ME 326 Thermal Power Engineering

Topic : Fuels and Combustion

Dr. Arvind Pattamatta

Heat Transfer and Thermal power Lab
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Contents

Fuel types
Coal: its classification, and analysis
Coal properties
Combustion reactions
Mechanism of Coal combustion
Enthalpy of combustion and Flame temperature
Coal firing : Stoker, Pulverized, Cyclone and Fluidized bed.
Coal gasification.

Fuels

Fuels are substances which, when heated, undergo chemical reaction with an
oxidizer, typically oxygen, to liberate heat.
Fuels may be solid, liquid or gaseous
Fuels may be fossil (non-renewable) or biomass (renewable)
Fossil fuels may be coal, petroleum-crude derived or natural gas.
Biomass fuels may be wood, refuse or agricultural residues.
Solid fuel embraces a wide variety of combustibles, ranging from wood, peat and
lignite, through refuse and other low calorific value substances, to coal and other
solid fuels derived from it.
Coal represents by far the largest component of the worlds fossil fuel reserves.
The carbon: hydrogen ratio of coal is the highest of the fossil fuels, hence the
calorific values of coals are principally determined by the carbon in the fuel.

Coal reserves worldwide in BTUs

1 BTU = 1.055 KJ

Physical attributes of Coal

Moisture content

Ash

% of moisture in fuel (0.5 10%)

Impurity that will not burn (5-40%)

Reduces heating value of fuel

Important for design of furnace

Weight loss from heated and then

cooled powdered raw coal

Ash = residue after combustion

Volatile matter

Fixed carbon

Methane, hydrocarbons, hydrogen, CO,

other

Fixed carbon = 100 (moisture +

volatile matter + ash)

Typically 25-35%

Carbon + hydrogen, oxygen, Sulphur,

nitrogen residues

Easy ignition with high volatile matter

Weight loss from heated then cooled
crushed coal

Heat generator during combustion

Coal classification

It is usual to consider coals in terms of their rank: in general, a high ranking coal
will have a high carbon content.
The other major coal constituent element, hydrogen, is present in hydrocarbons
which are released as volatile matter when the coal is heated.
As the rank of a coal increases, its carbon content increases from 75% to about 93%
(by weight), the hydrogen content decreases from 6% to 3%, and the oxygen content
decreases from 20% to 3%.
A useful method for analyzing a coal is the proximate analysis.

Formation of different types of Coal

Coal Analysis
Proximate analysis of coal
Determines only fixed carbon, volatile matter, moisture and ash
Useful to find out heating value (GCV)
Simple analysis equipment
Ultimate analysis of coal
Determines all coal component elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur,
other

Useful for furnace design (e.g flame temperature, flue duct design)
Laboratory analysis

Coal Analysis
Proximate analysis:
Sample of known mass, to determine:
Moisture dried at 105 to 110oC in an oven
Volatile combustible matter heated to 900oC in a covered crucible
Fixed carbon heated to 750oC in an open crucible
Ash the final residue

Coal Ranking
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

With increasing Rank, the following characteristics are noticed:

Age of coal is increased. This increases with increase in depth of deposit.
A progressive loss of oxygen, hydrogen and in some cases sulfur, with a
corresponding increase in carbon.
A progressive decrease in equilibrium moisture content.
A progressive loss of volatile matter.
Generally, a progressive increase in calorific value.
In some cases, a progressive increase of ash content.

Table 9.1 Composition of some typical solid fuels (% by mass)

Fuel

Peat
Lignite
Bituminous
Coal
Anthracite

Carbon

Volatile
matter

Moisture

Ash

44
57
82

65
50
25

20
15
2

4
4
5

90

Typical proximate & Ultimate analysis of various coals

Indian
Coal

Indonesian
Coal

South African
Coal

Moisture

5.98

9.43

8.5

Ash

38.63

13.99

17

Volatile
matter

20.70

29.79

23.28

Fixed
Carbon

34.69

46.79

51.22

Parameter
Moisture
Mineral Matter (1.1 x Ash)
Carbon
Hydrogen
Nitrogen
Sulphur
Oxygen

GCV (kCal/kg)

