ORSAT ANALYSIS FORMULA: STACK GASES

GUIDE NOTES TO USING ORSAT CALCULATOR BY OP ARMSTRONG P.E. FEB2018

Some modern stack gas analysis neglect gas conditioning. This reduces accuracy as smoke particles
and condensed moisture will block pores of analyzer cells. A correct sample conditioner will use a
solids separator and condense out moisture. So when gas samples are thus conditioned, results will
approach Orsat conditions. The Orsat chemicals lumped SO2 with CO2. It is irrelevant if a fuel
containers little or zero Sulphur.
HC Combustion by Elemental Coefficients, HP-41 ChemE Solutions 5/83 pp14-22
Air=1+%XA/100, O2 = nC+nS+nH/4-nO/2 Air/Fuel.mol = 4.762(nC+nS+nH/4-nO/2)(1+XA/100)
A/F.mass=1.8094*4.762(nC+nS+nH/4-nO/2)(1+XA/100)/(0.7507nC+0.063nH+2.004nS+0.875nN+nO)
Total Mol Prod= M= 4.762*(nC+nS+nH/4-nO/2)(1+%XA/100)+nH/4+nO/2+nN/2
%CO2v = 100nC/M, %SO2 = 100nS/M, %H2Ov = 100nH/2/M, %O2v = (%XA)(nC+nS+nH/4-nO/2)/M
%N2v=100(3.762(1+%XA/100)(nC+nS+nH/4-nO/2)+nN/2)/M all as wet Volume %’s
check:C8H18 nC=8 nH=18, combusted at 40%XA, the AF.mass=21.12 AF.mol=87.84, M=87.84
chech, continued: SO2=0, %CO2=9.11, %H2O=10.25, %O2=5.69, %N2=74.95
Flue gas reports on dry basis, the syn Orsat is YH2O=0, YOrstat=Ywet/(1-%H2O/100) see examples
This method valid, any dry fuel of elements CHSON combusted with regular air.

The below tables show use of Pseudo Orsat components to validate the Orsat method.

PE Exam Chemical E Review Guide Section 8,

Combustion and Incineration, Example 8.3C. A natural
gas with Yi as listed above is combusted at zero excess
air, Determine the CF air per CF fuel. Since mole basis
and Cubic Foot basis are same for gases, use Molar
Elements Table above, Finding and enter elements to
bottom LHS of web calculator as C=1.0994, H=4.1426,
N=0.0562, S&O are zero. The widget shows A/F mole of
10.17, Ex8.3C finds 10.20. As extra, A/F mass by
widget=16.15, One handbook formula lists by C&H
16.26 or 16.96 by fuel gas SG.
 GUIDE TO ORSAT TYPE CALCULATIONS: O.P. Armstrong P.E. Feb2018
Per above Ex8.3A coal proximate
analysis given as 93.5% C, etc. The
values entered bottom LHS widget as
follows, 0.9350, etc. The exact molar
values being entered into Fuel items,
C=1.000, H=0.334, etc. The Air/Fuel
mass calculated to 11.55. Ex8.3A
result was 11.58. The difference being
round off error.

Ex8.3B lists fuel oil with gravimetric analysis 84%

Carbon etc. The values entered bottom LHS web
widget give C=1.000, H=2.186, etc. These values
entered into the CHSON widget with zero excess
air, yield 15.00#Air/#Fuel. Ex8.3B lists 14.95. The
Ex8.4 ask %CO2 in flue gas for C3H8 burnt with
20% XA, using C=3, H=8 in the widget @20%XA
gives CO2=9.81wet, Ex8.4 gives 9.8, The dry %CO2
for Orsat, is 11.29% etc. Ex8.2 ask C=1 O=1, CO,
all other zero, A/Fvv=2.38 vs his 2.387 eq. T’s.

Chem E. PE Exam Prep Book.

Example 8.5, Dry Flue Gas with
component as per user input. The
excess air found to be 36.8%, use
widget bottom RHS web page to find
XA%= 36.84% or 36.8% 3sigFig. The
CO2 ultimate reported at 17.9%,
web widget gives 17.8958% or
17.9%, 3sf’s. The example lists %C
proximate as 75%. Web Widget
hover note explain take %C/100
times lbFG/lbC to get #FG/#fuel or
0.75*18.54 =13.91, vs EX answer
13.9. Exam #Air/#Fuel = 13.4; As
MWdry FG is 30.4 and airMW =29,
#Air/#fuel = 13.9(29/30.4) =13.5. units:
#FG(molFG/#FG)(#Air/molA)1mA/1mFG=#Air

The Orsat method lumps CO2 with SO2. If analysis formula neglect CO, an adjustment for CO may
be necessary. In which case: CO2adj=CO2+CO and O2adj=O2-C0/2.

If fuel only C&H then mol%H= 100(H/C)/(1+H/C) but most solid fuels need an Ultimate analysis as
other components are present. Adjust MWdry or other dry Orsat to to compare against wet values
of instrument without gas conditioning, i.e. O2wet=O2dry*(1-yH2O)

Some chemicals and fuels are: Carbon DiSulphide: CS2, Ethanol: C2H5OH, Lignite: C24H18O5,
Bituminous Coal: C24H20.O2, Anthracite Coal; C48H18O, Octane, C8H18. Most coal contain some
sulfur, S. Processing operations reduce S to minimum levels by floatation, air gravity, and
2
 GUIDE TO ORSAT TYPE CALCULATIONS: O.P. Armstrong P.E. Feb2018
magnetics. The S combusted can be ignored as the form, pyrite, carbon affixed, nor elemental
sulfurs can be accurately found without excessive costs. Same applies to S in the ash pit. Also SOx
is far more water soluble and thus combines with condensed water. This makes SOx determination
difficult in routine work. IR Absorption instruments are used to calculate wet gas SOx. Even so the
S being a small percent, is typically ignored in boiler efficiency calculations. Given a coal ultimate
analysis in % weight, the molar quantities can be found as outlined in above tables.

#FG/#C in fuel multiply times fraction Carbon in Fuel yields #FG/#Fuel.

In some cases, %XA is calculated based on dry O2. The formula used here is XA% =
5*%O2^1.114+0.000737*%O2^4.463. This was developed from field data. One chart of the XA vs
O2 shows a range of 0% to 5% variance. This formula checked against chart, & varied on average
by 2%. (0% to 6%) That is well within variance due to fuel types between zero to 120% XA.

Formula & Relations Summary for Stack or Flue Gas Combustion Analysis, o denotes dry basis
Column1 Column2 Column3
H/C mol/mol 4*(N2o*21/79-((CO2o+COo)+(O2o-COo/2)))/(CO2o+COo) 1
Hydrogen in fuel w/w 100-1126/((N2o-3.78*O2o)/CO2o+7.48) 2
Percent Water in Flue Gas 2*(N2o*21/79-(CO2o+COo/2+%O2o)) 3
MWdry, Dry Mol Weight (44*CO2o+38*COo+32*O2o+28*N2o+64*SO2o)/100 4
MW wet flue gas (1-%H2O)MWdry + 18(%H2O) v/v 5
%XA/100 (CO2u/CO2)-1 = %O2/(21-%O2) 6
%XA Excess Air 100/(0.2642*(N2o/(O2o-COo/2)-1) 7
%XA Excess Air (%O2o-%COo/2)/(0.264*%N2o/100-%O2o/100+%COo/200) 8
CO2u by chem% fuel 0.321%C/(1.53C+3.64H+0.57S+0.14N-0.46O) 9
pure C CO2u=20.9 fuel gases CO2u=11.6-11.9 10
CO2u by OrsatFlueGas(Dry) %CO2o/(1-4.773*%O2o/100) %CO2u, Max CO2 from fuel 11
Fo<1 or Fo>1.94 Orsat invalid 21/COmax or 20.9/CO2u =Fo Fuel index 12
Fo: Wood 1.5, Fo: Coals1.07-1.15, Oil 1.35, NatGas 1.79 C3/4 1.1/1.48 13
Fo high Cellulose 1.04-1.09 Fo: plastics 1.16-1.39, garbage 1.11=Fo 14
Fo = [20.9-O2o]/CO2o O2o + Fo(%CO2o) <20.9 valid orsat 1<Fo<1.94 15
atmospheric water EPA allows 0.973*20.9=O2 %H2O=%RH(Pw/Pbaro) 16
#Air/#Fuel at zero XA 34.5(%C/300+%H/100+(%S-%O)/800)), given Fuel Analysis 17
(#Air.used/#Fuel) @ fired XA (3.04N2o(%C/100+%S/183.3)/(CO2o+COo)) 18
#FlueGas/#Fuel as fired ((11CO2+8O2+7(CO+N2))(%C/100+%S/183.3))/3/(CO2+CO) 19
CHSON values by Ultimate An. The above gas volume %'s are dry basis (Orsat) 20
1 Boiler Horsepower, BHP, is 33479 BTU/hr = 34.5#/hr steam at 212F & 9.8kw 21

