INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

(SKMV 3413)

Dr. Mohd Farid bin Muhamad Said

Room : Block P21, Level 1, Automotive
Development Centre (ADC)
Tel : 07-5535449
Email: [email protected]
 THERMOCHEMISTRY

• IC engine obtains their energy from the combustion of a

hydrocarbon fuel with air.
• The combustion process converts chemical energy of the fuel to
internal energy in the gases within the engine.
• This internal energy is then converted to the rotating crankshaft
output by the mechanical linkages of the engine.
• There are many thousands of different hydrocarbon fuel
components  Consist mainly of hydrogen and carbon.

May also contain oxygen (alcohols),

nitrogen, sulfur, etc.
 THERMOCHEMISTRY

• The maximum possible amount of chemical energy is released

from the fuel, when it reacts with a stoichiometric amount of
oxygen.
• Stoichiometric oxygen is just enough to convert all carbon in the
fuel to CO2 and all hydrogen to H2O  with no oxygen left over.
• The balanced chemical reaction of the simplest hydrocarbon fuel
(methane) burning with stoichiometric oxygen is 

CH 4  2 O2  CO2  2 H 2O
• If the isooctane is the fuel component, the balanced
stoichiometric combustion with oxygen is 

C8 H18  12.5 O2  8 CO2  9 H 2O

 THERMOCHEMISTRY

• In balancing a chemical equation, molar quantities are used.

mNM
m  mass
N  number of moles
M  molecular weight

1 kgmole of CH4 = 16 kg
1 kgmole of O2 = 32 kg
 THERMOCHEMISTRY

• Air is used as the source of oxygen to react with fuel.

• Atmospheric air is made up of about 
78%  nitrogen (by mole)
21%  oxygen
1%  argon
- Traces of CO2, Ne, CH4, He, H2O, etc.
• Nitrogen and argon are chemically neutral and do not react in the
combustion process, but affect the temperature and pressure.
• To simplify calculations, argon is assumed to be combined with
nitrogen.
• So, the atmospheric air can be modeled as 21% O2 and 79% N2.
 THERMOCHEMISTRY

• For 1 mole of O2, there are 0.79/0.21 moles of N2.

• For every mole of O2 needed for combustion, 4.76 moles of air
must be supplied  (1 mole of O2 plus 0.79/0.21 moles of N2).
• Stoichiometric combustion of methane with air is then 

CH 4  2 O2  2 (3.76) N2  CO2  2 H 2O  2 (3.76) N2

• The combustion of isooctane with air is then 

C8 H18  12.5 O2  12.5 (3.76) N 2  8 CO2  9 H 2O  12.5 (3.76) N 2

 THERMOCHEMISTRY

• The molecular weight of air  29 kg/kgmole

• Combustion can occurs:

 Stoichiometric
 Lean (more than stoichiometric air is present)
 Rich (less than stoichiometric air is present)

• If methane is burned with 150% stoichiometric air, the excess O2

is found in the product.

CH 4  3 O2  3 (3.76) N2  CO2  2 H 2O  3 (3.76) N2  O2

 THERMOCHEMISTRY

• If isooctane is burned with 80% stoichiometric air, there is not

enough O2 to convert all the carbon to CO2.
• So, CO is found in the products.

C8 H18 10 O2 10 (3.76) N 2  3 CO2  9 H 2O 10 (3.76) N 2  5 CO

• CO is a colorless, odorless, poisonous gas which can be further

burned to form CO2.
• CO is formed in any combustion process when there is a
deficiency of O2.
• Some of the fuel will not get burned when there is a deficiency of
O2.
• This unburned fuel ends up as pollution in the exhaust.
 THERMOCHEMISTRY

• For actual combustion in an engine, the equivalence ratio is a

measure of the FA mixture relative to stoichiometric conditions.

  FAact FAstoich   AF stoich  AF act

  1 , running lean, oxygen in exhaust
  1 , running rich, CO and fuel in exhaust
  1 , stoichiometric, maximum energy released
FA  m f ma  fuel - air ratio
AF  m f ma  air - fuel ratio
ma  mass of air
m f  mass of fuel

• SI normally operates with  in the range of 0.9 to 1.2.

Example 1

Isooctane is burned with 120% stoichiometric air (theoretical air) in a

small three-cylinder turbocharged automobile engine. Calculate:

1) AF ratio
2) FA ratio
3) Equivalence ratio
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

• Crude oil was first discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859.

• Crude oil is made up almost entirely of carbon and hydrogen with
some traces of other species.
• Crude oil  Carbon : 83% ~ 87%
Hydrogen : 11% ~ 14%
• Crude oil mixture from the ground is separated into components
products by cracking and /or distillation  using thermal or
catalytic methods at an oil refinery.
• Cracking  process of breaking large molecular components into
more useful components of smaller molecular weight.
• Distillation  to separate the mixtures into single components or
smaller ranges of components.
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

• The larger the molecular weight of component,

the higher is its boiling temperature.
• Low boiling temperature components (smaller
molecular weights) are used for solvents and
fuels (gasoline).
• High boiling temperature components (large
molecular weights) are used for tar and asphalt
or returned to the refining process for further
cracking.
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

• Crude oil obtained from different parts of the world contains

different amounts and combinations of hydrocarbon
species.
• In US  Pennsylvania crude
(high concentration of paraffins, little asphalt)
 Western crude
(high concentration of asphalt, little paraffins)
 Mideast crude
(Lower molecular weight, almost gasoline)
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

• Various components of different molecular weights will vaporize at

different temperatures.
• Small molecular weights boiling at low temperature.
• Large molecular weights boiling at higher temperature.
• Small percentage of components that vaporize at low temperature is
needed.
• This is to assure the starting of a cold engine.
• Fuel must vaporize before it can burn.
• Too much of this front-end-volatility can cause problems when the
fuel vaporizes too quickly.
• Volumetric efficiency will be reduced if fuel vapor replaces air too
early in the intake system.
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

Temperature-Vaporization Curve (Volatility

Curve) for gasoline
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

• Large percent of the fuel should be vaporized at the normal

intake system temperature during the short time of the intake
process.
• To maximize the volumetric efficiency, some of the fuel should
not vaporize until late into the compression stroke.
• This is why some high molecular weight components are
included in gasoline mixtures.
• If too much of this high-end volatility is included in the gasoline,
some of the fuel never gets vaporized and ends up as exhaust
pollution.
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

• Sometimes, the way to describe a gasoline is to use 3

temperatures. 
• 10% is vaporized
• 50% is vaporized
• 90% is vaporized

• The gasoline could be classified as 57-81-1030C.

• There is found to be little difference in the volatility curves for
a given season and location in the country.
• There is usually about a 50C shift down in temperature on the
vaporization curve for winter gasoline compared to summer.
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

Volatility Issues

• High Volatility gives:

– Good Cold Starting
– Good vaporization required for combustion

• Low Volatility gives:

– Good Volumetric Efficiency
– Prevents vapor lock
• fuel pump can not pump vapor
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

Hydrocarbon Components

• Paraffins
• Olefins
• Diolefins
• Acetylene
• Cycloparaffins
• Aromatics
• Alcohol
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

Paraffins: CnH2n+2
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

Olefins, CnH2n
One Double Carbon Bond
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

Diolefins, CnH2n-2
Double Carbon Bond

Acetylene, CnH2n-2
One Triple Carbon Bond
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

Cycloparaffins, CnH2n
Single Bond Ring
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

Aromatics, CnH2n-6
Carbon Bond Ring with
Double carbon-carbon bonds
 HYDROCARBON FUELS

Alcohol
Paraffins with one hydrogen atom
replaced with the OH radical