Combustion of Fuel

Combustion of Carbon:
C + O2 ---CO2 (carbon Di Oxide)
Relative Masses.. 12+(16x2) = 44
Same as 1+2 2/3 = 3 2/3
Thus one kg of carbon completely it requires 2 2/3 kg of Oxygen
and forms 3 2/3 kg of CO2.
This action liberates heat of 33.7 MJ/Kg of carbon
If the carbon does not burn completely then
2C + O2 --- 2CO (Carbon Mono Oxide)
Relative masses (2x12) + (16x2) … 2x28
1 + 1 1/3… 2 1/3kgs
This action liberates only 10.25 MJ/Kg of carbon
 Hence there is clearly a loss of 70% heat with
incomplete combustion.
 Combustion of Hydrogen:
 2H2 + O2 ..2H2O
 Relative Masses (2x1x2) + (16x2)…..(2x18)
 1 + 8 …. 9 (Steam)
 This process liberates heat 144.4 MJ/Kg of Hydrogen
 Sulphur Combustion S + O2…SO2 {32+(16x2)} ..64
 That is 1+1=2. This gives 9.32MJ/Kg of sulphur
burned.
 As very little sulphur present it is insignificant as heat
produced but important for corrosion reason &
emission reasons.
 Combustion of Hydrocarbons
 Consider as an example methane (CH4) -
 CH4 + 202 = CO2 + 2H2O
 16+(2x 16x2) = 44+(2x 18)
 1 +4 = 2 3/4+2 1/4

 Thus 1 kg of methane requires 4 kg of oxygen for

complete combustion and forms 2 3/4 kg of carbon
dioxide and 2 1/4 kg of water vapour
 The calorific value varies from 32.5 MJ/Kg for coal to
44.5 MJ/Kg for fuel.
 So it important you should have perfect combustion
 Combustion will only occur with in limits in the
air/fuel mixture. If too much air is supplied all the
fuel will be burnt but the excess of oxygen and
nitrogen will carry away the heat. If too little air is
supplied incomplete combustion will occur, when all
the hydrogen in the fuel will be burnt but only part of
the carbon will be burnt and other will combine with
oxygen and form carbon mono-oxide or not burning
at all. In Diesel engine it is usual to supply 100 to
200% excess air by mass though 15% is sufficient for
steady flow combustion process like boiler.
This difference has two reasons:

1.As the combustion proceeds in the diesel engine, the fuel

finds less & less air to combine with in a boiler air is
constantly being fed in.

2. More air is needed in the diesel engine as it lowers the

maximum temperature, allowing Cast iron to be used.
 Combustion Process :
 Fuel is injected into the clearance volume
towards the end of the compression stroke, as a
fine mist of very small droplets, which have a
surface area many times that of the accumulated
fuel charge. These droplets are rapidly heated by
the hot compressed air, which has a temperature
of between 550* to 650 causing vaporisation.
The vapour mixes with air and when the mixture
exceeds the spontaneous ignition temperature
(S.I.T.), combustion begins.
The process may be divided into four phases :
 1. Injection Delay.
2. Ignition Delay.
3. Constant volume combustion.
4. Constant Pressure Combustion.
 Injection Delay:
 A time lag of about 0.005 seconds occurs
between trapping the fuel charge in the pump
barrel and starting injection into the engine
cylinder.
This is due to:

a. Elasticity of high-pressure fuel lines & system,

b. Slight compressibility of the fuel charge.
c. Leakage past the pump plunger & injector needle.
d. Opening delay of the pump discharge valve &
injector needle.
In a slow speed engine the lag period is upto 5 deg
of crank angle.
In high speed engine it is about 20 deg.
Ignition Delay:
Ignition delay is another short period of time delay, which
is sufficient to account for several degrees of crank angle.
Several factors are involved:
a) Spreading and penetrating of the fuel in to the
clearance volume space.
b) Heating of the fuel to cause vaporization & then
exceeding the fuels' spontaneous ignition temperature.
c) Mixing of the fuel & air in the clearance volume
space before detonation.
Constant Volume Combustion:

