Fuels and Exhaust
Fuels and Exhaust
Fuels and Exhaust
Fuel: Fuel is a substance that react with oxygen easily and produces large amount of heat. Three types:
Solid – Wood, Coal, Charcoal; Liquid – Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene; Gaseous: Natural gas, Hydrogen.
Desired Characteristics of ICE Fuels: Fuel should mix with air easily, combustion must be fast,
starting of engine should be fast and reliable at any ambient condition, should not deposit carbon
shoot during combustion and must not produce harmful gas during combustion.
Source of Fuel (crude Oil): Petroleum fuel which is a mixture of many hydrocarbon (83% - 87%
C and 11 – 14 % H2 by weight) compounds with traces of some other species produced by
fractional distillation using thermal or catalytic cracking method. It is possible to convert almost
entire crude oil into gasoline and diesel, but not economically feasible.
Combustion: It is the process of burning fuels. Before understanding combustion we should know
about some temperatures at which the combustion occurs.
Flash Point: The temperature at which an air fuel mixture produces a non-sustainable flame
in presence of external spark. For diesel the flash point is 550C, for petrol it is -400C, for
kerosene 300C.
Fire Point: The temperature at which an air fuel mixture produces a sustainable flame in
presence of an external spark.
Self-Ignition Temperature (SIT): The temperature at which an air fuel mixture produces a
sustainable flame without the presence of external spark.
Stoichiometric Mixture: It is the chemically correct mixture for combustion; 14.7:1 for octane.
Rich Mixture: Higher amount of fuel is used for starting and acceleration.
Lean Mixture: Lower amount of fuel is used in economic speed limit.
Cetane rating: It indicates the ignition quality of diesel. It is a measure of ignition delay, the
time between start of fuel injection and ignition (start of combustion). It denotes the percentage
(by volume) of cetane (chemical name Hexadecane rated as 100) in a combustible mixture
(containing cetane and 1-methylnapthalene or heptamethylnonane rated as 15) whose ignition
characteristics match those of the diesel fuel being tested. Since diesel relies on CI, the fuel
readily auto ignite; the quicker the better. In case of diesel, an engine must start quickly, run
quietly with less chatter and should have improved fuel efficiency, less harmful emission, lesser
wear and tear on the starter and battery as well as quicker pumping of the lubricating oil
throughout the system. Usual rating of highway diesel is 45 to 55.
Families of ICE Fuels
Paraffin (alkane): Open channel (aliphatic) HC structure, CnH2n+2. Critical compression ratio for
knock in SIE decreases as the length of the normal member increases. In CIE it’s opposite.
Knock rating of fuels are in rough proportion to SIT. Thus cetane has the low SIT, good for CIE.
Olefin (alkene): Open chain structure, CnH2n. Physical properties similar to paraffin; clean
burning and higher octane rating. Readily unite with H to form paraffin or naphthene. Reacting
with O, they form an undesirable residue, gum that can cause smog.
Di-olefin: 2 double bonds, CnH2n-2. These are undesirable fuel components, upon storage react
with O that lead to coloring of the fuel and formation of a cloudy gum.
Naphthene or cycloparaffin (cyclane): Same general formula like olefin, but are saturated, ring
structured compounds; desirable component of motor gasoline.
Aromatic (benzene derivatives): These are excellent gasoline fuels, can be selectively produced
by cracking with catalysts or heat (12000 F). Benzene or benzol is a good blending agent to raise
the octane rating of low grade fuels. Aromatics have high density of HC, so high heating value
per unit volume. These fuels are stable in storage, smoky in burning with high solvency power.
Alcohol: A partial oxidation product of petroleum with chain structure, R-OH, where R is the
paraffin group. They have good anti knock qualities with octane rating greater than 100.
However, they have low heating values (methanol – 20 MJ/ kg and ethanol – 27 MJ/ kg), absorb
water from atmosphere.
Gas: Natural gas can be associated or unassociated. Composition varies widely, with methane
predominating – 60 to 98% and with percentages of ethane and other paraffin along with CO,
He, and N2. Presence of H2S is termed as ‘sour gas’; otherwise sweet gas. Before entering
pipeline the gas must be sweetened, dehydrated and liquid HC removed. Synthetic or substitute
natural gas (SNG) is produced from solid wastes, petroleum crudes/ fractions, or coal. Natural
gas and LPG are excellent fuels for SIE, home and gas-diesel with low emission pollutants. LNG
and CNG (20 -25 MPa) are two other versions of natural gas.
Modern gasoline: Some butane or propane is added with gasoline to achieve the desired vapor pressure.
Two important properties are volatility and octane number. The fuel should an octane rating that fit the
engine requirements. Two octane no. RON (research octane no.) and MON (motor octane no.) are used;
the former is higher. High octane fuels enable high compression ratio (CR) – more power output and better
efficiency. Typically, a CR of 7.5 requires 85 octane fuel, while a 10.0 would require 100 octane fuel.
