into a mixture of low
boiling hydrocarbons.
e.g. C 12 H 26 C 7 H 16 + C 5 H 10 + Other products
Dodecane 973 K Heptane Pentene
To meet the increasing demands and for further improving the quality of petrol, this
technique is used.
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Advancement in the Direction of Fuels
(i) A process, in which microbes has been used to glean ethanol from glycerol and gave
benefit of cleaning up the waste water, will allow the reincorporation of ethanol and
water into the fuel-making process.
(ii) In order to store hydrogen, a new solid stable material has been developed which can pack
in a large amount of hydrogen. The noble crystal phase of the material contains lithium
boron and the key ingredient hydrogen. On heating, this material releases hydrogen
(which is considered as a best fuel) easily, quickly and with only traces of unwanted by
products.
(iii) A new study indicates that the use of E-20 fuel, which blends 20% ethanol with gasoline,
reduces the tailpipe emissions of hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, compared with
traditional gasoline or E-10 blends. In addition, the research team found no measurable
impact to vehicle drivability or maintenance in conventional internal combustion engines.
(iv) Cars on streets and highways in the US run on a mixture of 90% unleaded gasoli ne and
10% ethanol. Racecars in the Indianapolis 500 burn mostly fuel-grade ethanol. This year
the landy 500 switched to a fuel containing 85% ethanol as opposed to 100% fuel ethanol.
This makes the landy fuel close to the real-life E-85 fuel sold at some US gas stations.
The landy fuel blend of E-85 sets, a good example of the use of an alternative fuel, use
under very demanding engine conditions . It is a fertile ground for engineers to perfect
the E-85 vehicle technology that can be leveraged into street vehicles. Using fuels
composed of more than 85% ethanol reduce a variety of air pollutants. These
include sulphur emissions (80% lower), carbon monoxide (40%), particulate matter (20%),
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) (15%) and nitrogen oxides (10%).
Combustion
A chemical process in which a substance reacts with oxygen to give off energy in the
form of heat or light, is called combustion and the substance that undergoes combustion,
is called a fuel. Burning of magnesium ribbon to form magnesium oxide with heat and
light is an example of combustion. Actually combustion is an oxidation process.
Combustible and Non-Combustible Substances
The substances which burn in the presence of air (or oxygen), are called combustible
substances, e.g. wood, paper, kerosene, charcoal, sulphur, magnesium, etc.
The substances which can not burn in the presence of air, are called incombustible
substances, e.g. stone piece, sand soil, bricks, etc.
Conditions Required for Combustion
(i) Air (oxygen) It is a supporter of combustion.
(ii) Ignition Temperature The lowest temperature Everyday Science
at which a substance catches fire, is called v During extreme heat of
its ignition temperature . Inflammable summer, dry grass catch fire
substances have very low ignition temperature easily than that of green
and can easily catch fire with a flame, e.g. LPG, grass because of the low
petrol, alcohol, etc. ignition temperature of dry
grass.
(iii) Fuel It is also required for combustion.
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Types of Combustion Everyday Science
There are four types of combustion: v When a cracker is ignited, a
(i) Rapid Combustion The process of sudden reaction takes place with
combustion in which fuels like hydrocarbons the evolution of heat, light and
burn rapidly (in a very small interval of time) to sound. A large amount of gas
formed in the reaction is
produce heat and light, is called rapid
liberated. Such a reaction is
combustion, e.g. burning of matchstick,
called explosion.
explosion of fire cracker, etc.
v We should never sleep in a room
(ii) Slow Combustion When the rate of with burning or smouldering coal
combustion of any substance is slow, it is called fire in it because such a fire
slow combustion. Here, light is not produced produces carbon monoxide gas
and he a t c a n not i nc re a s e t he t e m pe ra t ure of which hindered the supply of
the reaction, e.g. inhalation (sucking oxygen). oxygen in the body parts and
hence leads to death.
