UNIT-IV

FUEL TECHNOLOGY

Definition
A fuel is defined as naturally occurring or artificially manufactured
combustible carbonaceous material which serves particularly as source of heat and
light and also in few cases as a source of raw material.
.

Classification of fuels Fuels are classified into a two types.

1) Based on their origin they are classified into
a) Primary fuels
b) Secondary fuels.
a) Primary Fuels: There are naturally occurring fuels which serves as source of
energy
without any chemical processing.
Ex: Wood, Coal, Crude oil, Natural gas, Peat, Lignite, Anthracite.
b) Secondary Fuels: - They are derived from primary fuels & serves as source of
energy
only after subjecting to chemical processing.
Ex: Charcoal, Coke, produsergas, Petrol, Diesel etc.,

Bases on their physical state fuel are classified into

a) Solid
b) Liquid
c) Gaseous fuels.

Fuels

Primary Secondary

Solid Liquid Gaseous Solid Liquid Gaseous

E.g. Coal Crude oil Natural gas Charcoal Petrol Coal gas
Wood (P et rol eum ) Coke Diesel Water gas
Liquid Fuels:
Liquid fuels are the important commercial and domestic fuels used in our
daily life. Most of these fuels are obtained from the naturally occurring petroleum
or crude oil called as primary fuel.

Advantages:

(a) They posses higher calorific value per unit mass than solid fuels.
(b) They burn without dust, ash, clinkers, etc.
(c) Their firing is easier and also fire can be extinguished easily by stopping liquid
fuel supply.
(d) They are easy to transport through pipes.
(e) They can be stored indefinitely without any loss.
(f) They are clean in use and economic to handle.
(g) Loss of heat in chimney is very low due to greater cleanliness.
(h) They require less excess air for complete combustion.
(i) They require less furnace space for combustion.

Disadvantages:

(a) The cost of liquid fuel is relatively much higher as compared to solid fuel.
(b) Costly special storage tanks are required for storing liquid fuels.
(c) There is a greater risk of five hazards, particularly, in case of highly
inflammable and volatile liquid fuels.
(d) They give bad odour.
(e) For efficient burning of liquid fuels, specially constructed burners and spraying
apparatus are required.

Petroleum (crude oil):

The crude oil or petroleum is also known as rock oil or mineral oil. It is
dark colour liquid found well deep in the earth. It is mainly composed of
hydrocarbons which may be solids, liquids or gases. Some optically active
compounds having
S and N are also present. On the average the composition of
Petroleum is; C = 79.5 – 87.1%
H = 11.5 – 14.8%
S = 0.1 – 3.5%
N and O = 0.1 – 0.5%
Refining of petroleum:

Crude oil obtained from the mine is not fit to be marketed. It contains a lot
of soluble and insoluble impurities, which must be removed. Previously the
purification of crude oil is done by simple fractional distillation. Further treatment
of the products is done by refining.

Definition:

“The process by which petroleum is made free of impurities, followed by

the separation of petroleum into different fractions having different boiling points,
and their further treatment to impart specific properties” can be called as Refining
of petroleum.

Various stages during the refining process are explained below

1. Removal of solid impurities.

2. Removal of water.
3. Removal of harmful impurities.
4. Fractional distillation.

1. Removal of solid impurities:

The crude oil is a mixture of solid, liquid and gaseous substances. This is
allowed to stand undisturbed for some time, till the heavy solid particles settle
down and gases evaporate. The supernant liquid is then centrifuged where in the
solids get removed.

2. Removal of water by Cottrell’s process:

The crude oil obtained from the earth’s crust is in the form of stable
emulsion of oil and brine. This mixture, when passed between two highly charged
electrodes, destroy the emulsion films and the colloidal water droplets coalesce
into bigger drops and get separated out from the oil.

