CHAPTER 5 ELEMENTS

1. The raw materials of the heat power plant are the potential energy dormant in a fuel and oxygen
necessary to convert it to a dynamic high temperature condition.
2. A fuel is composed of chemical elements which, in rapid chemical union with oxygen, produce
combustion.
3. Combustion is that rapid chemical union with oxygen of an element whose exothermic heat of
reaction is sufficiently great and whose rate of reaction is sufficiently fast that useful quantities
of heat are liberated at elevated temperatures.
4. Carbon and Hydrogen are elements which are sought because they have the necessary heat of
formation and rate of reaction.
5. Carbon and Hydrogen are combined with others in various way, producing the fuels of
commerce.
6. Coal is the most used solid fuel for generating steam.
7. Fuel oil is the most important liquid type of fuel.
8. Fuel oil is natural, by-product and
9. Manufactured gases form the third group, but manufactured gasses are seldom employed for
they are high in cost.
10. Natural gas is widely distributed in the united states and a growing network of pipe lines making
it increasingly available to industry.
11. Natural Gas is Predominantly Methane and it occurs in underground reservoirs.
12. Crude oil accumulates over geological time in porous underground rock formations called
reservoirs
13. Crude Oil is an extremely complex mixture which contains predominantly of hydrocarbons as
well as compounds containing nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen.
14. Fuels are produced from crude oil through refining processes like distillation and chemical
cracking.
15. Chemical cracking produces a larger fraction of Internal Combustion Engine Fuel compared to
Distillation.
16. Density is defined as the mass per unit volume
17. Hydrometer is used to determine density, specific gravity or API.
18. Viscosity is defined as the Fluids resistance to flow.
19. Saybolt Viscometer can be used to determine kinematic viscosity.
20. Flash Point is the temperature at which ignition of the fuel vapors rising above the heated oil will
occur when exposed to open flame.
21. Pour Point is the minimum temperature which the fuel will no longer pour freely
22. Coal is a heterogeneous compound, difficult to define.
23. Coals constituents are always carbon, hydrogen, oxygen sulfur, nitrogen, and non-combustible
minerals which are lumped together as ash.
24. The sulfur content of coal varies from as low as 0.5% to 5%.
25. Two forms of coal analysis are used by combustion engineers.
26. The proximate analysis is a separation of coal into moisture, volatile material, fixed carbon, and
ash.
27. Proximate analysis is readily mate by thermal means.
28. Grindability index is a measure of the relative ease or difficulty of pulverizing different kinds of
coal.
29. The Hardgrove uses a standard miniature pulverizer into which is sent a definite amount of
grinding energy.
30. Hardgrove grindbility index with values 50-60 are for good bituminous coal.
31. Lower grindability index means more difficult to grind.
32. Coal with high ash fusion temperature would give stable, solid ash particle in the presence of
high furnace temperature.
33. The firing qualities of a coal are highly important when selection of the coal or combustion
equipment.
34. Slagging characteristics are dependent on ash fusion temperature and iron content.
35. Corrosive characteristics are dependent on sulfur content.
36. Ignition characteristics is the presence of certain minerals of low-ignition temperature in the
volatile.
37. Heating value tests are performed by the use of one of the standard fuel calorimeters.
38. Fuel oil is a much more homogeneous substance then coal.
39. Fuel oils heating value can be estimated using hydrometer readings.
40. The apparatus for heating value testing falls into two general categories, continuous flow and
individual sample.
41. Solid fuels are tested using individual sample.
42. Gaseous fuels are tested using continuous flow.
43. Liquid fuels are tested either individual sample or continuous flow depending on the volatility.
44. Most types of calorimeters measure the heat released by absorbing it in the water.
45. The heating value of coal is obtained either by the peroxide or oxygen bomb calorimeter.
46. The oxygen bomb calorimeter employs gaseous oxygen under pressure as oxidant and electric
ignition.
47. The bomb has a fuel tray, oxygen valve, two external electrical leads, and internal poles which
fuse wire can be connected.
48. The heat released by the ensuing combustion is absorbed by the water, by the bomb and by the
container via a small rise in temperature.
49. Proximate analysis is made by heating the coal until it decomposes successively into three of the
four complex items of the proximate analysis.
50. When sample is subjected to a temperature about 104.4 degree Celsius for an hour, the loss of
its weight indicates the moisture content.
51. When sample is subjected to a temperature about 955 degree Celsius for exactly 7 minutes (with
crucible being covered), the loss of its weight indicates the moisture and volatile matter.
52. When sample is subjected to a temperature about 760 degree Celsius until its constant weight is
reached, and only ash remains in the crucible, ash content is now known.
53. Fixed carbon can be determine by the difference between 100% and the sum of the percentage
moisture, volatile matter, and ash content.
