Fuels are chemical substances which may be burned in oxygen to generate heat.
They mainly consist of
carbon and hydrogen and sometimes a small amount of sulfur or minerals. There are solid, liquid and
gaseous fuels. Coal and Coke are examples of solid fuels. Petroleum oils are usually a mixture of several
liquid fuels. Gaseous fuels may be a mixture of gases such as methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6) and so on.
The components before the combustion process are called reactants. The combustion process
produces new components which are called products. E.g. combustion of 1 kmol of carbon with 1 kmol of pure
oxygen will produce 1 kmol carbon dioxide:
C+O2-->CO2
Here, C and O2 are reactants and CO2 is the product. Related Topics: