144 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



cate that it is stable at the moderate temperatures. The 

 vaporization in the burner is at a point where a large 

 quantity of air is being admitted to the fire pot. The cool 

 air keeps the temperature of this part of the fire pot very 

 much lower than that of the flame. On the assumption 

 that only a very small per cent of the hydrocarbon is 

 cracked, the maximum percentage of carbon dioxide in 

 the cooled flue gas can be calculated by calculating the 

 combining volumes from the equation, 



2C ie H 34 + 490 2 = 32C0 2 + 34H 2 

 If we assume that the ratio of oxygen to air is 1 to 5, 

 the reaction will be expressed by volume as follows : 

 2 volumes Distillate + 245 volumes Air = 

 32 volumes CO? + 196 volumes N 2 and inert gases 

 This gives us a ratio of 32 volumes of C0 2 in a total of 

 228 volumes of flue gas, which gives a percentage of 

 14.03% carbon dioxide as the maximum percent possible 

 in the cooled flue gases. The maximum carbon dioxide 

 from oil combustion is calculated by F. D. Harger 1 as 

 15.395% from the analyses of the oil given as C = 84.0; 

 H = 14.0; — 1.2; S = 0.4; N = 1.7. The calculation 

 of the maximum percent of carbon dioxide possible from 

 the combustion of the above oil is 12.52' • . 

 .The cracking and dissociation at the high temperature 

 of the flame give the combustion a process of oxidation of 

 carbon and hydrogen as dissociated in the flame rather 

 than a molecular reaction. This change in the condition 

 of these elements would not, however, change the re- 

 sultant compounds found in the flue gases. 



EXPERIMENTAL 



Two types of burners were studied — the vaporization 

 and the spray types. The temperatures were measured 

 by means of a thermo-couple and potentiometer. A modi- 

 fied form of the Orsat gas analysis apparatus was used 

 in analyzing the flue gases. 



In the spray type found in the market at present, the 

 oil being sprayed by air pressure, the quantity of air 

 seems to be governed by the necessity of spraying the 

 oil rather than by the amount necessary for combustion 



2 F. D. Harger, Fuel Oil, Vol. 11, No. 6, p. 9. 



