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Self Introduction. Name: Muhammad Shozab Mehdi Qualifications: BSc. Chemical Engineering (2003), NFC Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Multan, Pakistan. MS leading to PhD in Chemical Engineering (2013), Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan. Research in Chemical Engineering Laboratory (LGC), Toulouse, France. Research Interest: Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer in Multiphase flows. Office: FMSE-xxx, Ext: xxxx, Email: [email protected] Teaching Assistant: Mr. Jahanzaib Ahmad Ansari, Ext: xxxx, Email: [email protected]

Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

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Page 1: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Self Introduction.

• Name: Muhammad Shozab Mehdi• Qualifications:

– BSc. Chemical Engineering (2003), NFC Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Multan, Pakistan.

– MS leading to PhD in Chemical Engineering (2013), Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan.

– Research in Chemical Engineering Laboratory (LGC), Toulouse, France.

• Research Interest: Hydrodynamics and Mass Transfer in Multiphase flows.

• Office: FMSE-xxx, Ext: xxxx, Email: [email protected]• Teaching Assistant: Mr. Jahanzaib Ahmad Ansari, Ext:

xxxx, Email: [email protected]

Page 2: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

CH 212: Fuel and Combustion

Spring – 2014

Page 3: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Introduction

Fuel: Anything which burn to give heat in presence of oxygen.

Combustion: The process of burning fuel.

• Burning is the intense chemical reaction with the emission of heat and other exhaust gases when fuel reacts with oxygen.

Page 4: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Introduction (contd.)

• Where does the energy comes from the combustion reactions?

• The energy stored in the chemical bonds that hold the carbon and hydrogen atoms together, releases when bonds are broken and atoms are rearranged.

• How does this energy stored in fuel?

• This energy stores in fuel by the process of photosynthesis which converts sunlight into chemical energy and storing it in the bond of sugar. Plants needs Carbon dioxide, Water and sunlight to make sugar. The overall reaction is:

6CO2 + 6H2O + Sunlight -----> C6H12O6 + 6O2

• These plants when became dead, buried under the soil, as more and more soil deposited over them for thousands of years, they became compressed and then under high temperature and pressure converted into fossil fuel.

Page 5: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Introduction (contd.)

Page 6: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Importance

• Almost 70% of energy used in the world came from combustion sources.

Page 7: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Importance (contd.)

• Heat for homes comes directly from combustion.• Electricity for homes generated by burning fossil fuel.• Our transportation system relies almost entirely on combustion.

– Air craft are entirely powered by fuel burning.– Most trains are powered by diesel engine.– Most of the domestic vehicles use gasoline.

• Industrial process rely heavily on combustion.– Iron, steel, aluminum and other metal refining industries employ

furnaces for producing raw products.– Cement industry is the heavy user of heat energy delivered by

combustion. – Other example of industrial combustion devices are boiler, refinery,

glass melters and solid dryers etc.

Page 8: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Course Description

• Various conventional and non-conventional fuels; theircharacterization and processing including refining, coalgasification and natural gas treatment.

• Various aspect of combustion and related balances.• Fuel economy, burners classification and design.• Flame analysis and its various regimes and

temperatures; Interface energy balances and heatdistribution; oxygen diffusion and flame front;flammability limits and flame quenching.

• Furnaces, boilers and engines (I.C & G.T).• Emission control (SOx & NOx).

Page 9: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Books (Text & Reference)

• Flame and Combustion by J. F. Griffiths and J. A. Barnard, 3rd Ed. 1995

• An Introduction to Combustion; Concept and Applications by Stephen R. Turns, 2nd Ed. 2000

• Elements of Fuel, Furnaces and Refractories by O. P. Gupta 4th Ed. 1997

Page 10: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Before MidSolid Fuel Liquid Fuel Gaseous Fuel

•Introduction and classification of fuels.•Fundamentals / Definitions.•Solid fuel [Wood, Charcoal, Peat].•Origin of coal•Solid fuel [Lignite, Bituminous coal, Anthracite].•Constituents of coal.•Testing of coal.•Carbonization of coal.

