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Liquid and gaseous fuels are considered better fuels than the solid fuels because of the

following reasons:

1. Liquid and gaseous fuels are easier to handle than solid fuels.

2. Liquid and gaseous fuels can be transported easily through pipelines whereas solid fuels
cannot be transports in this way.

3. Liquid and gaseous fuels do not leave any residue after burning.

4. Liquid and gaseous fuels have higher calorific values than the solid fuels. In other words,
for a given mass of the fuel, liquid and gaseous fuels produce more heat.

5. Liquid and gaseous fuels produce little or no smoke, whereas most of the solid fuels burn
with smoke.

6. Liquid and gaseous fuels have relatively low ignition temperature and hence they burn
more easily than solid fuels.

Disadvantages of Gaseous Fuels

The main disadvantages of gaseous fuels are:

1. Very large storage tanks are needed for storing gaseous fuels.

2. They are highly inflammable, so chances of fire hazards are high in their use.

3. They are more costly than solid or liquid fuels.

Smoke

Smoke is a collection of tiny unburnt particles very small carbon particles and tiny droplets
of tar. Smoke is a collection of tiny solid, liquid and gas particles. Although smoke can
contain hundreds of different chemicals and fumes, visible smoke is mostly carbon (soot), tar,
oils and ash.

Smoke occurs when there is incomplete combustion (not enough oxygen to burn the fuel
completely). In complete combustion, everything is burned, producing just water and carbon
dioxide. When incomplete combustion occurs, not everything is burned. Smoke is a
collection of these tiny unburned particles. Each particle is too small to see with your eyes,
but when they come together, you see them as smoke.

Smoke in a wood fire

Wood is made up of:

water
volatile organic compounds a compound is volatile if it evaporates (becomes a gas) when it
is heated
carbon
minerals in the trees cells, like calcium, potassium and magnesium (which are non-burnable
and become ash).

When you put wood on a hot fire, the smoke you see is the volatile organic compounds
(hydrocarbons) evaporating from the wood. They start to evaporate at about 149C. If the fire
is hot enough, the hydrocarbons will burst into flames. Once they burn, there is no smoke
because the hydrocarbons are turned into water and carbon dioxide.

Charcoal

Charcoal is what is left after the hydrocarbons have been burnt off in wood. It glows because
it is very hot and still has contact with the air (oxygen).

After the fire has been burning for a while, most of the hydrocarbons (gases and smoke
particles) have been released, and all that is left is charcoal, which is almost pure carbon with
some minerals. The hot charcoal slowly burns with a red glow. There are no flames because
charcoal will only produce carbon dioxide, which cannot be burned any further, unlike other
vapours. Very little smoke is produced at this stage. The quicker a fire is reduced to glowing
charcoal, the hotter it will be and the less smoke it will produce. The carbon combines with
oxygen to produce carbon dioxide until all that is left at the end of the fire is the ash the
minerals.

Charcoal is wood that has been heated to remove nearly all of the volatile gases and
leave behind the carbon. That is why a charcoal fire burns with no smoke.

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