Indian Coal, %
5.98
38.63
41.11
2.76
1.22
0.41
9.89

Indonesian Coal, %
9.43
13.99
58.96
4.16
1.02
0.56
11.88

4000

5500

Coal properties

There are a number of properties which are important in identifying the suitability
of a coal for any given application:
Size
Some common size groups, together with their rather picturesque names, are given
in Table 1 (next slide).
Heating Value or Calorific value
Coal fuels generally have a range of values from 21 to 33 MJ/kg (gross).
Ash Fusion Temperature
Sulphur Content

Size
Table 1 Size distribution for coals
Name
Large Cobbles
Cobbles
Trebles
Doubles
Singles

Upper limit (mm)

Lower limit (mm)

>150
100-150
63-100
38-63
25-38

75
50-100
38-63
25-38
13-18

Heating Value
It is the heat transferred when the products of combustion of a
sample of coal are cooled to the initial temperature of air and
fuel.
The higher heating value (HHV) assumes that the water vapor
in the products condenses and includes the latent heat of
vaporization of the water vapor.
The lower heating value (LHV) assumes that the water vapor
formed by combustion leaves as vapor itself.
HHV of anthracite and bituminous coals approximately
determined from Dulong and Petit formula:
HHV = 33.83 C + 144.45 (H O/8) + 9.38 S in MJ/Kg;
where C, H, O are mass fractions in coal.

Heating Value
LHV = HHV mwhfg = HHV 2.395mw MJ/Kg
Where mw is the mass of water vapor formed given by
mw = M + 9H + gawa
Where M and H are the mass fractions of moisture and hydrogen
in the Coal, ga is the specific humidity of atmospheric air, and
wa is the actual amount of air supplied per Kg of coal.
For Energy balance, HHV is considered in the USA and LHV
in Europe.

Coal properties

Ash Fusion Temperature

The melting point of the ash left after combustion of the coal is of particular
importance in terms of the combustion and ash disposal equipment.
If the ash fuses it produces a glassy, porous substance known as clinker (slag).
The combustion equipment will be designed to handle either clinker or unfused ash,
and use of the wrong type of coal can have dire consequences.
Sulfur Content
Many deep-mined coals have a fairly high sulfur content, typically around 1.5% by
weight.
The same consideration apply to coal-fired installations as to oil-fired combustion
equipment namely that condensation inside the plant must be avoided and that the
design of the flue must ensure that ground concentration of sulfur oxides are
controlled within acceptable limits.

Principles of combustion

Combustion: rapid oxidation of a fuel

Complete combustion: total oxidation of fuel (adequate supply of oxygen needed)

Air: 20.9% oxygen, 79% nitrogen and other

Nitrogen: (a) reduces the combustion efficiency (b) forms NOx at high
temperatures

Carbon forms (a) CO2 (b) CO resulting in less heat production

Control the 3 Ts to optimize combustion:

1T) Temperature
2T) Turbulence
3T) Time

Water vapor is a by-product of burning fuel that contains hydrogen and this robs
heat from the flue gases

Requirements for Combustion

Good combustion is accomplished by controlling the "three T's"
of combustion which are
(1) Temperature high enough to ignite and maintain ignition of
the fuel,
(2) Turbulence or intimate mixing of the fuel and oxygen, and
(3) Time sufficient for complete combustion.

Requirements for Combustion

Oxygen is the key to combustion

Bureau of Energy Efficiency, India, 2004

Combustion

When a solid fuel particle is exposed to a hot gas flowing stream it undergoes
three stages of mass loss

i.

Drying

ii.

Devolatilization

iii.

Char combustion
The relative significance of these three is indicated by proximate analysis of coal
homogeneous
combustion

volatiles

coal particle
p-coal, d=30-70m

char

heterogeneous
combustion

CO2, H2O,

CO2, H2O,

devolatilization

tdevolatile=1-5ms

tvolatiles=50-100ms

tchar=1-2sec

Burning of coal particle

i.

Drying

The combustible material generally constitutes water e.g. lignites up to 40 %

Upon entry into the gas stream, heat is convected and radiated to the particle
surface and conducted into the particle
The drying time of a small pulverized particle is the time required to heat up the
particle to the vaporization point and drive off the water

DEVOLATILIZATION
Occurs in the temperature range between 400 600 deg C.
Devolatilization or pyrolysis is the process where a wide range of gaseous
products are released through the decomposition of fuel.
The volatile matter (VM) comprises a number of hydrocarbons, which are
released in steps
Since the volatiles flow out of the solid through the pores, external oxygen
cannot penetrate into the particle, hence the devolatilization is referred to as the
pyrolysis stage.
A high yield of volatiles produces enough heat to ignite coke particles.

