FUEL CALCULATIONS

Sources of CO
2
Stationary sources
Energy Industries
Manufacturing Industries and
Construction
Ferrous/Non-ferrous
production
Chemical manufacturing
Pulp, paper and print
Food processing, beverages
and tobacco
Commercial/Institutional
Residential
Agriculture/Forestry/Fisheries
Mobile Sources
Civil Aviation
Road Transportation
Cars
Light duty trucks
Heavy duty trucks and
buses
Motorcycles
Railways
Navigation
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Carbon flow for a typical combustion
process
Most of the carbon is emitted as CO
2
immediately

Small fraction emitted as non-CO
2
gases
CH
4
, CO, non-methane volatile organic compounds
(NMVOCs)
Ultimately oxidizes to CO
2
in the atmosphere
Integrated into the overall calculation of CO
2
emissions

Remaining part of the fuel carbon is unburnt
Assumed to remain as solid (ash and soot)
Accounted by using oxidation factors
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Non-CO
2
emissions
Direct greenhouse gases
Methane (CH
4
)
Nitrous oxide (N
2
O)

Precursors and SO
2
Nitrogen oxides (NO
x
)
Carbon monoxide (CO)
Non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs)
Sulfur dioxide (SO
2
)
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Methane (CH
4
)
CH
4
emission is a function of:
methane content of the fuel
engine/boiler/kiln/stove type
hydrocarbons passing unburnt through the
engine/boiler/kiln/stove
temperature in boiler/kiln/stove
post-combustion controls

Highest emissions in residential applications (e.g. small
stoves, open biomass burning, charcoal production)
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Nitrous oxide (N
2
O)
Lower combustion temperatures tend to lead to higher
N
2
O emissions

Emission controls (catalysts) on vehicles can increase
the rate of N
2
O generation, depending on the:
Driving practices (i.e. number of cold starts)
Type and age of the catalyst

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Methods for estimating CO
2

Reference Approach (Tier 1)
Estimates based on national energy balance (production +
imports - exports) by fuel type without information on
activities
Performed quickly if basic energy balance sheet is available
A way of cross-checking emission estimates of CO
2
with
the Sectoral Approach

Sectoral Approach (Tier 1)
Estimates based on fuel consumption data by sectoral
activity

Bottom-Up Approaches (Tier 2 or 3)
More detailed activity and fuel data
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Fundamental equation
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Six basic steps
1. Collect fuel consumption data
2. Convert fuel data to a common energy unit
3. Select carbon content factors for each fossil fuel/product
type and estimate the total carbon content of fuels
consumed
4. Subtract the amount of carbon stored in products for long
periods of time
5. Multiply by an oxidation factor
6. Convert carbon to full molecular weight of CO
2
and sum
across all fuels

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1. Data collection
Focus on completeness and use judgment or proxy data to
allocate to various subsectors

Biomass combustion not needed for CO
2
estimation, but
reported for information purposes

Informal sector fuel use is an important issue if not
captured in energy statistics
Household kerosene use can be approximated based on
expert judgment or proxy data
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2. Common energy unit
Convert fuel data to a common energy unit
Production and consumption of solid and liquid fuels
in tons
Gaseous fuels in cubic meters
Original units converted into energy units using calorific
values (i.e. heating values)

Reference approach: use different calorific values for
production, imports and exports
Calorific values used should be reported
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3. Estimate total carbon content of fuels
consumed
Natural gas
Depends on composition (methane, ethane, propane, butane
and heavier hydrocarbons)
Typical: 15 to 17 tons C/TJ
Oil
Lower carbon content for light refined petroleum products
such as gasoline
Higher for heavier products such as residual fuel oil
Typical for crude oil is 20 tons C/TJ
Coal
Depend on coal's rank and composition of hydrogen, sulfur,
ash, oxygen and nitrogen
Typical ranges from 25 to 28 tons C/TJ
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4. Subtract non-energy uses
Oil refineries: asphalt and bitumen for road construction,
naphthas, lubricants and plastics
Natural gas: for ammonia production
Liquid petroleum gas (LPG): solvents and synthetic rubber
Coking: metals industry

Attempt to use country-specific data instead of IPCC (Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change) default carbon storage factors.

5. Oxidation factor
Not all carbon is oxidized during combustion. Some may be
deposited in the combustion equipment and its exhaust flues
or be carried in its gases or remain in residues and ashes after
combustion. The fraction which is oxidized is termed the
oxidation factor

Multiply by an oxidation factor to account for the small amount of
unoxidized carbon that is left in ash or soot.
Amount of carbon remaining unoxidized should be low for oil and
natural gas combustionbut can be larger and more variable for coal
combustion
When national oxidation factors are not available, use IPCC default
factors
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Oxidation factor values
Natural gas
Less than 1% left unburnt
Remains as soot in the burner, stack or environment
IPCC default oxidation factor = 99.5%
Higher for flares in the oil and gas industry
Closer to 100% for efficient turbines

Oil
1.5 1% left unburnt
IPCC default oxidation factor = 99%
Recent research has shown 100% combustion in autos

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Oxidation factor values (cont.)
Coal
Range from 0.6% to 6.6% unburnt
Primarily in the form of bottom and fly ash
IPCC default oxidation factor = 98%

Biomass
Can range widely, especially for open combustion
For closed combustion (e.g. boiler), the range is from
1-10%
No IPCC default
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6. Convert to full molecular weight and sum
Convert carbon to full molecular weight of CO
2
and
add across all fuels

