Solid Fuels
Types of solid fuels
Primary solid fuels or Natural solid fuels |
Secondary solid fuels
or Processed solid fuels |
Coal Vegetable matter is converted into coal. Various stages of transformation are as follows: Wood → Peat → Lignite → Bituminous coal→ Anthracite coal (i) Wood: Air dried wood contains 15% of moisture and about 50% of carbon. (ii) Peat: Carbon content in air dried peat is about 60%. Peat is not a good fuel (iii) Lignite : Carbon content in air dried – lignite is 60% – 70%. (iv) Bituminous coal: Carbon content is about 80%. (v) Anthracite coal: Carbon content is about 90%. |
Wood charcoal
It is obtained from wood. It is composed of about 70% of carbon and the rest is ash and other impurities. Coke: It is obtained from bituminous coal by destructive distillation. It is composed of primary free carbon. |
Advantages and disadvantages of solid fuel
Advantages | Disadvantages |
Solid fuels can be stored conveniently due to their high ignition temperature. | Only a few percentage of calorific value is properly utilised. |
They are cheap. | A large portion of heat is wasted due to the lack of proper surface contact. |
The production cost is very low. | A large amount of unburnt fuel is also wasted along with clinker. |
Transportation is easy. | Their combustion operations can’not be controlled easily. |
They cannot be used as a fuel for internal combustion engines. |
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