•Origin and composition of petroleum.•Classification of petroleum and their characteristics.•Constituents of petroleum and their uses.•Processing of crude oil [Distillation, Cracking, Reforming].•Properties of petroleum products.

•Methane from coal mines.•Wood gas.•Bio gas.•Gas from underground gasification of coal.•Natural gas.•Liquified petroleum gas.•Refinery gases.•Producer gas.•Water gas.•Blast furnace gas.•Coke oven gas.

• Various aspect of combustion and related balances.

Page 11: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

After Mid

• Various aspect of combustion and relatedbalances.

• Fuel economy, burners classification and design.

• Flame analysis and its various regimes andtemperatures; Interface energy balances and heatdistribution; oxygen diffusion and flame front;flammability limits and flame quenching.

• Furnaces, boilers and engines (I.C & G.T).

• Emission control (SOx & NOx).

Page 12: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Marks Distribution

• Assignments (Nos?): ?%

• Quizzes (Nos?): ?%

• Midterm exam: ?%

• Final Exam: ?%

• Attendance: ?%

Page 13: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Classification of Fuels

Page 14: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

General Classification of Fuels

• Fossil fuels:Those which have been derived from fossil remains of plants and animal life and are found in crust of earth. For example coal, petroleum and natural gas etc.

• By-product fuels:Those which are co-product of regular manufacturing process and of secondary in nature. For example coke oven gas from manufacturing of coke and blast furnace gas from making of iron.

• Chemical fuels:Those which are of an toxic in nature and normally not used in conventional processes. For examples hydrazine, ammonium nitrate etc.

• Nuclear fuels:Those which release heat by fission (uranium, plutonium etc.) or by fusion (deuterium, tritium etc.)

Page 15: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Classification based on Occurrence

• Solid Fuels:Wood, charcoal, coal, coke etc.

• Liquid Fuels:petroleum and its products (gasoline, kerosene, diesel, furnace oil, lubricating oil etc), Liquid fuel from coal liquefaction etc.

• Gaseous Fuels:Natural gas, refinery gas, gas from coal gasification, wood gas, bio gas etc.

Page 16: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Classification based on Nature of Fuel

• Primary Fuels:Those which occurred in nature i.e. wood, coal, natural gas and petroleum.

• Secondary Fuels:Those which are derived from primary fuels e.g. fuel oil and kerosene derived from petroleum, coke oven gas derived from coal etc. Secondary fuels are further classified into:– Manufactured:

Those which are manufactured for some specific purpose e.g. coke made for iron making, gasoline made for internal combustion engine, producer gas made for industrial heating etc.

– By-Product:Those which are co-product of regular manufacturing process e.g. tar, refinery gas etc.

Page 17: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Fundamentals / Definitions

Page 18: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

• Rank of Coal: It denote the maturity of coal. So peat the most immature coal has a lowest rank while the anthracite the most mature coal has highest rank.

• Metamorphism of coal: The process of conversion of lignite to anthracite is called metamorphism of coal or coalification.

• Carbonization of coal: Heating of coal in absence of air at high temperature to produce coke, tar and gases is called carbonization of coal.

• Gasification of coal: Heating of coal in insufficiently less amount of air plus steam to produce a gas rich in CO and H2 is called gasification of coal.

• Proximate analysis of coal: Finding out the weight percent of moisture, volatile matter, fixed carbon and ash content in coal. The analysis is useful in deciding the utilization for a particular purpose.

• Ultimate analysis: Finding out the weight percent of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur of pure coal free from moisture and inorganic constituents. The analysis is useful in designing of coal burning equipments.

