Chemical Engineering Fundamentals 2A

COMBUSTION
PROCESSES CEFCHA2

V Naidoo
JOB 4134
[email protected]
1
 Objectives

Understand the difference between:

Stoichiometric combustion
Excess air combustion
Excess fuel combustion
Mass vs Volume air content
Wet and Dry basis analysis

Be able to apply all these principles in mass balances

2
 What is combustion?

Rapid oxidation of a fuel accompanied by the release of heat and/or light together with the formation of combustion
products

Fuel + oxidant heat/light + combustion

products

Definition of combustion as quoted from Webster’s dictionary

“rapid oxidation generating heat, or both heat and light ; also, slow oxidation
accompanied by relatively little heat and no light”

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 Fossil Fuel Combustion

Chemical reaction between hydrogen and carbon atoms

Carbon + Oxygen = Heat + Carbon Dioxide
(contained in the fuel) with oxygen atoms (usually comes
from the air), resulting in the heat release and the formation C+ heat + C
of combustion products

Hydrogen + Oxygen = Heat + Water

(*) mainly water vapor and carbon dioxide and a
certain amount combustion by-products depending on
combustion process H+ heat +

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 Categories of Combustion Processes

Complete combustion
The reaction goes to completion (Stoichiometrically correct)

Excess air or fuel lean

Does not go to completion (Excess & limiting reactants)

Incomplete or partial combustion

Excess fuel or fuel rich or deficient air
In practice, combustion will never be complete even though at stoichiometric or excess air
conditions, due to non-uniformity of fuel and air mixture and complexity of combustion reaction

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 Stoichiometric Combustion

Relative (chemically-correct) proportion of fuel and air quantities that are the theoretical minimum
needed to give complete/perfect combustion (i.e., no unburned fuel and residual oxygen present in
combustion products)

CH4 + 2O2 CO2 + 2H2O

1 mole of methane to be proportionately (and molecularly) mixed with 2 moles of oxygen to produce 1
mole of carbon dioxide and 2 moles of water vapor
or
1 cubic metre (m3) of methane requires 2 cubic metre (m3) of oxygen for complete combustion and will
produce 1 cubic metre (m3) of carbon dioxide and 2 cubic metre (m3) of water vapor

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 Excess Air / Oxygen Combustion

When oxygen or air is supplied more than the stoichiometric proportion

CH4 + 3O2 CO2 + 2H2O + O2

1 mole of methane to be molecularly mixed with 3 moles of oxygen to produce 1 mole of

carbon dioxide,2 moles of water vapor and 1 mole of un-reacted oxygen

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Incomplete/ Partial Combustion

When fuel is supplied more than the stoichiometric proportion

Insufficient amount of oxygen or air available to burn in the fuel-rich mixture caused incomplete
combustion

CH4 + O2 CO + 2H2O + (other products of incomplete combustion)

1 mole of methane to be molecularly mixed with 1 mole of oxygen to produce 1 mole of carbon
monoxide, 2 moles of water vapor and other products of incomplete combustion such as unburned fuel,
aldehydes etc
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Combustion By-Products

Carbon monoxide (CO)

Aldehydes & other
mainly due to incomplete
hydrocarbon molecules
combustion
Unburned Fuel
Radicals
–reaction between O2 (in air) and
Oxides of nitrogen
nitrogen (present in air or fuel)
(NOx)
Oxides of sulphur – only for Sulphur-containing fuel
(SOx)
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 Source of Oxygen

Main source of oxygen comes from atmospheric air

Atmospheric air requirement for combustion reaction is assumed to have the following composition

Air Content (%) By volume/mole By weight/mass

O2 21 23
N2 79 77

Analyses of solid / liquid fuels are normally reported on a mass basis, while gaseous fuels are normally analyzed
on a volume basis
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 Combustion Analysis

Fuel composition analysis – conversion from a composition by mass to a molar composition or vice-versa
Stack or flue gases composition analysis

Fuel Combustor /
CO2 , H2O , O2 , N2 ,
Air Reactor CO,
H2 , CxHy, SO2 etc

Wet basis composition :- component mole fractions of gas with the presence of water

Dry basis composition:- component mole fractions of the same gas without the
presence of water
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 Flue Gas Composition Analysis

A flue gas contains 5 mole % H2O.

Calculate
a) kmol wet flue gas/ kmol H2O
b) kmol dry flue gas / kmol wet flue gas
c) kmol H2O/kmol dry flue gas
kmol wet flue
a) 100 kmol wet flue gas kmol wet flue
= = 20
Basis : 100 kmol wet flue gas gas kmol H2O 5 kmol kmol H2O
gas
(contains 5 kmol H2O and 95 kmol dry flue kmol dry flue gas
=
H2O 95 kmol dry
kmol dry flue
b) = 0.95 kmol wet flue
gas) kmol wet flue flue gas 100 kmol
gas gas
gas kmol H2O wet flue gas kmol H2O
c) = =
kmol dry flue 5 kmol H2O 95 0.0526 kmol dry flue
gas kmol dry flue gas gas
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 Wet Gas to Dry Gas

Calculate the molar compositions of the dry components in the stack gas

𝐹𝑢𝑒𝑙
Stack Gas

𝐴𝑖𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑎𝑖𝑟 /𝑚𝑖𝑛 0.55 mol /mol

0.10 mol /mol
0.10 mol / mol
0.05 mol CO /mol CO
0.20 mol /mol

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 Wet Gas to Dry Gas

: 55 mol
10 mol
10 mol
5 mol CO
20 mol

CO = 0.0625

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 Dry Gas to Wet Gas

Calculate the molar compositions of the wet stack gas

= 0.06 mol
𝐹𝑢𝑒𝑙
Stack Gas

𝐴𝑖𝑟 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑎𝑖𝑟 /𝑚𝑖𝑛 0.70 mol /mol

0.15 mol /mol
0.10 mol / mol CO
0.05 mol CO /mol

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 Dry Gas to Wet Gas

= 0.06 mol
1𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑠 1 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑠
;
0.06 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐻 2 𝑂 0.94 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑎𝑠

∴ ( 0.06 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐻 2 𝑂
1 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑠 )( 1 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑔𝑎𝑠
)
0.94 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑎𝑠
=0.064
𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐻 2 𝑂
𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑎𝑠

70 mol CO = 0.05
15 mol
𝐴𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑒 100 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑔𝑎𝑠 ∴
10 mol
5 mol CO
6.4 mol

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 Theoretical & Excess Oxygen (Air)

Theoretical Oxygen (Air)

The amount of chemically-correct (stoichiometric) oxygen (air) required for complete combustion of a given quantity
of a specific fuel

Excess Oxygen (Air)

The amount of oxygen (air) fed to the reactor which exceeds the theoretical oxygen

The theoretical oxygen (air) required to burn a given quantity of fuel does not depend on how much fuel is actually burned.
The fuel may not react completely and it may react to form both CO and CO2, but the theoretical air is still that which would
be required to react with all of the fuel to form CO2 only.

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 Percent Excess Oxygen (Air)

(moles oxygen)fed (moles oxygen)theroretical

100%
moles oxygen
theoretical

(moles air)fed - (moles air)theroretical

×100%
moles air
theoretical

The value of the percent excess air depends on the theoretical air and the air feed rate no matter how much
oxygen is consumed in the reactor or whether combustion is complete or partial

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