Chemical Engineering Principles-I Dr.Ali H.

Abbar

5. Methane burns with O2 to produce a gaseous product that contains CH4, O2, CO2, CO, H2O, and H2. How many
independent element balances can you write for this system?
6. Solve the problems (1, 2 & 3) using element balances.
7. Pure carbon is burned in oxygen. The flue gas analysis is: CO 2 75 mo1%, CO l4 mol% & O2 11 mol%. What
was the percent excess oxygen used?
8. Toluene, C7H8, is burned with 30% excess air. A bad burner cause 15% of the carbon to form soot (pure C)
deposited on the walls of the furnace, what is the Orsat analysis of the gases leaving the furnace?
9. A synthesis gas analyzing CO2: 6.4%, O2: 0.2%, CO: 40.0% and H2: 50.8% (the balance is N2) is burned with
excess dry air. The problem is to determine the composition of the flue gas. How many degrees of freedom
exist in this problem, that is, how many additional variables must be specified?
10. A coal analyzing 65.4% C, 5.3% H, 0.6% S, 1.1% N, 18.5% O, and 9.1% ash is burned so that all combustible
is burnt out of the ash. The flue gas analyzes 13.00% CO2, 0.76% CO, 6.17% O 2, 0.87% H2, and 79.20% N 2.
All of the sulfur burns to SO2, which is included in the CO2 in the gas analysis (i.e., CO2 + SO2 = 13%).
Calculate:
a. Pounds of coal fired per 100 lb mol of dry flue gas as analyzed;
b. Ratio of moles of total combustion gases to moles of dry air supplied;
c. Total moles of water vapor in the stack gas per 100 lb of coal if the entering air is dry;
d. Percent excess air.
11. A hydrocarbon fuel is burnt with excess air. The Orsat analysis of the flue gas shows 10.2% CO2, 1.0% CO,
8.4% O 2, and 80.4% N 2. What is the atomic ratio of H to C in the fuel?

Answers:

1. 186 kg
2. 887 lb
3. (a) C6H12 = 139 mol/hr; (b) H2O = 453 mol/hr; (c) CO = 347 mol/hr; (d) H2 = 640 mol/hr; (e) C 6H14 = 53.3
mol/hr.
4. Two
5. Three
6. See the answers to the problems (1, 2 &3).
7. 4.5%
8. 9.1% CO 2, 8.9% O 2, 82% N 2
9. 1
10. (a) 252; (b)1.063; (c) 2.31; (d) 33.8%
11. 0.81

2.6 Material Balance Problems Involving Multiple Units

• A process flowsheet (flowchart) is a graphical representation of a process. A flowsheet describes the actual
process in sufficient detail that you can use it to formulate material (and energy) balances.

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Figure 1l.1a illustrates a serial combination of mixing and splitting stages. In a mixer, two or more entering streams of
different compositions are combined. In a splitter, two or more streams exit, all of which have the same composition.
In a separator, the exit streams can be of different compositions.

Figure 11.1a serial mixing and splitting in a system without reaction. Streams 1 plus 2 mix to form Stream 3, and
Stream 5 is split into Streams 6 and 7.

Figure 11.1b the dashed line I designates the boundary for overall material balances made on the process in
Figure l1.1a.

Figure 11.1c Dashed lines II, III and IV designate the boundaries for material balances around each of the
individual units comprising the overall process.

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Figure 11.1d the dashed line V designates the boundary for material balances around a system comprised of the
mixing point plus the unit portrayed by the box.

Figure 11.1e the dashed line VI designates the boundary for material balances about a system comprised of the
unit portrayed by the box plus the splitter.

Figure 11.1f the dashed line VII designates the boundary for material balances about a system comprised of the
mixer plus the splitter.

Example 32
Acetone is used in the manufacture of many chemicals and also as a solvent. In its latter role, many restrictions are
placed on the release of acetone vapor to the environment. You are asked to design an acetone recovery system having
the flow sheet illustrated in Figure El1.1. All the concentrations shown in El1.1 of both the gases and liquids are
specified in weight percent in this special case to make the calculations simpler. Calculate, A, F, W, B, and D per hour.
G = 1400 kg/hr.

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Solution
This is an open, steady-state process without reaction. Three subsystems exist.

Pick 1 hr as a basis so that G = 1400 kg.

Figure E11.1

The mass balances for Unit 1 (Absorber Column)

Solve Equations (a), (b), and (c) to get A =1336.7 kg/hr, F = 221.05 kg/hr and W = 157.7 kg/hr
(Check) Use the total balance (Absorber Column).