Page 19: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

• Calorific value: The quantity of heat liberated by combustion of unit quantity of fuel is called its calorific value.– Gross calorific value: Where the heat obtained from condensation of

water vapours in the flue gases is also include.– Net calorific value: Where the heat obtained from condensation of

water vapours in the flue gases is not include.

• Flue gas: The gaseous product of combustion of a fuel.• Heat capacity: Amount of heat required to raise the unit weight of

substance by one degree.• Specific heat: It is the ratio of heat capacity of a substance to the

heat capacity of water (Cp > Cv).• Ignition temperature: It is the minimum temperature at which the

fuel ignites.• Flash point: It is the minimum temperature at which the fuel give

enough vapours which produces a momentary flash when exposes to flame.

• Pour point: It is the minimum temperature at which fuel keeps its flowing nature when cooled under specific conditions.

Page 20: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Solid Fuel

Page 21: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Wood

Domestic fuel used in tropical countries where forest are abundant and other

fuels are not easily and cheaply available.

Page 22: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

• Main combustible components: cellulose and lignin (compounds of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen)

• Minor combustible components: resin and waxes.

• Non combustible components: Water (25-50% in freshly cut and 10-15% in air dried)

• Ash content: very low (<1%) but because oxygen content is very high (upto 45%) therefore its calorific value is very low.

• Calorific value: 4000-5000 kcal/kg.

• Density: 650 kg/m3.

Page 23: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Composition of Air-dried Wood

Proximate Analysis

• Cellulose: 50%

• Lignin: 30%

• Moisture: 15%

• Water soluble: 2.5%

• Resin & Wax: 2%

• Ash: 0.5%

Ultimate Analysis

• Carbon: 50%

• Hydrogen: 6%

• Oxygen: 44%

Page 24: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Properties of wood

• It is clean, readily ignites, burn with long clean flame in excess air and leaves only small amount of ash.

• Wood is a solid fuel as dense as coal but to obtain same amount of heat as any given weight of coal can produce, you have to burnt wood, four times the weight of coal.

• It is used to produce charcoal.

Page 25: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Charcoal

Carbonization of wood at 600oC

Page 26: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Stages Involved in Carbonization of Wood

Stage 1: At 100-120oC ---> moisture expelled results in moisture free wood.

Stage 2: At 275oC ---> initial decomposition takes place results in formation of little distillate gas containing acetic acid and water.

Stage 3: At 350oC ---> active distillation of wood takes place results in emission of liquid (acetic acid, methyl alcohol, tar etc) and gases (CO, CO2, N2, H2, CnHn).

Stage 4: At 350-600oC ---> slow evolution of residual volatile matters from the wood charcoal left in 3rd

stage.

Page 27: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Products of Carbonization of Wood

• Charcoal: Solid product left after the carbonization of coal.

• Hot gases: Cooled to separate

– Wood gas

– Liquid in two layer

• Upper layer is Pyrolignious acid (mixture of acetic acid, acetone and water).

• Lower layer is wood tar (fractionated to separate many chemicals).

Page 28: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Uses and Composition of Charcoal

• Used for removal of obnoxious and coloring material from solution, gases, vapors and petroleum products by adsorption on its surface.

• Used as a feed stock for gasification to make producer gas which is used as a fuel for domestic and industrial use.

• Used as raw material for production of carbon sulfide.

• Charcoal contains 80% carbon, 15% oxygen and nitrogen, 2% hydrogen and 3% ash.

Page 29: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Merits and Demerits

• Because of porous in nature it has high specific surface area as compared to coal.

• Ash content is very low.

• Calorific value is high as compared to wood.

• Mechanical strength is very poor.

Page 30: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Peat

First stage in formation of coal from wood (cellulose)

The most immatured coal

Page 31: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Formation of Peat

• Peat is the first stage in the formation of coal from wood (cellulose).

• It is not strictly a coal or else can be termed as the most immatured coal.

• It is formed by gradual decaying (action of bacteria under high pressure and temperature) of remains of plants in moist places.

