TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

Manila

COMBUSTION

2011

TOPICS
Basic

Concepts
Combustion
Reaction
Mass Balance
Mass and Energy
Balance

COMBUSTION
Combustion or burning
is a complex sequence
of exothermic chemical
reactions between a fuel
and an oxidant (rapid
oxidation) accompanied
by the production of
heat or both heat and
light in the form of either
a glow or a flame.

COMBUSTION
ENGINEERING
Combustion Engineering is the
application of the science of
combustion to industrial fuel
burning. Combustion engineering
is closely connected with the
chemistry of burning fuels, the
engineering laws of fluid flow and
heat transfer, and the principles of
mechanical design.

RELATED BASIC CONCEPTS

Fuel: a material that is burnt to release
heat energy, for example coal, natural
gas or oil
Oxidant: a chemical compound that
readily transfers oxygen atoms; a
substance that gains electrons in a
reduction-oxidation (redox) reaction

Liquid fuels
Combustion of a liquid fuel in an oxidizing
atmosphere actually happens in the gas
phase. It is the vapor that burns, not the
liquid. Therefore, a liquid will normally catch
fire only above a certain temperature: its
flash point. The flash point of a liquid fuel is
the lowest temperature at which it can form
an ignitable mix with air. It is also the
minimum temperature at which there is
enough evaporated fuel in the air to start
combustion.

Solid fuels
The act of combustion consists of three relatively distinct but
overlapping phases:
Preheating phase, when the unburned fuel is heated up to its flash
point and then fire point. Flammable gases start being evolved in a
process similar to dry distillation.
Distillation phase or gaseous phase, when the mix of evolved
flammable gases with oxygen is ignited. Energy is produced in the
form of heat and light. Flames are often visible. Heat transfer from the
combustion to the solid maintains the evolution of flammable vapors.
Charcoal phase or solid phase, when the output of flammable gases
from the material is too low for persistent presence of flame and the
charred fuel does not burn rapidly anymore but just glows and later
only smolders.

A GENERAL SCHEME OF POLYMER

COMBUSTION

RELATED BASIC CONCEPTS

Primary Fuel: a fuel that is found naturally on

earth without undergoing chemical processing;
naturally
occurring
resources
without
undergoing any human-made conversion or
transformation
Secondary Fuel:
a fuel derived from the
chemical processing of a primary fuel;
produced from a naturally occurring material by
a chemical treatment
Fossil fuel: formed from the organic remains of
prehistoric plants and animals, and acted upon
by anaerobic bacteria, temperature and
pressure

RELATED BASIC CONCEPTS

Renewable fuel: the fuel may be

naturally generated within a lifetime
Conventional Fuel:
the fuel for
which a particular combustor was
initially designed
Alternative Fuel: a fuel which can be
advantageously used to replace a
conventional fuel in its application

RELATED BASIC CONCEPTS

Air-Fuel Ratio: the ratio of air to fuel by

mass, weight or volume which is
significant for proper combustion of fuel
Stoichiometric Reaction: a chemical
reaction where the reactants are
completely converted to products
Equivalence Ratio: the ratio of the actual
mass of fuel to the stoichiometric value
for a certain amount of oxidant

RELATED BASIC CONCEPTS

Ultimate Analysis: determination of the

elements in a substance
Proximate Analysis: determination of
categories of compounds in a mixture
Temperature : property of an object that
determine the direction of heat flow when
the object is placed in thermal contact
with another object, C or K
Pressure : force exerted per unit area, Pa

RELATED BASIC CONCEPTS

Heating Value/Calorific Value: quantity

of heat liberated from the complete
combustion of a unit mass or unit
volume of fuel
Heat Capacity: the amount of heat
required to raise the temperature of an
object or substance one degree

RELATED BASIC CONCEPTS

Specific Heat: the ratio of the heat

required to raise the temperature of a
unit amount of substance by one degree
to that required to raise the temperature
of an equal amount of a reference
substance one degree temperature
Adiabatic Flame Temperature:
the
highest
possible
temperature
of
combustion
obtained
under
the
conditions that the burning occurs in an
adiabatic vessel, that is complete, and
that dissociation does not occur