Physics and chemistry

Coal is a complex material and, not surprisingly, coal combustion is a complex science because of the variety of physical and chemical properties of coal (Chapters 8 and 9) (Field et al., 1967 Essenhigh, 1981 Morrison, 1986 Gay and Davis, 1987 Brill, 1993 Heitmann, 1993). In addition, it is not only the amount of energy available from coal combustion but also other aspects such as fuel handling, ash removal, emissions, and environmental control techniques that are of extreme importance (Littler, 1981 Reid, 1981 Slack, 1981). 

Combustion occurs, chemically, by initiation and propagation of a self-supporting exothermic reaction. The physical processes involved in combustion are principally those which involve the transport of matter and the transport of energy. The conduction of heat, the diffusion of chemical species, and the bulk flow of the gas all follow from the release of chemical energy in an exothermic reaction. Thus, combustion phenomena arise from the interaction of chemical and physical processes. 

The first requirement, somewhat difficult with coal because of its molecular complexity, is that the overall stoichiometry of the reaction must always be established. For these purposes, coal is usually represented by carbon, which can react with oxygen in two ways, producing either carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide  

In direct combustion, coal is burned (i.e., the carbon and hydrogen in the coal are oxidized into carbon dioxide and water) to convert the chemical energy of the coal into thermal energy after which the sensible heat in the products of combustion can then be converted into steam that can be external work or directly into shaft horsepower (e.g., in a gas turbine)  

In fact, the combustion process actually represents a means of achieving the complete oxidation of coal. 

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For a further description of the chemistry and physics of hydrocarbons, refer back to Section 5.2. 

The following data have been reported for methanol-water mixtures at 20°C Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, U.S. Rubber Co.) ... 

F. M. Fowkes, in Chemistry and Physics of Interfaces, S. Ross, ed., American Chemical Society, 1971. 

Lias S G 1997 ionization energies of gas phase moiecuies Handbook of Chemistry and Physics ed D R Lide (Boca Raton, FL CRC Press)... 

Drickamer H G and Frank C W 1973 Eiectronic Transitions and the High-Pressure Chemistry and Physics of Soiids (London Chapman and Hall)... 

Wang Y A and Carter E A 2000 Orbital-free kinetic-energy density functional theory Theoretical Methods in Condensed Phase Chemistry (Progress in Theoretical Chemistry and Physics Series) ed S D Schwartz (Boston Kluwer) pp 117-84... 

University of Florida, Quantum Theory Project, Departments of Chemistry and Physics, Gainesville, FL... 

Along with the curve fitting process, TableCurve also calculates the area under the curve. According to the previous discussion, this is the entropy of the test substance, lead. To find the integral, click on the numeric at the left of the desktop and find 65.06 as the area under the curve over the range of x. The literature value depends slightly on the source one value (CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics) is 64.8 J K mol. ... 

Starzak, M. E., 1989. Mathematical Methods in Chemistry and Physics. Plenum, New York. 

Sources CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics and the American Chemical Society. 

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