Chapter 10 - Combustion of Hydrocarbons

Abstract

Combustion (burning) is the sequence of exothermic chemical reactions between a fuel and an oxidant accompanied by the production of heat and conversion of chemical species. The release of heat can result in the production of light, usually in the form of a flame. Fuels of interest often include organic compounds (especially hydrocarbons) in the gas, liquid, or solid phase. For the most part, combustion involves a mixture of hot gases and is the result of a chemical reaction, primarily between oxygen and a hydrocarbon (or a hydrocarbon fuel). Combustion is the burning of any substance, in gaseous, liquid, or solid form. Flames represent combustion reactions that can propagate through space at subsonic velocity and are accompanied by the emission of light. The flame is the result of complex interactions of chemical and physical processes whose quantitative description must draw on a wide range of disciplines, such as chemistry, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, and molecular physics. In the course of the chemical reaction, energy is released in the form of heat, and atoms and free radicals, all highly reactive intermediates of the combustion reactions, are generated.