Burning of coal particle

CHAR COMBUSTION

The combustion of a char particle generally starts after the evolution of volatiles
from the parent fuel particle, but sometimes the two processes overlap.

The char, being a highly porous substance, has a large number of internal pores of
varying size

Oxygen diffuses into the pores and oxidizes the carbon on the inner walls of the
pores.

The oxygen then undergoes an oxidation reaction with the carbon on the char
surface to produce CO.

The CO then reacts outside the particle to form CO2.

The mechanism of combustion of char is fairly complex.

At about 1200 deg C,
4C + 3 O2 = 2 CO + 2CO2
At 1700 deg C
3C + 2O2 = 2CO + CO2

Burning of coal particle

Burning rate of coke particle

The rate of diffusion of oxygen per unit surface area of the particle is given by Ficks
law:

rds = kg(cb cs)

Where kg = D/d is the mass transfer coefficient, m/s, D is the diffusion coefficient, m2/s,
and d is the boundary layer thickness, m.
The diffusion rate of oxygen will be maximum when Cs = 0

rds max = kg cb
The burning rate or rate of reaction is given as
rsr = k cs
The maximum reaction rate will occur at cs = cb
rsr max = k cb
For rsd = rsr = rs

rsr
1
rs k g (c b )
c b
k
1/k 1/k g

Burning rate of coke particle

Temperature has a weak effect on mass transfer by diffusion (kg ~ T0.5).

However, K ~ exp(-E/RT).
At T < 1000 deg C, surface reaction is slower than the oxygen diffusion rate, k <<kg
and cb = cs.
The above equation reduces to rs = k cs i.e. reaction rate is controlled by the kinetics
and this regime is called kinetically controlled regime.
For T > 1400 deg C, the rate constant of reaction exceeds the oxygen diffusion rate,
k >> kg
This regime is called diffusion combustion zone where rs = kg cb.
In the diffusion combustion zone, the reduction of CO2/CO occurs resulting in
incomplete combustion.
At intermediate temperatures (1000-1400 deg C), transition zone of combustion.
When air fuel mixing is very high, as in fluidized beds, the diffusion resistance
becomes negligible, k <<< kg and the reaction will be kinetically controlled.

Burning rate of coke particle

Combustion Reactions
The basic chemical equations for complete combustion of coal
are
C O 2 CO 2

2H 2 O 2 2H 2 O
S O 2 SO2
With insufficie nt oxygen,
2C O 2 2CO

TTT and A(Air fuel ratio)

Stoichiometric Air

From the ultimate analysis of fuel

C + H + O + N + S + M + A = 1.0
Oxygen required for complete combustion of 1 kg of fuel is
C

CO 2

12 kg

32 kg

44 kg

1kg

2.67 kg

3.67 kg

C kg

2.67 C kg
O2

2H 2

3.67 C kg
2H 2 O

4 kg

32 kg

36 kg

1 kg

8 kg

9 kg

H kg

8 H kg

9 H kg

O2

SO 2

32 kg

32 kg

64 kg

1 kg

1kg

2 kg

S kg

2 S kg

S kg

O2

WO2 = 2.67 C + 8 H + S O; where O is the mass of oxygen in the fuel.

Stoichiometric Air

Air contains 23.2 % oxygen by mass. Therefore, stoichiometric air required for
complete combustion of 1 kg of fuel is
Wt = WO2 / 0.232 = 11.5 C + 34.5 (H - O/8) + 4.3 S
where C, O, S, H are mass fractions of respective components.

% Excess Air = (Wa-WT) * 100 / WT

The dilution coefficient, d, is given by

d = Wa/WT

The % excess air varies between 15 to 30 % for most large utility boilers.