Page 32: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Properties of Peat

• Peat is light brown in color.

• Highly fibrous in nature.

• With increase in depth the color becomes darker and fibrous structure disappeared.

• Composition of peat varies from nature of plants, depth in deposit and age.

• Freshly mined peat contains about 90% water and 10% solid. Therefore cannot be used unless air dried.

• Calorific value is 650 kcal/kg for freshly mined peat and 5000 kcal/kg for air dried peat.

Page 33: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Composition of Peat

Proximate Analysis

• Moisture: 20%

• Volatile matter: 50%

• Fixed carbon: 25%

• Ash: 5%

Ultimate Analysis

• Carbon: 55%

• Hydrogen: 6%

• Oxygen: 33%

• Nitrogen: 3%

• Sulfur: 1%

Page 34: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Gasification of Peat

• Peat is gasified in presence of steam and air to produce producer gas.

• Steam requirement is very low because peat itself contain sufficient moisture.

• Typical composition of gas is:• CO2 – 13%• CO – 18%• H2 – 11%• CH4 – 2.5%• N2 – 55.5%

• Caloric value is 1000 kcal/kg• Gas yield is 2500 Nm3/ton of peat

Page 35: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Other non Fossil Domestic Fuel

Page 36: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Origin of coal

• Coal is a complex mixture of plant substances altered in varying degree by physical and chemical processes.

• These processes which changed plant substances into coal has taken million of years and has been accomplished by bacteria, heat and pressure inside the earth’s crust.

• Two theories namely “in-situ” theory and “drift theory” have been suggested by geologists regarding mechanism of formation of coal from plant substances.

• In situ theory: According to this theory, coal seam occupies the same site where the original plants grew and where their remains accumulated several million years ago to produce coal under the action of heat, pressure and bacteria.

• Drift theory: According to this theory plants, tree etc were uprooted and drifted by rivers to lakes and deposited there to form coal during the course of time after they got buried underground.

• Stages information of coal: plants/trees peat lignite sub-bituminous coal bituminous coal anthracite coal graphite.

Page 37: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

• Points in favor of “in-situ” theory:– In the existing peat deposits; the decayed plant substances had

accumulated at the place of origin.– Large quantity of fossil fuel have been found under the coal seam.– Composition of coal seam is generally constant over a wide area. If the

original decaying plants and tree had been drifted from their original place then they would have a great variation in composition of coal.

• Points in favor of “drift” theory:– In coal seam, the percentage of inclined trunks of fossil is much more

than the vertical position. It the coal had been formed at the same place where the plants substances decayed then fossil trunks would have been vertical.

– To form one meter thick coal seam, ten meter thick seam of peat is required, So for the formation of ten meter thick coal seam should have resulted from hundred meter thick seam of peat, which occur no where.

– Seams of coal are made up of different layers separated by layers of clay or sandstone which vary in thickness from merely a film to several meters. As the plants accumulated under water some slits also settled along with them. Thus at later stage some mineral mater got mixed with coal as it formed.

Page 38: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)
Page 39: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

• Stages for transformation of wood to coal:

• The initial transformation of wood to coal is due to the action of bacteria (aerobic or anaerobic) causing degradation of organic matters (e.g. cellulose, lignin etc. present in wood) and removal of oxygen.

• The bacterial action produced acidity which if accumulated prevented further action and coal formation could not proceed.

• In some cases the soil was alkaline which neutralized the acidity and bacterial action continued to take place further degradation of organic matter. This explain why coal is found along with certain types of rocks.

• Bacterial action takes place in initial stage breaks up organic matters into simpler molecules.

• The degraded organic matters, as time passed, gave rise to peat.

• Beyond this stage heat, pressure and time became the chief factors for further conversion of peat into different rank of coal.

