Question

Calorific value of producer gas is low because of:
(a) high percent of ${{\text{N}}_{2}}$
(b) low percent of $\text{C}{{\text{O}}_{2}}$
(c) high percent of $\text{C}{{\text{O}}_{2}}$
(d) low percent of ${{\text{N}}_{2}}$

Answer 1

Hint: This gas in earth’s atmosphere is made up of approximately 78 percent. It is not highly reactive with other molecules in the atmosphere due to presence of triple bonds within the molecule.

Complete step by step answer:
> Producer gas is fuel that is manufactured from material such as coal, as opposed to natural gas. This gas is generally made from coke, or other carbonaceous material such as anthracite. > Air is passed over the red-hot carbonaceous fuel and carbon monoxide is produced. The reaction is exothermic and is as followed-
- Formation of producer gas from air and carbon:
\[\text{C+}{{\text{O}}_{2}}\to \text{C}{{\text{O}}_{2}}\]
\[\text{C+ C}{{\text{O}}_{2}}\to 2\text{CO}\]
\[\text{2C+ }{{\text{O}}_{2}}\to 2\text{CO}\]
> The concentration of carbon monoxide in the “ideal” producer gas is considered to be 34.7% carbon monoxide and 65.3% nitrogen. There is thus a very high concentration of nitrogen. Since nitrogen is an incombustible gas, it only adds to the volume but does not give any extra heat on combustion. Hence, due to the presence of high concentration of nitrogen, the amount of energy per unit volume decreases.
Therefore, the calorific value of producer gas is low because of option (a) High percent of Nitrogen.

Note: The uses and advantages of producer gas is that it can be produced even by the poorest quality of fuel. It is often used in furnaces and there is no loss due to smoke and convection current. With gas, an oxidizing and reducing flame both can be obtained. Also, heat loss due to converting solid fuel into producer gas can be made in an economic way.