FUNDAMENTALS OF

COMBUSTION

APPLICATION DATA
Combustion Overview

Combustion is one of the key concepts and control requirements for any boiler application. A general understanding of the combustion process will help the boiler
control system user in defining the combustion control
specifications.

Combustion is defined as the rapid oxidation of a fuel resulting in the release of usable heat and production of a
visible flame.1 Carbon and/or hydrogen containing substances are normally used for fuels due to their affinity for
oxygen, meaning they are easily burned.

The primary objectives of combustion control are to maintain the air/fuel ratio as close as possible to the ideal stoichiometric relationship to maximize efficiency while also
preventing a fuel-rich environment to maintain safety and
minimize emissions, with NOx in particular gaining more
and more attention. Modern control system designs allow the user to effectively walk this tightrope of operating
constraints.

Carbon plus oxygen burn to form carbon dioxide plus heat.

C + O2 CO2 + Heat

Photo/drawing courtesy of Coen Co., and

ABCO Industries, Inc., a subsidiary of
Peerless Mfg. Co.

Combustion Control Objectives

When burned with oxygen, hydrogen forms water vapor

plus heat:
2H2 + O2 2H2O + Heat
When natural gas (methane) is burned with oxygen, both
carbon dioxide and water are formed:
CH4 + 2O2 CO2 + 2H2O + Heat
In this case, one cubic foot of methane and two cubic feet
of oxygen are the perfect, or stoichiometric, mixture of
fuels. In typical industrial applications, oxygen is seldom
used due to its relatively high cost and lack of availability.
Air is available in unlimited quantities and is composed of
approximately 20% oxygen and 80% nitrogen with other
trace gases. Assuming complete combustion of a pure
methane fuel and no trace gases in the air, the stoichiometric equation becomes:
CH4 + 2O2 + 8N2
CO2 + 2H2O + 8N2 + 1000 BTU Heat
Similarly, if propane (C3H8) is used as the fuel, then
C3H8 + 5O2 + 20N2
3CO2 + 4H2O + 20N2 + 2500 BTU Heat

Combustion Technology Manual. Fourth edition, 1988 by IHEA

(Industrial Heating Equipment Assoc.)

We're Siemens. We can do that.

TM

Combustion Control Balancing

Efficiency, Safety and Emissions

If the ideal, stoichiometric ratio of fuel and air used, the

combustion equation can be shown as
1 GAS + 10 AIR CO2 + 2 H2O + 8N2 + HEAT

Incomplete combustion yields carbon monoxide and hydrogen in the flue gas that indicates the fuel is not being
fully utilized. This reduces the combustion efficiency and
raises the flue gas emission levels. Neither effect is desirable. In addition, if the fuel-rich environment persists
or exists when a spark occurs, an explosion within the
combustion chamber may occur.

If an excess amount of air is used, then the equation becomes

Three main factors affect the combustion efficiency: time,

turbulence and temperature. As each is increased, the
combustion reactions move further toward completion
since the reactants have more contact (from time and
turbulence) and the reaction rate increase with temperature. Since perfect mixing is rarely achieved, a certain
amount of excess air is required to attain complete combustion.

Excess Air
Air is the most important factor in a combustion system
and most systems are designed for their air handling capability. As a rule, ten cubic feet of air at ambient conditions will release 1000 BTU per hour. If one million BTU
per hour is required, this can be achieved using
1. 10,000 cubic feet of air plus 1,000 cubic feet per
hour of natural gas.
2. 10,000 cubic feet of air plus 400 cubic feet per hour
of propane.
3. 10,000 cubic feet of air plus 8 gallons per hour of
No. 2 fuel oil.
As can be seen above, the ideal air/fuel ratio depends on
the BTU content of the fuel used. One common rule is
that you can design for approximately 1300-1400 BTU/lb
air regardless of the fuel used. Since combustion airflow
requirements can be closely estimated, based on the
heating requirement, you can use this fact as a key concept in the combustion control logic.

1 GAS + 10 AIR + Excess AIR

CO2 + 2H2O + 8N2 + Excess N2 + Excess O2 + HEAT
In this case, the excess air is being heated along with that
consumed in combustion but no additional usable energy
is released. This wastes fuel and lowers the overall combustion efficiency.
In a fuel-rich environment, an insufficient amount of air is
available for combustion. Here, the equation becomes
AIR + Excess FUEL
CO2 + 2 H2O + CO + H2 + N2 + HEAT

NOx Formation
NOx formation in combustion systems has come under
increasing scrutiny since NOx has been linked to ozone
formation and acid rain. Control of NOx emissions has
therefore become one of the dominant combustion control
objectives to consider.
Since air is the normal source of oxygen for combustion,
potential by-products that can be generated are NOx (NO
and NO2) compounds. NOx is formed during combustion
through two separate paths oxidations of nitrogen in hydrocarbon fuels create fuel NOx while at high temperatures (above 2000F), nitrogen and oxygen dissociate to
form thermal NOx
.
Several techniques have emerged to control NOx. Primarily due to cost issues, front-end preventive measures,
such as Low-NOx burners, FGR (Flue Gas Recirculation),
staged combustion and fuel switching, are considered
preferable to end-of-pipe methods like scrubbers.

Combustion Controls from

Siemens Moore
Siemens Moore Process Automation has years of experience with thousands of controllers used in combustion
applications.

Fuel Flow

Air Flow

FT

Firing Rate
Demand

FT

Air/Fuel
Ratio

f(x)

X
I

P
A

Low Limit

Low Fire

Low Fire

Purge

FCV

f(x)

Fuel Valve

Air Damper

Full-Metered, Cross-Limited Combustion Control

Siemens Moore is a member of the

American Boiler Manufactuers Association

For prompt, personal attention to your instrumentation and control needs, contact the
Siemens Moore location nearest you. Information on other Siemens Moore representatives in your area is available from these regional locations.

www.smpa.siemens.com

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We're Siemens. We can do that.TM

ADi-210 Rev 1 10/00

500 SH