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Combustion is a rapid chemical reaction between fuel
and oxygen. When combustible elements of fuel
combine with O2, heat energy comes out. During
combustion combustible elements like Carbon, Sulfur,
Hydrogen etc combine with oxygen and produce
respective oxides. The source of oxygen in fuel
combustion is air. By volume there is 21 % of Oxygen
presents in air and by weight it is 23.2 %. Although
there is 79 % (by volume) nitrogen in air but it plays
no role in combustion.Actually Nitrogen carries heat
produced during combustion to steam boiler stack. As
per combustion theory the quantity of air required
for combustion is that which provides sufficient O2 to
completely oxidize combustible elements of fuel. This
quantity of air is normally known as STOICHIOMETRIC
AIR requirement. This amount of air depends upon
the nature of fuel. STOICHIOMETRIC AIR
requirements for different fuels are obtained by
analysis of fuel and they are given in tabular form

below,
Fuel STOICHIOMETRIC AIR mass / unit mass of fuel
Bituminous Coal 11.18
Anttiasite Coal 10.7
Coke 9.8
Liquite 7.5
Peat 5.7
Residual Fuel Oil 13.85
Distillate Fuel Oil(Gas Oil) 14.48
Natural Gas(Methane Base) 17.3

Combustion of Coal
For sufficient air,

We have
already said that mass wise there is 23.2 %
O2 presents in air. Hence the amount of air required to

provide 2.67 gm of O2 is As per ideal

combustion theory, after combustion of one gm
carbon (C), product of combustion contains only 3.67
gm of CO2 and (11.5 - 2.67 =) 8.83 gm of N2
Coal Combustion for Insufficient Air

By
weight, the requirement of air for providing this much

O2 is After combustion of one gm

carbon(C), product of combustion contains only 2.33
gm of CO and (5.75 - 1.33 =) 4.42 gm of N 2. From
equation (1) and (2) it is clear that due to insufficient
air combustion, the heat lose during 1 gm of coal
combustion is (33.94 - 10.12) = 23.82 kj
Combustion of Sulfur
 So, air required

for 1 gm sulfur combustion, is So,

combustion product, after completing 1 gm of sulfur
combustion, contains 2 gm of SO2 and (4.31 - 1 = )
3.31 gm of N2
Combustion of Hydrogen

From
combustion theory of C, S and H2 it is found that 2.67
gm oxygen is required for 1 gm carbon combustion,
which implies 2.67 C gm oxygen is required for C gm
carbon, 1 gm oxygen is required for 1 gm sulfur
combustion, which implies S gm oxygen is required
for S gm sulfur and 8 gm oxygen is required for 1 gm
hydrogen combustion, which implies 8H gm oxygen is
required for H gm hydrogen.
Hence 1 gm of coal (fuel) which contains C gm
carbon, S gm sulfur and H gm hydrogen, requires
(2.67 C + S + 8 H) gm of oxygen for efficient
combustion. Some amount of oxygen may be
contained in the fuel itself in form of different
compounds and it takes part in combustion also. If O
is the original weight of the oxygen presents in 1 gm
of fuel, net requirement of oxygen for sufficient coal
combustion is (2.67 C + S + 8 H - O) gm.For that

the amount of air required is This

above mentioned analysis is called coal analysis for
combustion. Before efficient combustion can take
place, several basic requirements must be fulfilled,
most important of them are,
1. The combustion must be done with sufficient
oxygen.
2. There must be sufficient turbulence to promote
throughout mixing of combustible and oxygen.
Coal Content in Proximate Analysis
Moisture = 8 %, volatile material = 20 to 25 %, fixed
carbon = 40 %, ash = 30 %. Fixed carbon's
combustion temperature = 900C. Basic component
of ash is Si, Al and others. Now fusion temperature of
Si is 1200C. If the furnace temperature raises above
1100C then Si will be fused and deposited on the
tubes, as slag, causing improper heat transfer. Now to
dilute the temperature excess air and complete
combustion are required. Now, the volatile material
plays important role in combustion. Less the volatile
material flame will be high which may be chance for
flame impingement of S/H coil. For fulfilling the point
some practical steps to taken. In practice it is always
necessary to supply more air to the combustion
system than it is theoretically required. Reason for
that air and fuel mixing process in any combustion
system, as it is not possible to ensure complete and
intimate mixing of the fuel with the necessary oxygen
at the point of injection. So some excess air is
required for proper combustion to a reasonable
minimum power, stack loss and unburnt carbon in
ash. Generally 20% excess air is allowed.
% of Excess Air Unburnt Carbon in Ash C.V. Liberated in Furnace Unburnt Gas Loss
0% 10 % 75 % CO2, O2, N2, H2O, CO, CH
15 % 2% 97 % CO2, O2, N2, H2, CO(1 %)
100 % 0.5 % 99.5 % CO2, O2, N2
Third process is unsatisfactory for extra fan power
and convey huge amount of heat. The coal particles
should be at least 74 microns in 200 mesh. So
pulveriser is required for
1. Better utility of coal
2. Saving of time.
There are mainly three losses occurred during coal
combustion,
1. Unburnt gas loss
2. Dry flue gas loss
3. Combustible in ash loss.
Unburnt Gas Loss
Remember the unburnt gas loss is mainly the result of
burning carbon to carbon monoxide instead of carbon
dioxide. It is seen that heat release in CO reaction is
one third of that in CO2 reaction. So adequate supply
of oxygen or excess air will quickly reduce this loss to
zero.
Dry Flue Gas Loss
A further loss of heat is that due to dry flue gas. It is
often referred to as the stack loss. If more excess air
is admitted, this loss increases.
Combustible in Ash Loss
This loss is very high when there is little or no excess
air because mixing of combustible material and
oxygen is so poor. As the air quantity is increased, the
loss falls rapidly. However it does not reach to "zero"
because the loss depends upon two factors firstly on
air - coal mixture and secondly on fineness of
pulverized coal grain. More fine grain of pulverized
coal helps to complete combustion more perfectly and
resulting less combustible in ash loss. In practice,
though, a stage is reached where it is not worth
grinding the coal any finer because it will cost more to
grind than the extra heat release. Practically the loss
does not reach to zero. generally a high volatile coal
is crushed until 75 % of its bulk passes through a 200
mesh whereas a low volatile coal is crushed until 80
% passes through similar mesh. The loss gets less as
excess air is added, reaches a minimum and then
increases as still more excess air is added. Thus there
is only one quantity of excess air which will give lower
loss for the combustion of a particular fuel. For
bituminous coal 15.5 % excess air is optimum
requirement for Coal Combustion.