Combustion of Alcohols

Alcohols are flammable. They burn in air because of the presence of a hydrocarbon chain. They burn to produce carbon dioxide and water. This property allows alcohols to be used as a fuel. In countries with no oil industry ethanol produced by fermentation is used as an alternative fuel supply to importing oil.

The balanced equations for the combustion reactions for the first four straight chain alcohols are given below:

 

 

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