Ignition occurs at T.D.C. when the fuel charge, which

has entered during the ignition delay period, burns
rapidly causing a sharp rise in cylinder pressure with
little movement of the piston occurring. Modern four
stroke engines may attain 100bar; at this point where as a
two stroke engines are likely to operate
with pressures of 75 to 98bar.
 Constant Pressure Combustion:
 The reminder of the fuel burns as it enters the
cylinder and mixes with air. The excess air and
the combustion gases prevent high temperatures
and rapid combustion so the pressure remains
about constant. Injection and combustion should
cease simultaneously at the end of this period.
 Factors Affecting Combustion:
In order to attain good combustion it is essential
that:
a) Sufficient air is supplied.
 b) Compression is high enough to give a
temperature above the spontaneous ignition
temperature.
 c) Good mixing of the air and fuel is obtained.
 All of these give problems, the factors affecting
combustion are:
 1. Atomisation.
 2. Penetration.
 3. Turbulence.
 1. Atomisation:
 The rate of heat absorption and burning depends
upon the surface area of the fuel particles. As this
must be rapid it follows that the surface area
needs to be big & this is achieved by breaking up
the fuel into small droplets. The amount of the
fuel pressure, diameter of injector nozzle holes
and the viscosity of the fuel, affect the process.
 2. Penetration.
 To use all the air in the combustion space it is
necessary to give the fuel particles sufficient
energy to enable them to penetrate to the
extremes of the space. This is controlled by the
fuel pressure, the size of the particle and the
length to diameter ratio of the nozzle hole
(From 2:1 to 5:1) the latter also controls the
angle of spray
 Turbulence:
To aid mixing of fuel with air and atomisation,
friction between the fuel & air is needed.
Friction is a function of the relative velocity
between the fuel particles and the air, and this
may be obtained by either of two methods
1. Fuel Seeks air
2. Air Seeks fuel
 a) The air is static or slow moving and the
mixing energy is obtained from the fuel
particles. Injection pressures of 200 to around
1000 bars are needed from multi-holed nozzle
injectors. Advantages are, simplicity, economy
and easier for cold starting the engine. The latter
because little air movement means reduced heat
loss to the cold liner and piston crown (also
assists in the burning of heavy fuel).
Disadvantages are in producing and sealing high
fuel pressures.
b)The air is made to swirl rapidly at the end of the
compression stroke by using a pre-designed
combustion chamber. Single holed nozzles and
lower fuel pressures are used, 70-100 bars.
Advantages are simplicity of injection, equipment
and rapid combustion (useful in high speed
engines). Disadvantages are complicated
combustion chambers and high rate of heat loss to
surroundings. Causes difficulties in cold starting,
sometimes needing cylinder combustion space
heating system.
 In practice, a combination is often used minimum
fuel pressures being used with a small degree of
swill produced by vaned inlet valves or tangentially
cut scavenge ports. Quantity of swirl causes half the
liner circumference to be traversed during
combustion.
Combustion Faults:
Detonation:
 The combustion process is regarded as a controlled
explosion with a flame front speed of about 25 m/s.
However if combustion conditions are not correct
double ignition may occur and a 'detonation' may
result. The latter occurs when the mixture is rapidly
compressed by an initial ignition and the remaining
mixture is overheated and burns almost instantaneously
(Flame speed 2000 m/s). The detonation can setup very
high pressures, temperatures and causes vibration of the
cylinder and piston. It also reduces the efficiency of the
engine as energy is absorbed producing the vibration.
 Factors affecting the combustion of fuel

 1. Viscosity of the fuel

 2. Atomisation of the fuel
 3. Penetration of the fuel
 4. Turbulence in the combustion chamber
 After Burning:
 This occurs when combustion extends into the
expansion period after the injector has closed. It is
caused by poor ignition qualities or very poor
atomization and produces high exhaust pressures and
temperatures.
 INJECTION TIMING:
 EARLY INJECTION produces high firing pressures;
late injection produces low firing pressures and high
exhaust temperatures. In both cases the engine power
is reduced.

 Viscosity of the fuel
 Viscosity or resistance to flow in a fuel oil
is important when considering combustion.
The viscosity of the fuel must be low
enough to ensure correct atomisation at the
fuel injector. Since viscosity reduces as
temperature is increased, it will be
necessary to heat the heavy fuel oil to
reduce its viscosity to about 10 cst before
atomisation for combustion
Combustion Chamber
How is the combustion chamber formed in the diesel engine?
What governs its shape?
In normal engine the combustion chamber is formed in
the space between the cylinder cover and the piston
crown. The upper part of the cylinder liner usually forms
the periphery to the space. The space of a combustion
chamber may vary between that of a spheroid and to that
of an inverted saucer that is a concave cylinder cover
with a slight convex piston crown, In opposed-piston
engines the combustion chamber will be spheroidal. The
piston crowns on the upper and lower pistons are usually
identical in form. Combustion chamber of space
mentioned are referred to as open types.
The space of a combustion chamber must be such
that all parts of the space are accessible to the fuel
sprays. If any part is not accessible, the space is
wasted and combustion has to take place in a
reduced space, which cause further difficulties
due to less air being available in the region of fuel
spray. The wasted space sometimes referred to as
parasitic volume. The space of various parts must
also be satisfactory in respect of their strength as
they must be able to withstand the pressures in the
cylinder without flexing.
With high speed engines, open combustion chambers
can create problem with high rates of pressure rise due
to the shortness of time available for injection and
combustion . To over come this problem the fuel is
injected in to a separate chamber which is connected to
the main combustion chamber by a restricted passage,
the restricted passage is at a high temperature, the fuel
sprays is long and narrow. Following injection the fuel
commences to burn in the separate chamber and issues
from the restricted passage at high velocity due to the
pressure rise in the chamber .
The fuel enters the main combustion chamber
as burning vaporized particle and combustion
is then completed. The small chamber is about
one- third of the clearance volume and is called
a pre-combustion chamber. Its use allows high
speed engine to operate over wide speed
ranges without combustion difficulties, and is a
necessity in automotive engines.
Jacket Cooling Treatment
Scaling of Jacket Water System