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 GUIDE TO ORSAT TYPE CALCULATIONS: O.P. Armstrong P.E. Feb2018
Sundry Fuels Typical. Ultimate Analysis & Properties LHV/HHV: BTU/#, Fo=20.9/CO2u
Fuel C H S O N M A sum LHV HHV #A/#f A.clc CO2u Fo
Coke 95.3 1.3 0.5 0.6 0.7 1.0 0.6 100 13978 14100 10.8 11.4 20.3 1.03
Anthr 84.7 2.1 0.5 1.7 0.5 1.0 9.5 100 14243 14700 11.7 10.4 19.9 1.05
sAnthr 64.2 1.9 0.3 14.5 0.2 0.0 18.9 100 9229 9408 7.4 7.4 20.9 1.00
sBitum 83.7 4.5 0.6 3.6 0.8 1.0 5.9 100 15745 15750 11.1 11.1 18.8 1.11
Bitum 66.0 4.9 2.0 9.7 1.1 6.6 9.7 100 12941 14650 11.6 9.0 18.3 1.14
BrCoal 50.0 4.0 0.0 14.0 1.0 17.4 13.6 100 9670 12250 6.5 6.5 18.9 1.10
Lignite 57.2 4.3 1.0 16.9 1.0 14.5 5.1 100 9670 12250 8.9 7.4 19.1 1.10
Wood 45.0 5.5 0.0 39.4 0.1 9.5 0.5 100 5468 8800 6 5.4 20.4 1.02
Peat 40.6 4.2 0.0 21.7 0.0 30.0 3.5 100 3615 6200 5.2 5.2 19.3 1.08
Straw 36.0 5.0 0.0 38.0 0.0 16.0 5.0 100 3419 7200 4.2 4.2 20.7 1.01
Garbage 28.0 3.7 0.2 20.2 0.4 25.0 22.5 100 2113 4811 3.6 3.6 19.0 1.10
Oil 85.0 12.3 1.0 1.0 0.5 0.0 0.2 100 18801 19000 14.4 14.0 15.6 1.34
Natgas 72.1 23.9 0.0 0.8 3.2 0.0 0.0 100 21715 22450 16.5 16.5 11.7 1.78
F#2 86.5 13.2 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 100 18209 19450 14.5 14.5 15.4 1.36
F#4 86.7 11.5 1.5 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 100 17669 18750 14.0 14.0 15.9 1.32
F#6 86.7 10.8 2.0 0.0 0.5 0.0 0.0 100 17335 18350 13.8 13.8 16.1 1.30

type from Hougen Watson, Griswold, B&W, others item Fuel H/C mol
Gas net BTU/scf =155 + 1425SGg, 100A/Ft-56, LHV Coal 0.86
Gas BTU/#.HHV-91%H, 0.933HHV-0.317(100-inert%) LHV Peat 1.17
Gas CF Air/CF gas 0%XA =1.15 + 15SGg Air @0XA TarSnd 1.50
Gas 50.5MW+90 BTU/SCF or 50.5MW+55 if olifinic LHV HvyOil 1.70
solids BTU/#=145.5%C+620(%H-%O/8)+41%S-94(wt%H.tot) LHV UltA Resid 1.80
Solids BTU/#=14490C+61000Ha+5550S HHVult LtCrude 1.90
Solids BTU/#.HHV-9387(Hult+Hwater w/w) LHV Distillate 1.96
Coke 144.9%C, Anthracite 158.4%C, semi Bituminous 169.5%C LHV LtEnds 2.02
Bitum'ns 174.1%C, sub. Bituminous 171.9%C, Lignite 167.6%C LHV
Oil 19960-3780(SG)^2 +1360SG / 323.5%H-115%S+15410 LHV/HHV
oil %Hw/w=14.2+0.173API-7250/Tb,oR H%
oil 15410+323.5H%-115S% HHV
oil C/H=219/(K1.11API0.217) & MW=0.22K7.15/API1.068/1E3 f286.1api
Coal 14093*C+51623*(H-O/8), CHO are %/100 PE,ChE form LHV2