Topic G

Different fuels
Choosing a fuel

For 2mins think of the reasons why a

particular fuel is chosen to be used?
Choosing a fuel

Ease of use

Safety
Ease of ignition

Cost Availability

Sootiness of
flame/toxicity
 Which fuel is best?
Characteristic Coal Petrol

Energy value High High

Look at the information
below. Availability Good Good

Storage Bulky, Volatile

Which fuel would you use dirty
for a car? Why?
Cost High High

Which for a powers Toxicity Acid Less acid

station? And why? fumes fumes
Pollution caused Acid rain, CO2, CO
CO2, soot
Include these words:
Ease of use Easier to Flows and
volatile , readily,
store ignites
ignites.
easily
Types of fuel

 There are many types of fuel.

 Most fuels are organic
compounds
 Fuels contain hydrocarbons
 In order for combustion to
occur you need to ignite it
 Only exception is our fuel for
our body- carbohydrates
 Fuel + oxygen -> carbon
dioxide + water
 Crude oil is a mixture of
hydrocarbons H-C-H-H-H

 Crude oil was made from the bodies of plankton,

compressed over 250-650 million years

 It is a gloopy thick mixture of lots of different oils

 It is a FINITE resource- it will run out
 It is NON-RENEWABLE- we cannot make it again
 Most of the hydrocarbons in crude oil are alkanes which
are saturated hydrocarbons- there are only single bonds
between C’s
 The alkanes are a homologous series
 The alkanes in crude oil range from 1 carbon atom, up to
60
Fractional
distillation
 This separates the hydrocarbons into
fractions that we can use
 Crude oil is heated
in a column and the
fractions separate
as they are cooled as
they travel upwards
The gases with the lowest
Boiling points collect at
The top- the highest fractions
Are used as fuels
Fractions and their uses
 Using alcohols as fuels
 Alcohols are another
homologous series of organic
compounds
 Also made from carbon,
hydrogen and oxygen
 Have an OH group
 Small number of carbons- make
good fuels
 Burn more cleanly than petrol
 Methanol and ethanol can also
be obtained from renewable
sources to conserve fossil fuels
such as crude oil
 Hazards of fuels
 Toxicity-> some fuels are toxic to humans eg methanol.
Attacks CNS and may need to coma, blindness and
death.
 Flammability-> many fuels are flammable and containers
need to display the appropriate hazard symbols.
 Risk of explosion-> If a gaseous fuel or vapour is released
in the air, a spark could cause an explosion
 Particulates-> Soot forms when you burn hydrocarbons
which can cause global dimming, meaning less sunlight
can reach the Earth. Can cause respiratory disorders
 Pollution from Sulfur-> Fuels all contain some sulphur
impurities eg petrol. When burnt they can produce
sulphur dioxide
Combustion

What is combustion?

What do you need for combustion of a

fuel to take place?
Combustion, fuels and hydrocarbons
When a substance burns,
it is said to combust.

Combustion is a rapid
reaction between a
substance and oxygen
that releases heat and
light energy.

A fuel is a substance that reacts with oxygen (combusts) to

release useful energy.
Many fractions obtained from crude oil are used as fuels
because they contain hydrocarbons that burn easily and
release a large amount of useful energy.
Complete combustion of hydrocarbons
Plenty of air is needed to provide enough oxygen for a
hydrocarbon fuel to burn completely.

The blue flame of a gas hob

or a Bunsen burner is an
example of complete
combustion of a hydrocarbon
(in this case, natural gas).

What are the products of the

complete combustion of a hydrocarbon?

carbon
hydrocarbon + oxygen 
dioxide
+ water
Complete combustion of propane
Propane is a hydrocarbon used in camping gas. What is the
equation for its combustion?

carbon
propane + oxygen  dioxide
+ water

C3H8 + 5O2  3CO2 + 4H20

How would the equations change if butane was used?

Write the word and balanced chemical equation in your book.
Products of combustion
 Incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons
If there is a shortage of air (oxygen), incomplete combustion
of hydrocarbons takes place.

Instead of producing just carbon dioxide

and water, incomplete combustion also
produces carbon monoxide and/or
carbon (soot). It also releases less
energy than complete combustion.

Carbon monoxide is a poisonous gas because it reduces the

ability of blood to carry oxygen.

carbon
hydrocarbon + oxygen  monoxid + water
e
 Problems with fossil fuels
- Non-renewable.
- Contributes to the greenhouse effect because it produces CO2.
- Coal contains sulfur (sulphur).
- Burning coal releases S, combines with O2  SO2 (sulphur dioxide).
- Sulphur dioxide and rainwater  sulphuric acid= acid rain= damage to
trees, wildlife, buildings, statues.