Page 40: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Lignite

• It is the second stage product in the formation of coal from wood.• It is friable and occurs in thick seams (up to 30 meter thick) near the

surface of earth.• It moisture content is up to 60 % and calorific value is around 5000

kcal/kg.• On exposes to air the brown color darkens and moisture content reduces

to equilibrium value of 10 – 20 %.• On drying lignite shrinks and break up in irregular manner.• It is likely to ignite spontaneously as it adsorbs oxygen readily and must

not be stored in open without care.• Composition and property of lignite varies widely. The carbon content is

70 – 75 % and oxygen content is 20 – 25 %.• In large number of cases the ratio of volatile matter to fixed carbon is 1:1.• Raw Lignite is inferior fuel due to high moisture content, low calorific

value, small size and bad weathering properties.• Lignite is of economic importance where it is readily available and other

fuels do not occur in abundance.

Page 41: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Composition of Lignite

Proximate Analysis

• Moisture: 10 – 30 %

• Volatile matter: 40 – 45 %

• Fixed carbon: 30 – 35 %

• Ash: 3.5 – 7.5 %

Ultimate Analysis

• Carbon: 70 – 73 %

• Hydrogen: 4.6 – 5.5 %

• Oxygen: 22 – 26 %

• Nitrogen: 0.6 – 1.0 %

• Sulfur: 0.6 – 1.5 %

Page 42: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Bituminous Coal

• It is the most common variety of coal.• It is black and brittle which burns and ignites readily with

yellow smoky flame.• It has low moisture content i.e. less than 10 % and carbon

content varies from 75 – 90 % where as volatile matter content is 20 – 45 %.

• Depending upon the volatile matter content, it is termed as low volatile, medium volatile and high volatile coal.

• Its calorific value based on dry mineral free basis goes up to 9000 kcal/kg.

• It is used for power generation, coke making, gasification and domestic use.

Page 43: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Composition of Bituminous coal

Proximate Analysis

• Moisture: 3.5 – 8 %

• Volatile matter: 16 – 36 %

• Fixed carbon: 49 – 72 %

• Ash: 7 – 8.5 %

Ultimate Analysis

• Carbon: 68.5 – 79.5 %

• Hydrogen: 4.5 – 5.5 %

• Oxygen: 4.5 – 16.5 %

• Nitrogen: 1 – 1.4 %

• Sulfur: 0.5 – 1 %

Page 44: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Anthracite coal

• It is most matured coal hence of highest rank.• It is hard and burns without smoke with a short non-luminous

flame.• It has high carbon content i.e. 85 – 95 % and low volatile matter

content i.e. less than 10 %.• It ignite with difficulty due to low volatile matter content.• Its calorific value may be up to 8000 to 8500 kcal/kg which is less

than bituminous coal de to its lower hydrogen and volatile matter content.

• It has sub-metallic lustre and sometime even a graphitic appearance.

• The chief use of anthracites are in boilers and metallurgical furnaces.

• On calcining it gives thermo-anthracite which is a raw material for the production of carbon electrode.

Page 45: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Composition of Anthracite coal

Proximate Analysis

• Moisture: 2.5 – 3 %

• Volatile matter: 3 – 8.5 %

• Fixed carbon: 79 – 87.5 %

• Ash: 7 – 9.5 %

Ultimate Analysis

• Carbon: 80 – 86.5 %

• Hydrogen: 2.5 – 3.5 %

• Oxygen: 3 – 4.5 %

• Nitrogen: 0.5 – 1.5 %

• Sulfur: 0.5 %

Page 46: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Significance of constituents of coal

Proximate analysis

• Moisture

• Volatile matter

• Fixed carbon

• Ash

Ultimate analysis

• Carbon

• Hydrogen

• Nitrogen

• Sulphur

• Oxygen

Page 47: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Moisture

• In general high moisture content in coal is undesirable because:– it reduces the caloric value of fuel– it increases the consumption of coal for heating purpose– it lengthens the time of heating– it increases the cost for purchase and transportation.

• Owing to its nature, origin and occurrence, coal is always associated with moisture.

