Industrial fuels
Energetics of combustion - Technical characteristics

Industrial fuels contain :

• almost always carbon;

• hydrogen (oil, gas, wood);

• often sulfur and oxygen;

• finally, inert materials such as nitrogen, water and minerals. These elements are not involved in the combustion reactions, and end up entirely in the ash or smoke.

The composition of a fuel must be known to the user. The supplier must be able to indicate the respective proportions of the various constituents in a given quantity of fuel. These are given :

• in mass per unit mass (kg/kg) for solid or liquid fuels ;

• in volume per unit volume for gases. The unit of volume is then the normal cubic meter (Nm³), a...