Combustion equation

Consider a coal having the following ultimate analysis:

C-60 %, H 4 %, S 3.2%, O 4.8 %, N 2 %, M- 5 %, and A 21 %.
The exhaust gas has the following volumetric analysis:
CO2 + SO2 = 12%, CO = 2%, O2 = 4% and N2 = 82 %.
Let a moles of oxygen be supplied for 100 kg fuel. Then, the combustion equation
can be written as

60
4
3.2
4.8
C H2
S
O2 aO2 3.76aN 2

12
2
32
32
bCO2 dCO eSO2 fO2 gN 2 hH 2 O
By equating the coefficients,
Carbon: b+d = 60/12 = 5 Hydrogen: h=2
Oxygen: b+d/2+e+f+h/2 = 4.8/32 + a

Sulphur: e = 3.2/32 = 0.1

Nitrogen: g = 3.76a

Actual Air
be
d
0.12;
0.02
bd e f g
bd e f g
f
g
0.04;
0.82
bd e f g
bd e f g
By solving these equations, the coefficients a,b,d,e,f, g and h are
determined and given to be d=0.73, b=4.27, f=1.46, a =7.045 and g =
26.49
Actual air supplied per kg coal = 32a/(0.232X100) = 9.72 kg.
The actual amount air supplied per kg fuel can be ascertained from the
measured volumetric composition using 1. Orsat analyser, 2) Haldane
apparatus, 3) Infra-red gas analyser 4) Gas chromatograph.

Control of Excess Air

EFFECT OF Fuel characteristics ON

COMBUSTION EFFICIENCY

The fuel ratio of a fuel is the ratio of fixed carbon (FC) and VM contents of the
fuel.
This ratio has an important effect on the combustion efficiency of coal in a CFB
boiler
Higher ratios possibly leading to lower combustion efficiencies

A high rank fuel like anthracite has a higher fuel ratio than a low rank fuel like
lignite.
For this reason low-rank fuels (or low fuel ratio) like lignite and
bituminous have higher efficiencies than anthracite.

The fuel ratio is easily computed from the proximate analysis of a fuel

Mass balance of a steam generator

Mass balance of a steam generator

WA + C + H + O + S + N + M + A = Wdfg + 9 H + M + A + C
Cab
WA = Wdfg + 8(H-O/8) Cab N S
Mass of dfg produced per kg of coal: From Volumetric
Analysis of DFG*
C a b ( 44CO2 28CO 28 N 2 32O2 )
W

, dfg
12(CO CO)
2

C a b ( 44CO2 28CO 28(100 CO2 CO O2 ) 32O2 )

12(CO2 CO)

C a b ( 4CO2 O2 700)
3(CO2 CO)

* Note: This is an alternative way of calculating Wdfg

apart from considering the combustion reaction
described before.

Volume of flue gases (wet) produced per kg of coal

V fg

Wdfg WH 2O
Tg 273 101.325

X 22.4 X
X
18
pg
M dfg
273

Energy balance of a steam generator furnace

Energy balance of a steam generator furnace

The 1st law for the steady-state steady-flow (SSSF) for a chemically reactive
system, ignoring the changes in K.E and P.E is

HR + Q = HP + Wsf
Where HR and HP are the enthalpies of the reactants and products, evaluated at their
respective pressures and temperatures.

HR

mh(T

R,

p ); H P

mh(T

P,

p)

h(T , p ) ( h f ) 298K ,1atm ( h) 298K ,1atmT , p

T

hf

298

p dT '

Enthalpy of Combustion

For open systems, the heating value is sometimes referred to as enthalpy of

combustion

HV

(nMh(298K )) (nMh(298K ))
P

Heating value of fuel

For 1 kg of coal containg C kg carbon, the heat released by carbon combustion is

C X 407000 / 12 = 33917 C KJ /Kg.
Heat released by Sulphur = 291000 X S/32 = 9094 S kJ/kg
Mass of hydrogen available for combustion in coal is (H O/8)*.
Heat released by Hydrogen combustion is (H-O/8) X 286000 /2 = 143,000 (H
O/8)
The total heat released by complete combustion of 1 kg of coal is
HHV = 33.917 C + 143 (H O/8)* + 9.094 S MJ/Kg.
This equation is very close to Dulongs formula
* Note: This is from the Text by P.K Nag. Here only Hydrogen combustion with external oxygen is
considered for energy calculation which is misleading. Even the H in fuel reacting with O in fuel
results in an exothermic reaction and hence the entire H should be considered rather than H-O/8.
This is perhaps done to bring this to the form of Dulong Petit Equation. To avoid confusion pls. use
only the equation in the previous slide to calculate HV.