3. Removal of harmful impurities:

In order to remove sulphur compounds in the crude oil, it is treated with

copper oxide. Then, the sulphur compounds get converted to insoluble copper
sulphide, which can be removed by filtration Substances like NaCl and MgCl 2, if
present will corrode the refining equipment and result in scale formation. These
can be removed by techniques like electric desalting and dehydration

Fractional distillation:

The crude oil is fractionally distilled in a fractionating still, which is a

tower like structure having a bubble tower laid inside. The crude oil or the
petroleum enters through the bottom of the still by an inlet. This is made to pass
through a pre-heater or it can heated with steam inside the still to a temperature of
about 400 0C. As we move to the top fractionating still the temperature goes on
decreasing. A number of side pipes are fitted at different heights of the column or
still, to collect the fractions. As petroleum enters the still, it gets vaporized and the
vapours move up the bubble tower. The bubble tower consists of number of
horizontal trays, and each tray is provided with a number of small chimneys
through which the vapours rise. The chimneys are covered with loose caps so that
the vapours bubble through and get condensed, dropping back into the trays. So as
the vapours go up, they become cooler and cooler and fractional condensation of
the crude oil takes place at different levels of the bubble tower.
The vapours of the liquid having the highest boiling point are the first to
condense and go out and those which have the lowest boiling points go last, along
with the uncondensed gases. The constituents of each fraction and the temperature
at which they are obtained is given in the table.

Name of fraction Boiling range Composition Uses

1. Uncondensed Below 30 0C C1 to C4 As domestic or
gases industrial fuel
under the name L.P.G.
2. Petroleum ether 30 – 70 0C C5 to C7 As a solvent

3. Gasoline or 40 – 1200C C5 to C9 As a motor fuel in I.C.

petrol(11,250 engine
kcal/kg)

4. Naphtha 120 – 180 0 C C9 to C10 As a solvent in dry

(11,000 kcal/kg) cleaning
5. Kerosene oil 180 – 250 0 C C10 to C16 As domestic fuel and jet
(11,100 kcal/kg) engine
fuel

6. Diesel oil 250 – 320 0 C C10 to C18 Diesel engine fuel

7. Heavy oil 320 – 400 0 C C17 to C30

This on refraction
gives;
(a) Lubricating oil As lubricant
(b) Petroleum jelly In cosmetics and
(Vaseline) medicines.
(c) Grease As lubricant
(d) Paraffin wax In candles and wax
paper
8. Residue may be Above 400 0C C30 and above
either;
(a) Asphalt Water proofing of roofs
Or As a fuel
(b) Petroleum coke

Synthetic petrol:

Petrol can be synthesised by any of the following methods.

1. Fischer – Tropsch method.

2. Bergius process.

Fischer – Tropsch method:

Water gas (CO + H2), produced by passing steam over heated coke, and is
mixed with hydrogen. The gas is purified by passing through Fe 2O3 to remove H2S
and then into a mixture of Fe 2O3. Na2CO3 to remove organic sulphur compounds.
The purified gas is compressed to 5 to 25 atm and then led through a converter,
containing a catalyst.

Catalyst: It consists a mixture of 100 parts of Cobalt, 5 parts of thoria, 8 parts of

magnesia, and 200 parts of keiselguhar earth. It maintained at about
200- 300 oC.

Then a mixture of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons results as follows;

n CO + 2n H2 --------CnH2n + n H2O
n CO + (2n+1) H 2-------- CnH2n+2 + n H2O
 The reaction is exothermic, so out coming hot gaseous mixture is led to a
cooler, where a liquid resembling crude oil is obtained. The crude oil thus
obtained is then fractionated to yield (i) gasoline and (ii) heavy oil. The heavy oil
is reused for cracking to get more gasoline.
Bergius process:

1. The low ash coal is finely powdered and made into a paste with heavy oil and
then
a catalyst composed of tin or nickel oleate is incorporated

2. The whole is heated with hydrogen at 450 oC and under a pressure 200-250 atm
for
about 1.5 hours, during which hydrogen combines with coal to form saturated
hydrocarbons, which decompose at prevailing high temperature and pressure to
yield low boiling liquid hydrocarbons.

3. The issuing gases are lead to condenser, where a liquid resembling crude oil is
obtained, which is then fractionated to get (i) gasoline (ii) middle oil (iii) heavy
oil.

4. The heavy oil is used again for making paste with fresh coal dust.

5. The middle oil is hydrogenated in vapour-phase in presence of a solid catalyst

to
yields more gasoline.
Gaseous fuels:
Gaseous fuels occur in nature, besides being manufactured from solid and
liquid fuels.
The advantages and disadvantages of gaseous fuels are given below :
Advantages:

Gaseous fuels due to erase and flexibility of their applications, possess the
following advantages over solid or liquid fuels :
(a) They can be conveyed easily through pipelines to the actual place of
need,
thereby eliminating manual labour in transportation.
(b) They can be lighted at ease.
(c) They have high heat contents and hence help us in having higher
temperatures.
(d) They can be pre-heated by the heat of hot waste gases, thereby
affecting
economy in heat.
(e) Their combustion can readily by controlled for change in demand like
oxidizing or reducing atmosphere, length flame, temperature, etc.
(f) They are clean in use.
(g) They do not require any special burner.
(h) They burn without any shoot, or smoke and ashes.
(i) They are free from impurities found in solid and liquid fuels.

