The only exact method of estimating the relative advantages and costs of the two fuels is by considering the operating expenses of the plant with each in turn, including the costs of every item entering into the problem.
There are any number of plants burning a wide variety of fuels in ordinary hand-fired furnaces, in extension furnaces and on automatic stokers that are operating under service conditions, practically without smoke.
These fuels too, sometimes require additional combustion space, and an extension furnace will give this in addition to the required arches.
All fuels have a maximum rate of combustion, beyond which satisfactory results cannot be obtained, regardless of draft available or which may be secured by mechanical means.
An extended experience in the design of furnaces best suited for a wide variety of fuels has made The Babcock & Wilcox Co.
The manner of their combination undoubtedly has a direct effect upon their calorific value, as fuels having almost identical ultimate analyses show a difference in heating value when tested in a calorimeter.
The process of combustion of different fuels and the effect of variation in the air supply for their combustion is treated in detail in the chapters dealing with the various fuels.
TESTS WITH OIL AND GAS FUELS Tests of boilers using oil or gas for fuel should accord with the rules here given, excepting as they are varied to conform to the particular characteristics of the fuel.
It also has to import allfuels and most manufactured goods.
This test, when continued, bore out others which had previously been made by the firm, and showed the consumption of each of the three fuels to be a little over 12 lbs.
Large quantities of brown coal and lignite are available, but resources of the better fuels are limited.
Machinery and equipment constituted from 40 to 44 percent of imports; fuels and industrial materials accounted for about one-third; and agricultural raw materials made up the balance.
FUELS AND POWER Domestic resources of mineral fuels are inadequate for the needs of industry.
The development of the economy and of the consumer program faced severe limitations because of the inadequacy of domestic resources, including basic raw materials, fuels and power, skilled workers, and trained professional personnel.
The meaning of this geological distribution of the fuels is entirely fortuitous.
Having said so much regarding the chemistry of the fuels of the future, we may now pass to consider their geological record.
In the latest or tertiary period, again, we come upon nearly all the forms of fuels we have already specified.
In the secondary period we do not appear to meet with the fuels of the future, but as far back as the Devonian or old Red Sandstone period, and in the still older Silurian rocks, stores of gas and petroleum abound.
Again, the weight of the fuels varies directly with their age; for it is in the older formation of any series that we come upon the oils and tars and asphaltum, while the marsh gas exists in later and more recently formed deposits.
Of one point, however, we are well assured, namely that the volume of the fuels of the future is developed in an inverse proportion to their geological age.
Where there is no coal gas available and the blowpipe is only required at intervals, and especially where high portability is required, there are few fuels so convenient as paraffin wax.
Although gas, when available, is usually preferred on account of its convenience, there are several other fuels which give a hotter flame.
A fair average of the retail values of fuels and of electrical energy and an average luminous efficiency of the light-sources involved have been used in making the computations.
The sperm-whale, which lives in the warmer parts of all the oceans, has been hunted relentlessly for fuels for artificial lighting.
The cost of fuels for lighting purposes cannot be thoroughly compared throughout a span of years without regard to the fluctuating purchasing power of money, which would be too involved for consideration here.
All these animal and vegetable products which were used as fuels for light-sources are rich in carbon, which accounts for the light-value of their flames.
Owing to the elaborate apparatus necessary for making coal-gas, several other gases have been more desirable fuels for lighthouse lamps.
He also was obliged to endure unpleasant odors from the crude fuels and in early experiments with fats and waxes the odor was carefully noted as an important factor.
Those fuels which are not liquid are melted to liquid form by the heat of the flame before they are actually consumed.
In gas-producers all carbonaceous fuelsare transformed into inflammable gas.
From what source do all thefuels get their force or energy?
Fuels and foods are also alike in another respect; and that is, that, no matter how much they may differ in appearance and form, they are practically all the result of life.
The production of heat for cooking involves the use of fuels and stoves in which to burn them, as well as electricity, which serves the purpose of a fuel, and apparatus for using electricity.
From what has just been said, it will readily be seen that a knowledge of fuels and apparatus for producing heat will assist materially in the economical production of food, provided, of course, it is applied to the best advantage.
Probably the first fuel to be used in the production of heat for cooking was wood, but later such fuels as peat, coal, charcoal, coke, and kerosene came into use.
Lacking important natural resources, it will remain dependent on imports of fuels and raw materials.
The calorific values of carburetted acetylene (Caro), and those of other gaseous fuels are: Large Calories per Cubic Foot.
Lépinay has described some experiments on the comparative technical value of ordinary acetylene, carburetted acetylene, denatured alcohol and petroleum spirit as fuels for small explosion engines.
The weights and volumes of solid fuels are: Anthracite coal, 55 to 65 lb.
The chemical action has for its chief object to rid the gas of the carbonic acid and the hydrogen sulphide which certain fuels give off in appreciable amounts.
These new fuelsreduced the diesel's advantage resulting from low fuel consumption, and, in addition, gave the gasoline engine a definite advantage from the standpoint of performance.
This increases the range of hydrocarbon fuels the engine can utilize.
The elimination of the above-mentioned type of high-pressure tubing reduces the possibility of a vapor lock occurring, thereby permitting more volatile fuels to be burned.
The fact that the air supply of a Diesel engine is compressed and its temperature raised to such a high degree permits the use of liquid fuels with a high ignition temperature.
These fuels correspond more nearly to the crude petroleum oil as it issues from the wells and this fact accounts for the much lower cost of Diesel fuel as compared to the highly refined gasoline needed for aircraft engines.
The differences for the more important compound gaseous fuels are as follows:-- Calorific Value.
The most powerful chemical fuels possible even theoretically were those already in use, and were basically merely liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
And he knew that the main obstacle that always had to be faced by rocket engineers was the tremendous quantities and weights of the fuels to be burned in order to lift even a single pound of cargo.
He remembered the talk about atomic fuels he had overheard.
Obviously whoever had calculated the course and power of the new fuels had erred very considerably.
Somehow the atomic rocket fuels had been far greater or far more effective than the inventors had calculated.
Gaseous and liquid fuels used for domestic illumination and heating may be divided into three general classes--coal gas, including carburetted water gas and producer gas and their various mixtures; oil gas, acetylene and gasoline gas.
The following table of the heating values of various fuels is taken from Benson’s “Industrial Chemistry.
The table is intended to present a method of comparing the values of fuels from different coal areas.
The heat value of fuels used in power plants are often determined by careful tests of the amount of power derived for each pound of fuel burned in the furnace.
The following prices, from the local market, show the usual ratings of various fuels in common use.
The selection of fuels will depend on the type of heating plant in use, whether by stoves or by furnaces.
FUELS A discussion of the fuels may next be taken.
Where either of these fuels is commonly used, there should be two ranges.
The widely increasing scope of usefulness of the internal-combustion motor has made it imperative that other fuels be applied in some instances because the supply of gasoline may in time become inadequate to supply the demand.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "fuels" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