Adiabatic combustion temperature

A fuel burning with no heat exchange with the surroundings
and no work done will result in the adiabatic-combustion
temperature.
It is greater if the fuel is burned in O2 than in Air because of
the dilution effect of N2.
It is higher for a stoichiometric mixture as lean mixture has
dilution effect, whereas a rich mixture results in incomplete
combustion.
At the adiabatic condition, Q = 0 and

nMh(T

ad ,

For Coal combustion

p)

nMh(T

R,

p)

nMh(T

ad )

Chemical equilibrium

In high temperature combustion processes, the products of combustion are not a

simple mixture of ideal products at stoichiometric conditions.
Rather the major species dissociate producing a host of minor species.
For example, the ideal combustion products for burning a hydrocarbon with air are
CO2, H2O, O2 and N2.
Dissociation of these species reaction among the dissociated products yield the
following species: H2, OH, CO, H, O, N, NO etc.
Therefore we need to develop a methodology to calculate the mole fraction of all of
the species at a given temperature and pressure. The final state is not governed
solely by first law considerations, but necessitates invoking the second law.
Consider the combustion reaction
1

If the temperature is high enough, the CO2 will dissociate.

CO 2 O2 CO2

1
a

CO

(
1

a
)
CO

a
CO

O2
2
2

2 cold reactan ts
2 hot products

where a is the fraction of CO2 dissociated. If a = 0, max heat release occurs.

Second law consideration

For constant U, V and m, which implies no heat and work interactions (isolated
system), the second law requires that the entropy change interior to the system:

dS 0

The composition of the system will spontaneously shift towards the point of
maximum entropy. Hence, the condition for chemical equilibrium can be written as

dS U ,V ,m 0

In order to define the chemical equilibrium for a system at a given pressure,

temperature and mass, the Gibbs free energy, G, replaces the entropy as the
important thermodynamic property.

G H TS

The second law can be expressed as

At Equilibrium

dG 0

dG T , P,m 0

Gibbs function

For a mixture of ideal gases, the mole specific Gibbs function for the ith species is
given by
P
o

g i ,T g

i ,T

RuT ln io
P

g o i ,T

Where
is the Gibbs function of the pure species at the standard-state pressure
(i.e Pi=Po), and Pi is the partial pressure. The standard state pressure is taken to be 1
atm.
The Gibbs function for a mixture of ideal gas species can be expressed as
P
Gmix
N i g i ,T
N i [ g o i ,T RuT ln io ]
P

For a fixed temperature and pressure, the equilibrium condition becomes dGmix = 0.
P
P
dN i [ g o i ,T RuT ln io ]
N i d [ g o i ,T RuT ln io ] 0
P
P

The second term is zero since changes in partial pressures must sum to zero. Thus
P
dGmix
dN i [ g o i ,T RuT ln io ] 0
P

Equilibrium constant

For a general reaction

aA bB ... eE fF ...,

The change in the number of moles of each species is directly proportional to its
dN A a
stoichiometric coefficient i.e
dN B b

dN E e
dN F f

Substituting this into the equation for equilibrium gives

P
P
a g o A,T Ru T ln Ao b g o B ,T Ru T ln Bo
P
P

P
e g o E ,T Ru T ln Eo
P

P
f g o F ,T RuT ln Fo
P

Rearranging and grouping the log terms together

e

eg o E ,T fg o F ,T ag o A,T bg o B,T

PE PF
o o
P P
Ru T ln
a
b
PA PB
o o
P P

Equilibrium constant

The term on the LHS of the above equation is called the standard-state Gibbs
function change G o eg o fg o ag o bg o
T

E ,T

F ,T

A,T

B,T

The argument of the natural logarithm is defined as the equilibrium constant

e

PE PF
o o
P P
Kp
a
b
PA PB
o o
P P

With these definitions, the statement for chemical equilibrium at constant pressure
and temperature can be written as
o

K p exp( G

/ RuT )

From this relation, we can obtain a qualitative indication of whether a particular

reaction favors products or reactants. If G oT is positive, Kp is less than unity.
Hence reactants will be favored and otherwise.
o
o
o

S
T
Also

K p exp( H o / RuT ). exp( S o / Ru )

For Kp to be greater than unity, which favors products, the enthalpy change for
reaction, should be negative, i.e, the reaction is exothermic.