Fuel/air ratio

What is the most meaningful way to express the controllable or independent variables For example, should current density and time be taken as the experimental variables, or are time and the product of current density and time the real variables affecting response Judicious selection of the independent variables often reduces or eliminates interactions between variables, thereby leading to a simpler experiment and analysis. Also inter-relationships among variables need be recognized. For example, in an atomic absorption analysis, there are four possible variables air-flow rate, fuel-flow rate, gas-flow rate, and air/fuel ratio, but there are really only two independent variables. 

Exhaust gas also contains small amounts of hydrogen cyanide and ammonia depending on the air/fuel ratio. 

Sulfur oxides resulting from fuel sulfur combustion often inhibit catalyst performance in Regions II, III, and a portion of Region IV (see Fig. 7) depending on the precious metals employed in the catalyst and on the air/fuel ratio. Monolithic catalysts generally recover performance when lower sulfur gasoline is used so the inhibition is temporary. Pd is more susceptible than Rh or Pt. The last is the most resistant. Pd-containing catalysts located in hotter exhaust stream locations, ie, close to the exhaust manifold, function with Httie sulfur inhibition (72—74). 

The air/fuel ratio can be varied, usually in the range 0.8 (rich) to 1.1 (lean), and a typical limit of the compression ratio is set at about 10 1 by the tendency of the engine to knock at higher ratios, leading to severe mechanical stresses in the engine components. 

The metallic catalysts for exliaust pollution control are designed to perform three functions. The air/fuel ratio employed in combustion engines creates exhaust products which are a mixture of hydrocarbons, carbon oxides, and niU ogen oxides. These must be rendered environmentally innocuous by reactions on the catalyst such as... 

If an ESP is 90% efficient for particulate removal, what overall efficiency would you expect for two of the ESPs in series Would the cost of the two in series be double the cost of the single ESP List two specific cases in which you might use two ESPs in series The gaseous effluent from a process is 30 m min at 65°C. How much natural gas at 8900 kg cal m would have to be burned per hour to raise the effluent temperature to 820 "C Natural gas requires 10 m of air for every cubic meter of gas at a theoretical air fuel ratio. Assume the air temperature is 20°C and the radiation and convection Iosm s are 10%. 

Gas velocihes can also be measured with anemometers (rotating vane, hot wire, etc.), from visual observations such as the velocity of smoke puffs, or from mass balance data (knowing the fuel consumption rate, air/ fuel ratio, and stack diameter). 

Air is normally the reference gas used in the exhaust gas sensor. If the oxygen partial pressure in the engine exhaust gas is known as a function of the engine air/fuel ratio, the theoretical galvanic potential of the sensor is easily determined by the Nernst equation. 

Application The zirconia oxygen sensor is widely used for combustion control processes and for air/fuel ratio regulation in internal combustion engines. The closed-end portion of the electrode tube is inserted into the exhaust gas stream. In the control of industrial combustion processes, no out stack sampling system is required. 

Thus there are three modifications to the a/s efficiency analysis, involving (i) the specific heats ( and n ), (ii) the fuel-air ratio / and the increased turbine mass flow (I +/), and (iii) the pressure loss term S. The second of these is small for most gas turbines which have large air-fuel ratios and / is of the order of l/IOO. The third, which can be significant, can also be allowed for a modification of the a/s turbine efficiency, as given in Hawthorne and Davis [I]. (However, this is not very convenient as the isentropic efficiency tjt then varies with r and jc, leading to substantial modifications of the Hawthome-Davis chart.)... 

The discussion below will focus briefly on the design of the graphic displays in order to illustrate the methodology used. The aim of the furnace operation (see Figure 7.15) is to achieve a specified output temperature of the crude oil. This is done by means of a master temperature controller which regulates the pressures of the fuels used. An air/fuel ratio controller regulates the flow of the combustion air, receiving as input the flow rates of the fuels... 

Diesel engines, however, operate on an unrestricted air flow at all speeds and loads to provide the cylinders with an excess air charge. This results in a very lean air/fuel ratio of approximately 90 1 to 100 1 or higher at an idle speed. At the engine s rated speed (full load maximum power output) the air/fucl ratio will drop to 20 1 to 25 1 but still provide an excess air factor here of 10 to 20 percent. This excess air supply lowers the average specific heat of the cylinder gases, which in turn increases the indicated work obtained... 

The efficiency of the three-way catalytic converter is also a function of air/fuel ratio. At the stoichiometric air/fiiel ratio of 14.7 kilograms of air per kilogram of fuel, the relative air/fuel ratio known as X equals 1.0. Figure 1 illustrates catalytic converter efficiency for each pollutant as a function of relative air/fuel ratio X (where a positive X indicates a lean mixture and a negative X indicates a rich mixture). The closer the mixture stays to stoichiometric, the more efficient the catalyst at reducing the combined emissions of the three pollutants. 

The best efficiency attainable from a gasoline engine of specified power rating depends heavily on four parameters compression ratio, air/fuel ratio, spark timing, and the fraction of the mechanical energy developed in the cylinder or cylinders devot-... 

The second important parameter affecting efficiency is air/fuel ratio. For evei y hydrocarbon fuel, there is an air/fuel ratio that, in principle, causes all the hydrogen in the fuel to burn to water vapor and all the carbon in the fuel to burn to carbon dioxide. This chemically correct proportion is called the stoichiometric ratio. 

For conventional gasoline, the stoichiometric ratio is approximately 14.7. Its precise value varies slightly with the composition of the gasoline. Maximum power is achieved with a slightly rich air/fuel ratio— say, 12.5. Maximum efficiency is achieved with a slightly lean mixture—say, 16—although this best-economy mixture ratio is somewhat dependent on combustion quality. 

Such tight mixture control is beyond the capability of the traditional carburetor. Consequently, after sorting through a number of alternatives, industry has settled on closed-loop-controlled port-fuel injection. Typically, an electronically controlled fuel injector is mounted in the intake port to each cylinder. A sensor in the air intake system tells an onboard computer what the airdow rate is, and the computer tells the fuel injectors how much fuel to inject for a stoichiometric ratio. An oxygen sensor checks the oxygen content in the exliaust stream and tells the computer to make a correction if the air/fuel ratio has drifted outside the desired range. This closed-loop control avoids unnecessary use ot an inefficient rich mixture during vehicle cruise. 

All combustion equipment (oil, gas, solid fuel) requires primary air to support combustion and secondary air to permit adequate velocities in flue ways, etc. These requirements are governed by the minimum air/fuel ratio and operating flue-way parameters. There are also published recommended minimum requirements that are generally in excess of these. 

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