Normally when a fuel burns, the energy of combustion goes partly into raising the temperature of the exhaust gases, and partly into heat that is removed from the reactants via conduction, convection, and radiation. It is often helpful to consider the two extremes of this process:
(1) How much heat would be obtainable if you could remove so much that the exhaust gases came out at the same temperature as the reactants started at?
(2) How hot would the exhaust gases get if you removed NO heat whatsoever?
The answer to that second question is called the adiabatic flame temperature, and it is the subject of our post today.