Disadvantages:

(a) Very large storage tanks are needed.

(b) They are highly inflammable, so chances of fire hazards in their use are high.

Some important gaseous fuels:

Here we are going to discuss about the following gaseous fuels.

1. Natural gas 2.Water gas 3. Producer gas 4. Bio gas

5.Liquid Petroleum Gas( L.P.G.)

1. Natural gas:
 It is obtained from the wells dug in the earth during mining of petroleum. It
is mainly composed of methane and small quantities of ethane along with other
hydrocarbons.

If the lower hydrocarbons are present, the gas is called dry gas or lean gas,
but if the hydrocarbons having the higher molecular weights are present the gas is
known as rich gas or wet gas.

The calorific value of this gas varies from 12000 to 14,000 kcal/m 3

Composition:

Methane – 88.5% Ethane – 5.5%

Propane – 3.7% Butane – 1.8%
Pentane, hydrogen, CO and higher hydrocarbons – 0.5%

Uses:
1. It is an excellent domestic fuel and can be conveyed over very large distances in
pipelines.
2. It has recently been used in the manufacture of a number of chemicals by
synthetic processes like carbon black, ammonia, methanol and formaldehyde.
3. Methane on microbiological fermentation gives synthetic proteins which are
used
as animal feed.
4. It is also used for generation of electricity in fuel cells as a source of hydrogen.

Producer gas: (CO + N2 + H2)

It is a mixture of combustible gases, carbon monoxide and hydrogen

associated with large percentageof non-combustible gases, N2, CO2 etc.

Composition:

CO – 22 to 30% N2 – 52 to 55% H2 – 8 to 12% CO2 – 3%

Preparation:
It is prepared by passing air mixed with little steam (about 0.35 kg/kg of coal) over
a red hot coal or coke bed maintained at about 1100 oC in a special reactor called
‘gas producer’. It consists of a steel vessel about 3 m in diameter and 4 m in
height. The vessel is lined inside with fire bricks. It is provided with a cup and
cone feeder at the top and a side opening for the exit of producer gas. At the base
it has an inlet for passing air and steam. The producer at the base is also provided
with an exit for the ash formed.
LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas)
Nowadays LPG has been a common fuel for domestic work and also in
most of the industries. The main components of LPG or cooking gas are n-butane,
isobutene, butylene and propane (traces of propene and ethane).The hydrocarbon
are in gaseous state at room temperature and at atmospheric pressure but can be
liquified under higher pressures. The gas can be compressed under pressure in
containers and sold under trade names like Indane, Bharat, Petroleum gas, HP gas,
etc.
LPG is kept in metallic cylinder attached with burner through pipe. It has
two stoppers, one at the cylinder and other at burner. LPG has special odour due to
the presence of organic sulphides which are added specially for safety measure.
The gas is obtained from natural gas or as a by-product in refineries during
cracking of heavy petroleum products.

Characteristics of LPG:

1. It has high calorific value: 27800 kcal/m 3, it is colourless.

2. It gives less CO and least unburnt hydrocarbons. So it causes least pollution.
3. It gives moderate heat which is very good for cooking.
4. Its storage is simple. It is colourless.
5. It has the tendency to mix with air easily.
6. Its burning gives no toxic gases though it is highly toxic.
7. It neither gives smoke nor ash content.
8. It is cheaper than gasoline. It burns with little air pollution and leaves no solid
residue. Hence, it is used as fuel in auto vehicles also.
9. It is dangerous when leakage is there. It is highly knock resistant.
10. LPG can be extracted from natural gases and also from refining of crude oil.
Cryogenic process is best for the extraction for natural gas.

Advantages of LPG:

1. LPG is used as domestic fuel and as a fuel for internal combustion engines.
2. It is used as a feedstock for the manufacture of various chemicals and olefins by
pyrolysis.
3. LPG is used in industries as portable blow lamps, welding, annealing,
hardening,
steelcuttings, etc.