54. Analysis of the refuse of a coal is needed after a heat balance test in order to determine the
combustible content.
55. The refuse analysis is used to determine the dry refuse per kg coal burned.
56. The combustible content of the refuse is generally assumed to have been carbon.
57. Elements (Roma)
58. Combustion is the chemical reaction in which an oxidant reacts rapidly with a fuel to liberate
stored energy as thermal energy, generally in the form of high-temperature gases.
59. Combustion is synonymous to oxidation, which is the combination of oxygen with any
combustible element or material.
60. The chemist considers combustion as a phenomenon resulting from any chemical combination
evolving heat.
61. The engineer considers combustion as the chemical union of a combustible fuel and the oxygen
in air at a rate resulting in rapid rise in temperature.
62. Generally, for complete combustion, excess oxygen or excess air must be supplied beyond the
amount theoretically required to oxidize the fuel.
63. Incomplete combustion occurs when a fuel element is not completely oxidized in the
combustion process.
64. The heat generated when a unit weight, say a kilogram of a substance, is completely burned is
known as the heating value or calorific power, of that substance.
65. Matter cannot be destroyed so all the elements participating in the reaction will be found in the
products of combustion after the fuel has been burned.
66. The reactions taking place during combustion are generally expressed by simple molecular
equations represented by symbols.
67. The relative volumes of the gaseous constituents are designated by numerical coefficients, and
the number of times the atomic weight occurs by subscripts.
68. Combustion occurs when an atom of fuel and one or more atoms of oxygen are joined through
the medium of their electrons.
69. After combustion, molecules of fuel and oxygen possess the same number of electrons as the
combining elements had originally, but the electric configuration is different its energy level is
lower.
70. Combustion zone maintained above the ignition temperature of the fuel will result in an efficient
combustion of fuel.
71. When a coal is subjected to combustion conditions, it first absorbs the heat necessary to cause
volatilization of the hydrocarbons.
72. Elements that contribute negligibly to the heating value are known as fuel impurities.
73. Moisture has no fuel value.
74. Moisture is responsible for the loss of heat energy during its evaporation and escape with the
products of combustion.
75. Ash reduces the calorific power of fuel and its removal from the furnace involves cost.
76. Ash that sticks to the boiler acts as insulator and impedes heat transfer, reducing boiler
efficiency.
77. Ash with low fusion temperatures causes clinkers.
78. Clinkers on the fuel bed clog air spaces thus reducing combustion.
79. When sulfur occurs in a free state, it contributes to the calorific power of fuel.
80. Oxygen reacts with the hydrogen of the fuel, producing moisture which reduces the heating
value of fuel.
81. Free oxygen carries away some heat as it leaves with the flue gasses.
82. Nitrogen, an inert gas decreases the heating value of the fuel by carrying part of the energy as it
escapes away from the combustion chamber or furnace.
83. When coal is heated, the organic matter of coal is pyrolyzed, and then evolves as volatile.
84. The combustion of coal is primarily the combustion of carbon as well as the volatile matter.
85. The release of the volatile matter resulting from the heating of coal belongs to the
devolatilization stage.
86. The residual char particles, enriched in carbon, containing most of the mineral matter of the
original coal and some surplus nitrogen as well as sulfur, are often spherical.
87. The basic coal combustion technology can be classified on the basis of the particle size of
burning coal and coal-feeding methods, which mainly include the coal fixed-bed combustion,
coal suspending combustion, and coal fluidized-bed combustion.
88. In early times, the coal fixed-bed combustion was the only known way of burning coal.
89. The coal bed is supported on a grate, which may be fixed or movable, and the air needed for
combustion, generally passes upward through the coal bed either by the chimney draught or by
a fan.
90. Nowadays, direct coal combustion is extensively utilized for industrial and domestic purposes
because of the large-scale reserves and low cost of coal.
91. Most of the worlds coal is burned in boilers of power plants, industrial boilers, and heat kilns.
92. Coal is known to be a dirty fuel.
93. The reaction between the char and oxygen is a gas-solid heterogeneous reaction.
94. The lowest temperature at which coal can be ignited is referred to as the ignition temperature.
95. The ignition temperature for a certain coal is variable under different conditions because of the
complexity of the ignition process.
96. Pulverized coal combustion taking place in a suspension phase was first used as a means of firing
cement kilns.
97. The theoretical weight of air is the exact theoretical amount as determined from the combustion
reaction of air needed to burn a unit amount of fuel.
98. It is the hydrocarbons which must be most carefully handled to obtain freedom from smoke and
incomplete combustion.
99. During combustion, each small piece of incandescent carbon becomes blanketed with either
carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide.
100. Continuous combustion is accomplished in stokers and on grates by moving the air past
a stationary fuel bed at high velocity induced by draft pressure.