The mass balances for the combined Units 2 plus 3 (Distillation & Condenser) are:

Solve Equations (d) and (e) simultaneously to get D = 34.90kg/hr and B = 186.1 kg/hr
(Check) Use the total balance (Distillation & Condenser)

Note
As a matter of interest, what other mass balances could be written for the system and substituted for any one of the
Equations (a) through (e)? Typical balances would be the overall balances

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Example 33
In the face of higher fuel costs and the uncertainty of the supply of a particular fuel, many companies operate two
furnaces, one fired with natural gas and the other with fuel oil. The gas furnace uses air while the oil furnace uses an
oxidation stream that analyzes: O2, 20%; N 2, 76%; and CO2, 4%. The stack gases go up a common stack, See Figure
El1.2.

Figure E11.2

The reserve of fuel oil was only 560 bbl. How many hours could the company operate before shutting down if no
additional fuel oil was attainable? How many lb mol/hr of natural gas were being consumed? The minimum heating
load for the company when translated into the stack gas output was 6205 lb mol/hr of dry stack gas. The molecular
weight of the fuel oil was 7.91 lb/lb mol, and its density was 7.578 lb/gal.
Solution
This is an open, steady-state process with reaction. Two subsystems exist.

Basis: 1 hr, so that P = 6205 lb mol

The overall balances for the elements are (in pound moles)

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Solve the S balance for F; the sulfur is a tie component. Then solve for the other four balances simultaneously for G.
The results are:

F = 207 lb mol/hr and G = 499 lb mol/hr

Finally, the fuel oil consumption is

If the fuel oil reserves were only 560 bbl,

Example 34
Figure E11.3 shows the process and the known data. You are asked to calculate the compositions of every flow stream,
and the fraction of the sugar in the cane that is recovered.

Figure E11.3
15% Sugar

Solution
Basis: l hour (M= l000lb)
Let S = sugar, P = pulp, and W = water.

For the crystallizer the equations are

Sugar: K (0.40) = L (0) + 1000

Water: K (0.60) = L + 0

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From which you get K = 2500 lb and L = 1500 lb.

Check using the total flows: 2500 = 1500 + 1000 = 2500

Using same method for solution: evaporator, screen, and lastly solve the equations for the mill.
The results for all of the variables are:

The fraction of sugar recovered = [product (sugar) / in (sugar)]

= [1000/(24,574)*(0.16)] = 0.25

Problems

1. A two-stage separations unit is shown in Figure SAT11P1. Given that the input stream Fl is 1000 lb/hr,
calculate the value of F2 and the composition of F2.

2. A simplified process for the production of SO3 to be used in the manufacture of sulfuric acid is illustrated in
Figure SAT11P2. Sulfur is burned with 100% excess air in the burner, but for the reaction S + O2 SO2,
only 90% conversion of the S to SO 2 is achieved in the burner. In the converter, the conversion of SO2 to SO 3
is 95% complete. Calculate the kg of air required per 100 kg of sulfur burned, and the concentrations of the
components in the exit gas from the burner and from the converter in mole fractions.

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3. In the process for the production of pure acetylene, C2H2 (see Figure SAT11P3), pure methane (CH4), and pure
oxygen are combined in the burner, where the following reactions occur:

a. Calculate the ratio of the moles of O2 to moles of CH4 fed to the burner.
b. On the basis of 100 lb mol of gases leaving the condenser, calculate how many pounds of water are
removed by the condenser.
c. What is the overall percentage yield of product (pure) C2H2, based on the carbon in the natural gas
entering the burner?

The gases from the burner are cooled in the condenser that removes all of the water. The analysis of the gases leaving
the condenser is as follows:

These gases are sent to an absorber where 97% of the C2H2 and essentially all the CO2 are removed with the solvent.
The solvent from the absorber is sent to the CO2 stripper, where all the CO2 is removed. The analysis of the gas stream
leaving the top of the CO2 stripper is as follows:

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The solvent from the CO2 stripper is pumped to the C2H2 stripper, which removes all the C2H2 as a pure product.

Answers:
1. Assume that the compositions in the figure are mass fractions. Then:

2. 863 lb air/lb S

3. (a) 1.14; (b) 2240 lb; (c) 9.9%.

2.7 Recycle, Bypass, Purge, and the Industrial Application of Material Balances

Introduction
• Recycle is fed back from a downstream unit to an upstream unit, as shown in Figure 12.lc. The stream
containing the recycled material is known as a recycle stream.
• Recycle system is a system that includes one or more recycle streams.
• Because of the relatively high cost of industrial feedstocks, when chemical reactions are involved in a
process, recycle of unused reactants to the reactor can offer significant economic savings for high-volume
processing systems. Heat recovery within a processing unit (energy recycle) reduces the overall energy
consumption of the process.

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