(iii) Spontaneous Combustion When
v Charcoal does not vaporise, so it
combustion of substance takes place at room does not produce a flame.
tem pe ra t ure wi t hout t he s uppl y of he a t , i t i s
cal l e d s pont a ne ous c om bus t i on v Gasohol is a mixture of petrol
(auto-combustion). ( 1 0 % ) and alcohol ( 9 0 % ) . The
addition of gasohol in the fuel of
e.g. white phosphorus undergoes combustion at vehicles minimises the pollutants
room temperature, combustion of coal dust in like CO 2 and SO 2 .
coal mines and forest fires. In this case, ignition
tem pe ra t ure of s ubs t a nc e i s l owe r t ha n room temperature.
(iv) Incomplete Combustion When the combustion of fuel takes place in insufficient
supply of oxygen, it is called incomplete combustion.
Here, monoxides of substances are formed.
e.g. CH4 + O 2 —→ CO + H 2 O ( insufficient supply of O2 )
Propellants (Rocket Fuels)
These are those combustible substances calorific value of which is very high and which
upon ignition undergo rapid combustion to release large amount of energy along with
gases. Combustion of a propellant produces tremendous amount of energy (heat) which
results in increased internal pressure and temperature.
Because of the increased internal pressure, gases like carbon monoxide, steam, etc., are
departured from the orifice in the back with a very high velocity stream, called the jet.
The momentum lost by the jet of the propellant is gained by the rocket, thus jet moving
in the backward direction, forces or propelled the rocket in forward direction.
Types of Propellants
There are three types of propellants:
1. Solid Propellants
Here, fuel and oxidiser are placed together. They are divided into two groups:
(i) Composite Propellants They consist of a mixture of fuel and an oxidiser.
e.g. Polyurethane or polybutadiene (fuel) + ammonium perchlorate (oxidiser).
(ii) Double Base Prope llants They mainly consist of nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine
(gun powder).
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2. Liquid Propellants
They require an oxidiser that is placed in a separate chamber in which propellant is burnt
out. They are divided into two groups:
(i) Monoliquid Propellants Single compound such as nitro methane, methyl nitrite
contains both the oxidiser and the fuel.
(ii) Biliquid Propellants These are the combination of an oxidiser such as liquid oxygen
and a fuel such as kerosene, liquid hydrogen, liquid paraffin, liquid ammonia, alcohol, etc.
3. Hybrid Propellants
They consist of a solid fuel and liquid oxidiser, e.g. a mixture of acrylic rubber (fuel) and
liquid N 2 O 4 (oxidiser).
Flame
The substances which vaporise during burning, give flames, e.g. kerosene oil, molten
wax, etc. Flame is actually the hot part of fire and has three parts.
(i) Innermost Region of Flame It is black because of the presence of unburnt carbon
particles. It has the lowest temperature.
(ii) Middle Region It is yellow, luminous due to the partial combustion of fuel.
(iii) Outermost Region It is blue, non-luminous due to the complete combustion of fuel. It
is the hottest part of flame and is used by the Goldsmith for melting gold and silver.
Everyday Science
v Water is a common fire extinguisher. In case of electric fires and oil fires, water can not
be used as an extinguisher as it is a conductor of electricity and oil being lighter comes
above the water. Such fires are extinguished by carbon dioxide. However, petroleum fires
are extinguished by foam type extinguisher.
v When the clothes of a person catch fire, the person is covered with a blanket to
extinguish fire by cutting the supply of air.
v Fire can be controlled by removing fuel or air or both or by bringing down the
temperature of the fuel.
Solar Jet
A new solar reactor technology has been pioneered to produce liquid hydrocarbon fuels
suitable for more sustainable transportation . With this first-ever proof-of-concept for
solar kerosene, the Solar Jet project has made a major step towards truly sustainable
fuels with virtually unlimited feedstocks in the future.
The Solar Jet project demonstrated an innovative process technology using concentrated
sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water to a so-called synthesis gas (syn gas). The
syn gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, is finally converted into kerosene
by using commercial Fischer Tropsch technology.
Solar Jet (Solar chemical reactor demonstration and Optimization for Long-term
Availability of Renewable Jet fuel) was launched in June 2011 and is receiving financial
support from the European Union within the 7th Fra me w ork Progra mme for a dura tio n
of four years. The outcomes of Solar Jet will put Europe to the forefront of research,
innovation and production of sustainable fuels directly from concentrated solar energy.