• When coal is exposed to atmosphere its external moisture (free moisture) evaporates but apparently dry coal still contain some moisture (inherent moisture).

• Air-dried moisture content of coal is determined by observing loss in weight of coal sample on heating at 105 degree centigrade.

• Air-dried moisture of coal decreases with increasing rank from a value of 25% for lignite to a minimum value of 0.5% for low volatile bituminous coal.

Page 48: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Volatile matter

• Certain gases like CO, CO2, CH4, H2, N2, O2, CXHY etc, are present in coal which comes out during its heating in absence of air.

• These gases are called volatile matter of coal.• Coal with high volatile matter content:

– Ignites easily i.e. it has low ignition temperature– Burns with long smoky yellow flame– Give more quantity of coke oven gas when it is heated in absence of

air.

• Volatile matter does not include moisture of coal but it contain moisture that is formed from oxygen and hydrogen of coal during the decomposition.

• Volatile matter expressed as per cent on dry mineral matter free basis.

• Higher the volatile matter, lower the fixed carbon.

Page 49: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Ash content• Ash is the combustion product of mineral matters presents in the

coal.• It is comprises mainly of silica, alumina and ferric oxide with varying

amount of other oxide such as calcium and magnesium.• High ash content in coal is undesirable in general.• A coal with high ash content is harder and stronger and has lower

calorific value.• Ash content of coal is reduced by its washing.• Coal contains inorganic mineral substance which are converted into

ash by chemical reaction during combustion. Ash and coal are therefore not the same.

• The bulk of mineral matter of coal is due to clay or shale consisting of alumino-silicates of different composition. Other major constituents may be calcite and pyrites.

• When coal burns these mineral matter decomposed resulting loss in weight hence the ash of coal is always less than the mineral matter content.

Page 50: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Fixed carbon

• It is the pure carbon present in coal.

• Higher the fixed carbon, higher will be the calorific value.

• In anthracite where the value of volatile matter is very small, fixed carbon and total carbon are almost same.

• In other coals, fixed carbon is always less then total carbon.

Page 51: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Total Carbon

• Its mean fixed carbon plus the carbon present in the volatile matters.

• Total carbon is always more than fixed carbon in any coal.

• High total carbon coal will have high calorific value.

Page 52: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Hydrogen

• It increases the calorific value of coal. It is associated with volatile matter of coal.

• The content of coal from peat to bituminous varies between 4.5 and 6.5 and is not related to the rank of coal.

• Beyond the bituminous stage the hydrogen content sharply decreases to a value of 1 – 2% in anthracite.

Page 53: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Nitrogen

• Nitrogen in coal is present up to 1 – 3% and comes from the protein matter presents in plant.

• Presence of inert nitrogen decreases the calorific value of coal.

• However when coal is carbonized, its hydrogen and nitrogen combined thereby producing NH3

which is recovered as (NH4)2SO4 (by reacting it with H2SO4) which is a valuable fertilizer.

• Nitrogen content does not have any relation with rank of coal.

• In most coal it is between 1 – 2%.

Page 54: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Sulphur

• Though its presence increases the calorific value of coal but has several undesirable effects.

• The oxidation product of sulphur i.e. SO2 in presence of moisture cause corrosion of the equipment and cause atmospheric pollution.

• Sulphur is highly undesirable in metallurgical coal used for iron and steel making as it badly effect the properties of iron and steel.

• The sulphur content of coal has no relation to its rank or composition.

Page 55: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Oxygen

• Less the oxygen content better the coal as it reduces its calorific value.

• It decreases from lignite to anthracite.

• As the oxygen content of coal increases it moisture holding property increases.

Phosphorus & Chlorine

Page 56: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Washing of coal

• Most of the coal when mined contain impurities associated with it which must be removed before the coal is used.

• These impurities are removed from coal by washing.• Coal contain two types of impurities.