Knocking:
 In an internal combustion engine, a mixture of gasoline vapour and air is
used as a fuel. After the initiation of the combustion reaction, by spark in the
cylinder, the flame should spread rapidly and smoothly through the gaseous
mixture, thereby the expanding gas drives the piston down the cylinder.The ratio
of the gaseous volume in the cylinder at the end of the suction-stoke to the volume
at the end of compression-stoke of the piston, is known as the ‘compression ratio’.

The efficiency of an internal combustion engine increases with the increase

in compression ratio, which is dependent on the nature of the constituents present
in the gasoline used. In certain circumstances (due to the presence of some
constituents in the gasoline used), the rate of oxidation becomes so great that the
last portion of the fuel-air mixture gets ignited instantaneously, producing an
explosive violence, known as “knocking”. The knocking results in loss of
efficiently.

Chemical structure and knocking:

The tendency of fuel constituents to knock is in the following order.

Straight-chain paraffins > Branched-chain paraffins > olefins > Cyclo-paraffins >
Aromatics
Thus olefins of the same carbon chain length possess better anti-knock
properties than the corresponding paraffins and so on.
The knocking is maximum in open chain straight paraffins and least in
aromatics. Therefore a fuel to be called a good fuel for the internal combustion
engine should have least knocking.

Antiknocking agents

These are the substances added to petrol in order to prevent knocking in I.C.
Engines.

Ex: TEL Tetra Ethyl led.

TML Tetra Methyl led.
MTBE Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether.
Leaded Petrol:
The petrol containing TEL or TML as anti knocking agents is called leaded
petrol. TEL or TML are the very good anti knocking agents but has some disadvantages
as follows.

a) After combustion lead is deposited as lead oxide on piston and engine

walls it leads to mechanical damage.
b) Lead is a poisonous air pollutant.
c) It spoils the catalyst used in catalytic converter.
Unleaded Petrol:
The petrol, which contains antiknocking agent other than lead, is known as
unleaded petrol.
Ex: MTBE is used, as an antiknocking agent in place of TEL or TML and the
petrol is known as unleaded petrol.

octane number.

Octane number is defined as the percentage of isooctane present in a standard

mixture of isooctane and n- heptane, which knocks at the same compression ratio as the
petrol being tested.
Isooctane is the branched chain hydrocarbon has least knocking rate, hence its
octane number is arbitrarily fixed as 100. N-heptane a straight chain hydrocarbon has
highest tendency to knock hence its octane number is fixed as zero. Octane number of
petrol is 80 means it contains 80% by volume isooctane and 20% by volume n- heptane.

Cetane number.

It is defined as the percentage of cetane present in standard mixture of a cetane

and Alfa- methylnaphthalene, which knocks at the same compression ratio as the diesel
fuel being tested.

Power alcohol
A mixture of ethyl alcohol and gasoline blend, which can be used as fuel in
internal combustion engine, is known as power alcohol or gasohol.

Absolute alcohol is mixed with ether, benzene etc compounds and one volume of
this is mixed with four volumes of petrol and is used as a fuel.

Advantages:
1. The power out put is good.
2. It has better antiknock property.
3. Ethanol is biodegradable; hence it is environmental friendly fuel.
4. The use of ethanol in alcohol increases the oxygen content of the fuels and
promotes more and complete combustion of hydrocarbons in gasoline.
5. It reduces carbon monoxide emission.
Calorific value
Calorific value is defined as the amount of heat liberated when a
unit mass of fuel is burnt completely in presence of air or oxygen.

Calorific value is of two types as follows:-

1) Higher calorific value. (HCV) or Gross calorific value. (GCV)
2) Lower calorific value. (LCV) or Net calorific value. (NCV)

1) HCV: - It is the amount of heat liberated when a unit mass of fuels burnt
completely in the presence of air or oxygen and the products of combustion are
cooled to room temperature. Here it includes the heat liberated during combustion
and the latent heat of steam. Hence its value is always higher than lower calorific
value.

2) LCV: - It is amount of heat liberated when a unit mass of fuel is burnt completely
in the presence of air or oxygen and the product of combustion are let off
completely into air. It does not include the latent heat of steam. Therefore it is
always lesser than HCV.

NCV = HCV – Latent heat of steam.

