Engineering Chemistry

Reference Books
1. Organic Chemistry, Vol. I & Vol. II; I L Finar, Pearson Education.
2. Organic Chemistry; T M Graham Solomons & Craig B Fryhle, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
3. Principles of Corrosion Engineering & Corrosion Control, Zaki Ahmad; Chem E, Elsevier.
4. Fuel Science &Technology Hand Book, James G Speight; Marcel Dekker, New York.
5. Modern analytical chemistry, David Harvey, McGraw Hill.

Text Books
1. P.C. Jain and Monika Jain, Engg. Chemistry, Dhanpat Rai and Sons, Delhi, Revised,
2006.
2. S.S. Dara and S.S. Umare, Engg. Chemistry, S. Chand & Company Ltd., 2010.
3. J.C. Kuriacose, J. Raja ram, Chemistry in Engg. and Technology, Vol I/II Tata McGraw –
Hill(TMH), New Delhi 1988.
4. C.V. Agarwal, Chemistry of Engg. Materials, Tata Publications, Varanasi, 6th Edn. 1979.
5. B. Sivasankar, Engineering Chemistry, TMH, 2008.
6. S.K. Singh, Engineering Chemistry, New Age International ( P ) Limited, 2008.
Chemical Fuels
 Introduction
Fuel –defined as any combustible substance which is obtainable in bulk,
which may be burnt in atmospheric air in such a manner that the heat
evolved is capable of being economically used for domestic and industrial
purposes for heating and generation of power.

Fuel + O2 Combustion products + Heat

Ex.

C (s) + O2 (g) CO2 (g) + Δ H = - 94.1 Kcal/mol

H2 + ½O2 H2O + Δ H = -67.5 Kcal/mol

During the process of combustion, the atoms of carbon, hydrogen etc.

combine with oxygen with the simultaneous liberation of heat at a rapid
rate.
Energy is liberated due to rearrangement of valence electrons.
 Classification of Fuels
These can be classified on the basis of their occurrence and physical state

(A) On the basis of occurrence they are of two types:

Primary Fuels: Fuels which occur in nature as such are called primary fuels.
E.g., wood, peat, coal, petroleum, and natural gas.
Secondary Fuels: The fuels which are derived from the primary fuels by further
chemical processing are called secondary fuels. E,g., coke, charcoal, kerosene,
coal gas, producer gas etc.

(B) On the basis of physical state these may be classified as:

 Solid Fuels
 Liquid Fuels
 Gaseous Fuels
 Table-1. Classification of Fuels

Physical state Primary fuel Secondary fuel

Solid Wood, Peat, Charcoal, Coke

Coal, Lignite

Liquid Crude petroleum Petrol, Kerosene,

Diesel, Synthetic
petrol

Gas Natural gas Producer gas,

Water gas, Coal gas,
Biogas, LPG
Characteristics of a Good Fuel
• High calorific value
• Moderate ignition temperature
• Low moisture content
• Low content of non-combustible matter
• In case of solid fuel, the ash content should be
less and the size should be uniform.
• Readily available in bulk at low cost
• Products of combustion should not be harmful
• Combustion should be easily controllable
• It should be safe, convenient and economical for
storage and transport
 Units of heat

The quantity of heat can be measured in the following units:

(i) Calorie: It is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the
temperature of 1gm of water by 1oC
1 calorie = 4.184 Joules
(ii) Kilo Calorie: 1 k cal = 1000 cal
(iii) British thermal unit: (B. Th. U. or B.T.U) It is defined as the amount of
heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water through 1oF.
1 B.T.U = 1,054.6 Joules
(iv) Centigrade heat unit (C.H.U): It is defined as the amount of heat
required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water through 1oC.

Interconversion of the various units of heat:

1K cal = 1000 cals = 3.968 B.T.U = 2.2 C.H.U.

1 B.T.U. = 252 Cal = 0.252 k cal

Calorific value: It is defined as the total quantity of heat liberated when a
unit mass of a fuel is burnt completely
Units of Calorific value:

These units can be interconverted as follows:

1 cal/g = 1 K cal/Kg = 1.8 B.Th.U./Ib
1 K cal/m3 = 0.1077 B.Th. U./ft3
1 B.Th.U./ft3 = 9.3 Kcal/m3
Gross and net calorific Value
Gross Calorific Value: It is the total amount of heat generated when a unit
quantity of fuel is completely burnt in oxygen and the products of
combustion are cooled down to the room temperature.
As the products of combustion are cooled down to room temperature, the
steam gets condensed into water and latent heat is evolved. Thus in the
determination of gross calorific value, the latent heat also gets included in the
measured heat. Therefore, gross calorific value is also called the higher
calorific value.
The calorific value which is determined by Bomb calorimeter gives the higher
calorific value (HCV)
Net Calorific Value: It is defined as the net heat produced when a unit
quantity of fuel is completely burnt and the products of combustion are
allowed to escape.
The water vapour do not condense and escape with hot combustion gases.
Hence, lesser amount than gross calorific value is available. It is also known as
lower calorific value (LCV).
LCV=HCV-Latent heat of condensation of the water vapours formed
= HCV – (Mass of hydrogen per unit weight of the fuel burnt × 9 × latent
heat of vaporization of water)
LCV= HCV-Latent heat of condensation of the water vapors formed
= HCV – (Mass of hydrogen per unit weight of the fuel burnt × 9 × latent
heat of steam)

1 part by weight of hydrogen gives 9 parts by weight of water as follows:

H2 + O H2O
2g 8g 18 g
1g 8g 9g

The latent heat of steam is 587 Cal/g (or Kcal/Kg) or 1060 B.Th.U./Ib of water
vapor produced.

Net C.V. or L.C.V = Gross C.V. – 9 × H/100 × 587

= Gross C.V. – 0.09 × H × 587

Where H = % of hydrogen in the fuel.