– Fixed or inherent impurities which are derived from coal forming plants and cannot be removed by washing.

– Free impurities which are adhering to the surface of coal and comprise mainly of dirt and rock particles which can be removed by washing.

• Washing of coal:– Reduces its ash content– Reduces its sulphur content– Increase its heating value– Improves its coking property

Page 57: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Principle of washing of coal

• Specific gravity of pure coal varies from 1.2 to 1.7 and that of free impurities from 1.7 to 4.9.

• The coal can be separated by its impurities by utilizing difference in specific gravity.

• If the average specific gravity of pure coal is 1.3 and it is suspended in liquid of specific gravity 1.5 then the impurities being heavier will sink in it whereas the pure coal will float.

• Washing medium used in industrial coal washing is a slurry of sand and water or that of water and iron ore.

Page 58: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Properties and testing of coal

• Determination of moisture content: A known amount of finely powdered coal sample is kept in a silica crucible and heated in a muffle furnace at 105 – 110 degree centigrade for one hour. The process of heating, cooling and weighing is repeated for number of times until the constant weight of anhydrous coal is achieved.

• Determination of volatile matter: It is the loss in weight of moisture free powdered coal when heated in crucible fitted with cover in a muffle furnace at 950 degree centigrade for 7 minutes.

• Determination of ash content: It is the weight of residue obtained after burning a weighed quantity of coal in an open crucible at 750 degree centigrade in a muffle furnace until a constant weight is achieved.

• Determination of fixed carbon: It is determined indirectly by deducting the sum total of moisture, volatile matter and ash percentage from 100

Page 59: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

• Determination of carbon and hydrogen:– A known amount of coal is burnt in a current of dry oxygen

thereby converting Carbon and hydrogen of coal into Carbon dioxide and water respectively.

– The product of combustion are then passed over weighed tubes of anhydrous calcium chloride and potassium hydroxide, which absorb water and carbon dioxide respectively.

– The increase in weight of calcium chloride tube represent the weight of water formed while increase in weight of potassium hydroxide tube represent the weight of carbon dioxide formed.

– The percentage of carbon and hydrogen then can easily be calculated.

• Determination of Nitrogen in coal:• Determination of Sulphur in coal:

Page 60: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

• Strong stainless steel vessel (25 – 30 atm).

• Provided with electrode, crucible, and oxygen inlet valve.

• Bomb placed in copper calorimeter.

• Calorimeter is surrounded by water and air jacket provided with electrical stirrer.

• Determination of Calorific Value by bomb calorimeter:

Page 61: Fuels and Combustion Lectures (GIKI)

Carbonization of Coal

Low temperature carbonization (LTC)• It carried out at 700 degree C.• It produces semi coke which is used as

smokeless domestic fuel.• Yield of coke oven gas is less due to less

cracking of hydrocarbons.• Yield of tar is high i.e. about 10% of dry

coal.• Ammonia yield is low.• Calorific value of coke oven gas is high

(6000 – 6500 kcal/kg) due to higher percentage of methane and unsaturated hydrocarbon in it.

• The tar produce is aliphatic in nature.• Coke produced is weaker, bigger in size

and more reactive.• Volatile matter content in coke is more.• Hydrogen content in coke oven gas is

less i.e. 35 – 40%.

High temperature carbonization (HTC)• It carried out at 1000 degree C.• It produces metallurgical coke for use in

blast furnace.• Yield of coke oven gas is more due to

more cracking of hydrocarbon.• Yield of tar is less i.e. about 3% of dry

coal.• Ammonia yield is more.• Calorific value of coke oven gas is less

(4200 – 4400 kcal/kg) due to lesser percentage of hydrocarbon resulting from cracking.

• The tar produce is aromatic in nature.• Coke produced is stronger, smaller is

size and less reactive.• Volatile matter content in coke is less.• Hydrogen content in coke oven gas is

more i.e. 55 – 60%).