 Scale and deposit formation

 In areas of deposit formation, dissolved solids,
specifically Calcium and magnesium hardness
constituents can precipitate from cooling water
as the temperature increases. Deposits
accumulate on the heat transfer surfaces as
sulphates and carbonates, the magnitude of
which is dependent on the water hardness, the
dissolved solid content, local temperatures and
local flow characteristics.
 Scales can reduce heat transfer rates and lead
to loss of mechanical strength of component
parts, this can be exacerbated by the presence
of oils and metal oxides.
 The degree and type of scaling in a cooling
water circuit are determined by;
– System temperatures
– Amount of leakage/makeup
– quality of make up
– quality of treatment
 Effects of scale deposition
 The effects of scale deposition can be both
direct or indirect.
 Insulates cooling surfaces leading to;
– increased material temperatures as the
temperature gradient must increase to ensure
maintain heat flow.
– Loss of efficiency as exhaust gas temperatures
form cylinders increases
– Increased wear due to lubrication problems on
overheated surfaces
Calcium Carbonate
Appears as a pale cream, yellow deposit formed
by the thermal decomposition of calcium bi-
carbonate
Ca(HCO3)2 + Heat = CaCO3 + H2O + CO2
Copper
The presence of copper within a cooling system is
very serious as it can lead to aggressive corrosion
through galvanic action. Specific corrosion
inhibitors are contained with cooling water
system corrosion inhibitors.
Silicate Protection:
The silicate forms a protective barrier on the
metal surface. A high pH (9.5 - 10.5) is required
to keep the silicate in solution. In the event of sea
water contamination or some other mechanism
that reduces the pH the silicate is rapidly
precipitated and gross fouling can occur. Silicate
deposit is a particular problem for systems which
utilize silicate additives for corrosion protection.
 Galvanic Action
 Corrosion within cooling systems can occur if
the coolant, i.e. water, has not been properly
treated. The corrosion can take the form of
acid attack with resultant loss of metal from a
large area of the exposed surface, or by
Oxygen attack characterized by pitting. A
primary motive force for this corrosion is
Galvanic action
 Solutions Water treatment
 To remove the risk of corrosion it is necessary to
isolate the metal surface form the electrolyte. One
method would be by painting, but this is
impractical for engine cooling water passages. A
better solution would be a system which not only
searched out bare metal coating it with a
protective barrier, but also repaired any damage to
the barrier.
 for corrosion to occur four conditions must be
met;
– There must be an Anode
– There must be a cathode
– An electrolyte must be present
– An electron pathway should exits
 Corrosion Inhibitors
 Corosion inhibitors are classified on how
they affect the corrosion cell and are
placed into three catagories;
– Anodic Inhibitors
– Cathodic Inhibitors
– Combination inhibitors/organic inhibitors
 Anodic Inhibitors

 Nitrite (NO2- )- These are the most commonly

used form of treatment and operate by
oxidizing mild steel surfaces with a thin,
tenacious layer of corrosion product
(magnetite Fe3O4). Relatively high volumes of
treatment chemical are required so this method
is only viable on closed systems
 Cathodic Inhibitors
 Polyphosphate- Forms complexes with
Calcium, Zinc and other divalent ions, this
creates positively charged colloidal particles.
These will migrate to the cathodic site and
precipitate to form a corrosion inhibiting film.
The prescence of calcium is required at a
typical minimum concentration of 50ppm.
Extreme variations in pH can upset the film and
a reversion to orthophosphate will occur with
time and temperature.
 Positively charged zinc ions migrate to the
cathodic site and react with the free hydroxyl
ions to form a zinc hydroxide stable film at pH
7.4 to 8.2. If the water is too acidic the film
will dissolve and not reform. If it is too
alkaline the zinc hydroxide will precipitate in
bulk and not at the cathodic site.
 Modern treatment
 Nitrite- treatment is most effective with a high
quality water base. This treatment has scale
prevention properties and its effectiveness is
reduced by high quantities of dissolved solids.
 A modern treatment will be a Nitrite base, with a
complex blend of organic and inorganic scale
and corrosion inhibitors , alkali adjusters,
dispersants and foam suppressers. A high quality
water supply is still strongly recommended.