- Sulfur dioxide is
Buncefield Fire
 https://vimeo.com/2506111
 How much energy comes
from burning fuels?
At the end of the lesson, you should
be able to:
1. Describe how we can measure
the energy produced by different
fuels
2. Be able to state the unit of
energy
3. Be able to calculate the energy
given off when a fuel is
combusted (in kJ/mole) from
given data
Units of energy
 Calorie- the energy needed to raise the
temperature of water by 1ºC
 Joule- measure of the work done when a force of 1
Newton moves 1m
 Kilowatt hour- unit of energy used by a 1kW
appliance in 1 hour

 Normally we use kJ or kcal

 Method
1. Put 100 cm3 of water in the calorimeter.
2. Record the temperature of the water.
3. Clamp the calorimeter in position about 10 cm
above the protective mat.
4. Find the mass of a spirit burner containing an
alcohol.
5. Place the burner under the calorimeter and light
the wick.
6. Place the heat shield around the apparatus.
7. Stir the water with the thermometer.
8. Stop heating when the temperature has risen by
20 °C.
9. Replace the cap on the burner.
10. Reweigh the burner as soon as possible.
11. Keep noting the temperature – record the highest
value reached.
12. If you can, repeat the experiment with other
 Calculation
1. Find out the amount of energy transferred to the water:
Energy (J) = m(water)xSHC(water)xtemp change
Energy (J) = 100 x 4.2 x 20 = 8 400J
Energy (kJ) = 8.4 kJ
2. Work out the mass of fuel burnt:
Mass of burner (before) – mass of burner (after)

For example: if the burner and ethanol fuel

had a mass of 196.5g before and 195.4 g
after.
 Calculation

3. Number of moles of fuel burned:

You need to know the mass of the fuel burned and
the molar mass.
For example: mass of ethanol = 1.1 g
Mr of ethanol =

Ethanol (CH3CH2OH):
(12x2) + 16 + 6 =
46 g/mole
Moles of ethanol (CH3CH2OH) = mass / molar
mass
Calculation

4. Divide the energy transferred to the water by

the number of moles of alcohol to find the
enthalpy change of combustion (ΔH).
For example:
Energy transferred to water = 8.4 kJ
Moles of ethanol burned = 0.024
moles

Enthalpy change of combustion (ΔH) = 8.4 /

0.024
Enthalpy change of combustion (ΔH) = 350
kJ/mole
 What is Really Happening?
1. Write a word equation for the reaction between the alcohol and
oxygen (the first has been done for you)
methanol + oxygen  carbon dioxide + water
CH3OH (l) +
2. Where did the energy come from that was transferred to the
water?
1 O2 (g) CO2 (g)
2
½ + H2O(l)

All of the bonds in the reactant

molecules are broken and all of
the bonds in the product
 The Energy in our Food…
 We can find the energy in our food in a
very similar way, if we can make it burn:

Food Energy per

100g 1. What nutrient
type is present in
Bread 1,200 kJ the three most
Chocolate 2,240 kJ ‘high energy’
biscuit foods?
2. What sort of
Butter 3,310 kJ problems do
Apple 160 kJ scientists face,
when trying to
Celery 32 kJ
measure these
Sausages 1,450 kJ values accurately?
(fried)
 Example
Jezebel burned some propanol Step 1:
(C3H7OH). She set up her equipment.
Heat change = m x C
She added 100g of water to a copper
calorimeter (100ml). x ΔT
She weighed her mass of fuel and the
burner before the experiment; it had = 100 x 4.2 x 30
a mass of 193.45g. = 12600 J
She allowed the fuel to raise the = 12.6 kJ
temperature of the water by 30.C.
She weighed her mass of fuel and the Step 2:
burner after the experiment; it had a Mass of fuel burned
mass of 192.55g.
How can she calculate a ΔH for the = 193.45 – 192.55
fuel (in kJ/mole)?
= 0.90 g
 Example
Jezebel burned some propanol Step 3: Moles of fuel
(C3H7OH). She set up her equipment.
burned
She added 100g of water to a copper
calorimeter (100ml). Mr (propanol)
She weighed her mass of fuel and the
burner before the experiment; it had = 60 g/mole
a mass of 193.45g. n = m/M = 0.90/60
She allowed the fuel to raise the = 0.015 moles
temperature of the water by 30.C.
Step 4: Heat change
She weighed her mass of fuel and the
burner after the experiment; it had a (kJ/mole)
mass of 192.55g.
How can she calculate a ΔH for the = 12.6/0.015
fuel (in kJ/mole)? = 840 kJ/mole
YOUR TURN…

These are the techniques that you can use to

work out the heat changes (in kJ/mole) for
chemical reactions. It is a classic Higher Tier
CHEM3 skill.
Have a go at a few examples yourself now.

Prove these
answers are
correct!
Q1: 2565
kJ/mole
Q2: 2800
kJ/mole