What is Fuel?
Fuel is called all kinds of materials and substances that, after a combustion process, are capable of releasing potential energy that is transformed into usable energy of various types, such as thermal or mechanical energy.
From there it follows that the energy produced has different functions in everyday life, such as heating, electrification and the activation of machinery.
There are different ways to classify the fuel. For example, they can be classified according to the state of matter or according to their origin and composition. Let’s see.
Types of fuels according to the state of matter
Solid fuels
They are those that are found in nature in a solid way, such as wood, coal or peat. Wood is widely used in the heating of homes and industries as well as in the wood stove. Peat, like wood, is used in heating. Coal can be useful for the same purposes, but it is also useful in the mobilization of machinery.
Liquid fuels
They are those that are in a liquid state, almost always at room temperature, although exceptionally they can be at very low temperatures, such as liquid hydrogen. Among them are: gasoline, kerosene, diesel, ethanol and liquid hydrogen, among others.
Gaseous fuels
They are those that are in a gaseous state and are subjected to liquefaction for storage. Among them: natural gas, butane gas and liquefied petroleum gas.
Fuel types according to their origin and composition
Fossil fuels
They are those that originate naturally from the organic decomposition of animal and vegetable fossils, transformed and settled over the centuries, such as oil, gas and coal.
Biofuel
They are those substances that have their origin in the vegetable kingdom. The addition of the prefix “bio” indicates that the fuel is renewable. The variety of biofuels can also be classified according to their material status as solids, liquids, and gases.
Woods are solid biofuels, for example. Among the liquid biofuels we can mention bioalcohol or biodiesel. Gaseous biofuels are biogas, carbon dioxide, and methane.