Volatility is expressed in terms of volume % that is distilled at or below a certain temperature. If the fuel is
too volatile it will readily start the engine, but will cause vapor lock at high ambient temperature. The
difficulty of hot restarting, called percolation, can be due to the excess evaporation of the fuel or supply of
very rich mixture to the engine. If volatility is too low, it will be difficult to start the engine especially at
low ambient temperatures. In general, the fuel with lowest temperature is the best. Dilution of the lube oil
may occur when fuel condenses or fail to vaporize in the engine. In order to reduce knocking MTBE or
TBA is mixed with gasoline. Phosphorus and boron compounds are mixed to reduce surface ignition and
spark plug fouling. Antioxidants (amines) of amount 0.5 to 6.5 kg per 1000 bbl (159 L) are used.
Detergents like alkyl amine phosphates of amount 5 kg per 1000 bbl is used to prevent deposits in
carburetor and manifold.
Characteristics of CIE fuels
The most important property is the cetane no. which indicates how readily the fuel ignites. The mixture of
cetane (hexadecane, C16H34) having a rating of 100 and heptamethylnonane (HMN) with rating 15 is
matched in the test engine with the actual engine. The fuel should not produce smoke or odor after
combustion. It also should not cause corrosion and wear before or after combustion – directly related to
sulphur ash and residue contents of the fuel. Fuel should readily flow under all conditions, handling ease –
related to pour point and viscosity, and also should have high flash point. Additives used to improve cetane
no. are referred to as ‘ignition accelerators’. By adding 1% v/v of amyl nitrate (C5H11ONO2) the cetane
no. is increased by 6; ethyl nitrate (C2H5ONO2) also used for the same. Ignition delay mostly occurs at
slow speeds because of reduced temperature and pressure – cold starting could be a problem, under severe
conditions heaters may be needed also excess fuel may be used. Sometimes volatile fuels with high cetane
no. such as ether, can be used. Derived from coal and vegetable oil can also be used as diesel.
Tests for diesel
Heating Value – determined by burning the fuel with oxygen in a bomb calorimeter by noting the
temperature rise of the cooling bath. Two heating values HHV (higher heating value) and LHV (lower
heating value) differ by the heat of water vapor condensed.
Flash point – found by heating the fuel slowly and then sweeping a flame across the surface of the liquid;
imp. for safety purpose and serves as a measure of fire hazard.
Ignition quality – ability of the diesel to ignite by itself under the conditions existing in the cylinder (even
at low temp.). Pour point also needed to be checked. A fuel with higher volatility is needed to overcome
the situation.
Exhaust Gas
Exhaust gas emitted as a result of combustion of fuel inside the engine contains the following
components: nitrogen, carbon di oxide, carbon mono oxide, water vapor, unburned hydrocarbon,
nitrogen oxide, sulphur di oxide, particulate matter and some unwanted components.
Exhaust gas treatment: In the crankcase—the portion of the engine block below the cylinders
where the crankshaft is located—leaked combustion gases are combined with ventilating air and
returned to the intake manifold for re-burning in the combustion chamber. The device that
performs this function is known as the positive crankcase ventilation valve, or PCV valve. The
particulate in the exhaust can be removed by passing the gases through a filter. Catalytic
converter can reduce the most of the harmful gases in two stages – using reduction catalyst and using
oxidation catalyst.
Stage 1 – Reduction Catalyst
The exhaust gases are first sent over the reduction catalyst (which is made of platinum and
rhodium). It converts oxides of nitrogen (NOx) to nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2).The following
reactions take place when the exhaust gases pass over the reduction catalyst:
2NO → N2 + O2
2NO2 → N2 + 2O2
The reduction catalyst simply rips off nitrogen and oxygen from the oxides of nitrogen. As
nitrogen and oxygen are harmless gases while oxides of nitrogen are really harmful to the
environment.
Stage 2 – Oxidation Catalyst
Exhaust gases that are free of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) are then sent over the oxidation catalyst
(made of platinum and palladium). The oxidation catalyst coverts carbon-monoxide (CO) and
hydrocarbons (HC) in the gases into carbon-di-oxide (CO2) and water (H2O).
The following reactions takes place when the exhaust gases pass over the oxidation catalyst:
2CO + O2→ 2CO2
HC + O2 → CO2 + H2O
Presently usual engine exhaust is not treated for sulphur reduction. However, in large power
plant or in ship it can be reduced. The exhaust gas from the engine is passed through the scrubber
tower where a liquid is showered over it. Fresh water blended with caustic soda (NaOH) is used
as a scrubbing liquid which reduces the SOx by 95%. The scrubbing water is then sent to a water
treatment effluent emulsion breaking plant after which it can be discharged.
Positive crankcase ventilation (PCV)