What are the uses of combustion in industry today?

What are the uses of combustion in industry? The word "combust" means to ignite or set on fire. Combustion is the process of chemical reaction with oxygen in which a substance is heated to its point of ignition. Combustion is used in industry to provide a source of heat or power. Industries using combustion include fossil fuel power plants, natural gas processing plants, petrochemical plants, iron and steel mills and other metal-refining industries, cement plants, etc.

There are two types of combustion: incomplete and complete. In incomplete combustion only some of the fuel burns; for example, if you burn only part of a piece of wood it will not produce much heat or energy. Complete combustion provides the heat and energy needed in all the reactions and is known as a closed system.

Various uses of combustion in industry

1. Combustion to provide heat

Combustion is used in many industrial processes requiring heat. Heat can be needed for a number of reasons, such as to preheat ingredients prior to chemical reactions, or as a by-product of reactions. Some reactions can be exothermic, that is they produce heat as well as new materials. Combustion can also be used to preheat air prior to its use in combustion turbines which produce electricity. In some cases the combustion process itself provides enough heat, particularly if the oxygen required for the reaction is readily available, such as in natural gas-fueled mixed flow gas turbine systems and laminar flame burners.

2. Combustion to produce electricity

Combustion is used in electrical power generation. No single fuel or technology can be used to produce electricity from all forms of energy that are available. Combustion is only one part of a balanced and diverse mix of generation plants.

3. Combustion to produce industrial carbon dioxide

The combustion process can be used to manufacture industrial carbon dioxide (CO) which can then be sold for use in enhanced oil recovery and for other CO-based industrial applications. There are two principal ways the combustion process is utilized for making CO: the oxyfuel technique and the steam reforming technique.

4. Combustion to produce high-pressure gases

In the petrochemical industry, combustion is used to provide heat and pressure for a number of reactions. One example is the cracking of methane and ethane into ethylene. In this case, methane and/or natural gas are reacted with steam as in reaction 2 above, except there are two pressures: one for the hydrogen (steam) and one for molecular hydrogen.

5. Combustion to produce fuels

Combustion is used in the manufacture of products that are transported by pipelines or by tankers for commercial purposes, such as the production of gasoline, diesel fuel, liquified petroleum gas (LPG), and olefins. For example, LPG can be produced from natural gas via three reactions: 1) C + 2O →CO + HO 2) CO + HO → CH + HO 3) CH + O → C + HO This produces a low pressure of hydrogen at one end and mixes with steam at high pressure. The mixture is then fed into a turbine to generate electricity and mechanical power.

6. Combustion to produce oxygen

An example of combustion that produces oxygen is the Greenheart Project in Gabon, Africa, which is designed to produce 3.2 million tons annually of liquid fuels and chemicals and will use air as a source of oxygen, producing nitrogen as a by-product.

7. Combustion in waste disposal methods

Combustion is used in several ways to safely dispose of hazardous or toxic materials: open burning, incineration, pyrolysis, gasification and controlled combustion (where the rate is slow enough to consume oxygen). The process burns the hazardous materials with oxygen, heat and atmospheric air, or heats them in the presence of oxygen to temperatures high enough to destroy them.

8. Combustion in wood

The most common use of combustion is as a source of heat and power for buildings as well as for other purposes that require heat such as drying clothes, cooking and melting metals. Combustion from wood extracts energy from the combustion reaction of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen to produce energy in forms like heat, electrical power or chemical reactions. Different types of combustible materials burn at different rates; for example charcoal used for barbeque can be burned in an hour whereas paper is consumed more slowly because it does not burn easily.

Conclusion

There are various uses of combustion in industry. Combustion is important because it provides the hydrogen needed for other chemical reactions. Many industrial processes rely on combustion to convert the source material into a usable form.