To express the results as CO
2
, multiply the quantity
of carbon oxidized by the molecular weight ratio of
CO
2
to C (44:12)
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* Biomass fuels
CO
2
emissions from biomass fuels should not be included
in national emission totals from fuel combustion

Account for mixed fuels (e.g. ethanol blends)

Non-CO
2
emissions from biomass combustion should be
estimated and reported under the Energy Sector!
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Methods for non-CO
2
emissions
Tier 1
Multiply fuel consumed by an average emission factor
Rely on widely available fuel supply data which assumes an
average combustion technology in use

Tiers 2/3
Multiply fuel consumed by detailed fuel type and technology-
specific emission factors
Tier 2 methods use data that are disaggregated according to
technology types
Tier 3 methods estimate emissions according to activity
types (km traveled or ton-km carried) and specific fuel
efficiency or fuel rates

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Fundamental equation

= (

)

Where,
a = fuel type
b = sector activity
c = technology type including emissions controls
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Stationary combustion
Default emission factors for CH
4
, N
2
O, NO
x
, CO and
NMVOCs by major technology and fuel type are
presented in the IPCC Guidelines

Most notable: CH
4
emissions from open burning and
biomass combustion

Charcoal production is likely to result in methane
emissions at a rate that is several orders of magnitude
greater than from other combustion processes
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Mobile combustion
Major transport activity
Road
Air
Rail
Ships

Most notable: N
2
O emissions from road
transportation, affected by the type of emission
control technologies

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Mobile combustion (cont.)
Road transport activity data
Assume vast majority of motor gasoline used for
transport
Check data with equipment counts or vehicle
sales/import/export data
Base assumptions of vehicle type and emission control
technology on vehicle vintage data (i. e. model year of
sale) and assumed activity level (i.e. vehicle)
Consider national emission standards, leaded gasoline
prevalence, and compliance with standards

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Quality control and completeness checks
All gases (CO
2
, CH
4
and N
2
O)
All source and sub-source categories
All national territories addressed
Bunker fuels and military operations
All fossil-fuel-fired electric power stations
Blast furnaces and coke production
Waste combustion with energy recovery
Black market fuels
Non-metered fuel use for pipelines by compressor stations
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Combustion of Gaseous Fuels
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1- Flammability Limits
Mixtures of dispersed combustible materials (such as
gaseous or vaporized fuels, and some dusts) and air will
burn only if the fuel concentration lies within well-defined
lower and upper bounds determined experimentally,
referred to as flammability limits or explosive limits

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Flammability limits can be experimentally determined to a high
degree of repeatability in an apparatus developed by the US
Bureau of Mines.
The apparatus consists of a flame tube with ignition electrodes
near to its lower end
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Intimate mixing of the gas/air mixture is obtained by
recirculating the mixture with a pump.
Once this has been achieved, the cover plate is removed and a
spark is activated.
The mixture is considered flammable if a flame propagates
upwards a minimum distance of 750 mm.
The flammability limits are affected by temperature and
pressure but the values are usually quoted as volume
percentages at atmospheric pressure and 25.

Fuel Lower Explosion
Limit (LEL) %
Upper Explosion
Limit (UEL) %
Methane 5 15
Propane 2 10
Hydrogen 4 74
Carbon Monoxide 13 74
2- Burning Velocity
Burning velocity is the speed at which a flame front
propagates relative to the unburned gas.

When burning in aerated mode, the flame has a
distinctive bright blue cone sitting on the end of the
tube.
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Estimation of Burning Velocity
A simple method of measuring the burning velocity is to
establish a flame on the end of a tube similar to that of a
laboratory Bunsen burner.
The flame front on the gas mixture is travelling inwards
normally to the surface of this cone
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If U represents the mean velocity of the gas-air mixture at
the end of the tube and is the half-angle of the cone at
the top of the tube, then the burning velocity S can be
obtained simply from:
S = U sin ()

This method underestimates the value of S for a number of
reasons, including the velocity distribution across the end
of the tube and heat losses from the flame to the rim of the
tube.
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More accurate measurements are made with a burner
design which produces a flat, laminar flame.

Some typical burning velocities are:


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Fuel Burning Velocity (m/s)
Methane 0.34
Propane 0.40
Town gas 1.0
Hydrogen 2.52
Carbon Monoxide 0.43
3- Wobbe Number
The Wobbe index or Wobbe number is an indicator of the
interchangeability of fuel gases such as natural gas,
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and town gas and is
frequently defined in the specifications of gas supply and
transport utilities.

If

is the higher heating value, or higher calorific value,

and

is the specific gravity, the Wobbe Index,

, is
defined as

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The Wobbe index is used to compare the combustion
energy output of different composition fuel gases in an
appliance (fire, cooker etc.). If two fuels have identical
Wobbe Indices, then for a given pressure and valve
settings, the energy output will also be identical.

In spite of its usefulness, Wobbe index alone is not a good
indicator of the interchangeability of two or more gases, or
mixtures of them.
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References
Tim Simmons, CO
2
emissions from stationary combustion of
fossil fuels, Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty
Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Avonlog
Limited, UK
Calculating Emissions for Stationary Fuel Combustion,
retrieved from:
http://www.rsc2lc.com:8080/archibus/help/user/Subsystems/webc/
webc_Left.htm#CSHID=green_bldg%2Fbpo%2Fcarbon_footprint
%2Fadd_oxidation_factors.htm|StartTopic=Content%2Fgreen_bld
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inName=NewHelpSkinBlue

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THANK YOU
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