= HCV –0.09X % H2 X 587 cal/g

Determination of calorific value of solid fuel using Bomb Calorimetric

method
 A small quantity of a fuel is weighed accurately (M Kg) and is placed in the
Bomb. The bomb is placed in known amount water taken in a copper calorimeter. The
0
initial temp of water is noted as a t1 C with the help of thermometer. Oxygen gas is
pumped under pressure 20 to 25 atm through the O 2 valve provided.

The fuel is ignited by passing electric current through the wires provided. As the
fuel undergoes combustion and liberates heat, which is absorbed by surrounding water.
The water is stirred continuously to distribute the heat uniformly and the final temp
0
attained by water is noted t2 C. & gross calorific value of the fuel is calculated as follows

Calculation:

Mass of the fuel = M Kg.

0
Initial temp of the water = t1 C
0
Final temp of the water = t 2 C
0
Change in temp = t = (t2 – t1 ) C
Specific heat of water = S
Water equivalent of calorimeter = W Kg.

GCV = W x S xt J/Kg or
M
GCV = (W+w) x S x t J /Kg
M
NCV = GCV – 0.09 x %H2 x 587 cal/g

PROBLEMS:
1) Calculate calorific value coal samples from the following data.

Mass of the coal = 1g.

Water equivalent of calorimeter = 2 Kg.
Specific heat of water = 4.187 J/Kg/c.
0
Rise of temperature = 4.8 C.
SOLUTION: GCV = W x S x t J/Kg
M
= 2 x 4.187 x 4.8
0.001
= 40195.2 KJ/Kg.

2) A coal sample with 93% carbon, 5% of Hydrogen and 2% Ash is subjected to

combustion in a bomb calorimeter. Calculate GCV and NCV Given that. 6 Marks Mass
of the coal sample = 0.95g

Mass of water in copper calorimeter = 2000g.

Water equivalent wt of calorimeter = 700g.
 0
Rise in temp = 2.8 C
Latent heat of = 587 cal/g. Specific heat
0
of water = 1 cal/g/ C

GCV = (W+w) x S x t
M
-3 0 0
= (2000+700) x 10 kg x 1 cal/g/ C x 2.8 C x 4.184
-3
0.95 x 10 kg

= 33295.83 J/kg.

NCV = GCV – 0.09 x %H2 x 587x4.184 J/kg.

= 33295.83 J/kg – 0.09 x 5 x 587 x4.184 J/kg.
= 32190.62 J/kg

3) When 0.84g of coal was burnt completely in Bomb calorimeter the

0
increase in temp of 2655 grams of water was 1.85 C if the water equivalent
calorimeter is 156g Calculate GCV.

GCV = (W+w) x S x t
M
= (2655+156) x 1.85 x 10-3 x 4.187
0.84 x 10-3
= 25921.26 J/Kg

4) Calculate GCV and NCV of a fuel from the following data. Mass of
0
fuel=0.75g, W=350g t =3.02 C, Mass of water = 1150, % H2 =2.8.

GCV = (W+w) x t xS
M
- 3
= (1150+350) x10 x 3.02 x 4.184
-3
0.75 x 10
GCV = 25271. 36 KJ/Kg
NCV = GCV –0.09 x H x 587 x 4.184
= 25271.36 – 0.09 x 2.8 x 587 x 4.184
NCV = 24652.44 KJ/Kg

5) Calculate calorific value of a fuel sample of a coal form the following data. Mass of
the coal is 0.6g. Water equivalent wt of calorimeter is 2200g. Specific value 4.187
0
Kg/KJ/C rise in temperature = 6.52 C.
GCV = (W1 +W2 ) x S x t
M
= (2200) x 10-3 x 4.184 x 6.52
0.6 x 10-3

= 100025.49 KJ/Kg.

6) Calculate GCV and NCV of a fuel from the following data.

0
Mass of fuel =0.83g, W=3500g. , W = 385 g, t1 =29.2 C, t2 = 26.50 C, % H2 = 0.7
and S = 4.2 kj/kg/c

GCV = (W+w) x txS

M
= (3.5 + 0.385) x (29.2 – 26.5) x 4.2
-3
0.83 x 10
GCV = 53079.39 KJ/Kg
NCV = GCV –0.09 x H x 587 x 4.184

= 53079.39 – 0.09 x 0.7 x 587 x 4.2

NCV = 52924.07 KJ/Kg