CN 2103: Mass and Energy Balance

Introduction to Engineering Calculations, Processes and

Process Variables

Lanry Yung

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

National University of Singapore

© Copyright National University of Singapore. All Rights Reserved. 1

OVERVIEW
1. Introduction to Engineering Calculations
– Units and Dimensions
– Significant Figures
– The mole and molecular weight
2. Process and Process Variables
– Choosing a Basis
– Density and Specific gravity
– Concentration
– Temperature
– Pressure and Hydrostatic head
– Flow rate

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1.1 UNITS AND DIMENSIONS

• The proper handling of units is an essential part of being an engineer.

• Checking consistency of units in your equations is important to reduce
the number of errors when performing engineering calculations.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF USING RIGHT UNITS
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter
The Mars Climate Orbiter was a 638 kg robotic space probe project ($125 mil) launched by NASA on December 11, 1998 to study the Martian
climate, Martian atmosphere, and surface changes and to act as the communications relay in the Mars Surveyor '98 program for Mars Polar
Lander. However, on September 23, 1999, communication with the spacecraft was lost as the spacecraft went into orbital insertion.

Cause of Accident:
The primary cause of this discrepancy was that one piece of ground software supplied by Lockheed Martin produced results in a US customary
unit, contrary to its Software Interface Specification (SIS), while a second system, supplied by NASA, expected those results to be in SI units, in
accordance with the SIS. Specifically, software that calculated the total impulse produced by thruster firings produced results in pound‐force
seconds. The trajectory calculation software then used these results – expected to be in newton seconds (incorrect by a factor of 4.45) – to
update the predicted position of the spacecraft.
The discrepancy between calculated and measured position, resulting in the discrepancy
between desired and actual orbit insertion altitude, had been noticed earlier by at least
two navigators, whose concerns were dismissed because they "did not follow the rules
about filling out [the] form to document their concerns". A meeting of trajectory software
engineers, trajectory software operators (navigators), propulsion engineers, and
managers was convened to consider the possibility of executing Trajectory Correction
Maneuver‐5, which was in the schedule. Attendees of the meeting recall an agreement to
conduct TCM‐5, but it was ultimately not done.

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 SI UNITS Physical Quantity

Length
Name of Unit
Basic SI units
metre, meter
Symbol of Unit*

m
Definition of Unit

Mass kilogramme, kilogram kg

Time second s
Temperature kelvin K
Amount of substance mole mol

Derived SI units
Force newton N (kg)(m)(s‐2) ‐‐> (J)(m‐1)
Energy joule J (kg)(m2)(s‐2)
Power watt W (kg)(m2)(s‐3) ‐‐> (J)(s‐1)
Density kilogram per cubic meter (kg)(m‐3)
Velocity meter per second (m)(s‐1)
Acceleration meter per second squared (m)(s‐2)
Pressure newton per square meter (N)(m‐2)
pascal Pa
Heat capacity joule per (kilogram x kelvin) (J)(kg‐1)(K‐1)

Alternative units
Time minute, hour, day, year min, h, d, y
Temperature Alternative units °∁
Volume litre, liter (dm3) L
Mass tonne, ton (Mg), gram t, g

*Symbols for units DO NOT take a plural form, but non‐abbreviated names have plural forms

**HIMMELBLAU, D.M. AND RIGGS, J.B. “BASIC PRINCIPLES & CALCULATIONS IN

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING” 8TH EDITION, PRENTICE‐HALL, 2012 5
AMERICAN ENGINEERING (AE)
SYSTEMS Physical Quantity Name of Unit Symbol
Basic units
Length foot or inch ft or in.
Mass pound (mass) lbm
Time second, hour s, hr
Temperature degree Rankine or degree Fahrenheit °𝑅 or °𝐹
Amount of substance pound mole lb mol

Derived units
Force pound (force) lbf
Energy British thermal unit, foot pound (force) Btu, (ft)(lbf)
Power horsepower hp
Density pound (mass) per cubic foot lbm/ft3
Velocity feet per second ft/s
Acceleration feet per second squared ft/s2
Pressure pound (force) per squar inch lbf/in2
Heat capacity Btu per pound (mass) per degree F Btu/[(lbm)(° )]
Volume cubic feet ft3

**HIMMELBLAU, D.M. AND RIGGS, J.B. “BASIC PRINCIPLES & CALCULATIONS IN

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING” 8TH EDITION, PRENTICE‐HALL, 2012 6
PREFIXES
Factor Prefix Symbol
109 giga G
106 mega M
103 kilo k
102 hecto h
101 deka da

10‐1 deci d
10‐2 centi c
10‐3 milli m
10‐6 micro µ
10‐9 nano n

**HIMMELBLAU, D.M. AND RIGGS, J.B. “BASIC PRINCIPLES & CALCULATIONS IN

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING” 8TH EDITION, PRENTICE‐HALL, 2012 7
SIGNIFICANT FIGURES
“Decimals have a point” – unknown

A measurement should include three pieces of information:

1. Magnitude of variable measured
2. Units
3. Estimate of its uncertainty

Putting the number into scientific notion directly indicates the

number of significant figures. The number of significant figures
for a number is a direct indication of its accuracy.

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MOLE AND MOLECULAR WEIGHT
• A mole is a certain amount of material corresponding to a specified
number of molecules, atoms, electrons or other specified types of
particles.
• For SI system, a mole (or gram mole) is composed of 6.022 x 1023
(Avogadro’s number) molecules.
• Other specifications include pound mole (lb mol), composed of 6.022 x
1023 x 453.6 molecules.
• Or the kg mol (kilomole, kmol) composed of 6.022 x 1023 x 1000
molecules.

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MOLE AND MOLECULAR WEIGHT
One important calculation you should be particularly skilled in is to convert the
number of moles to mass and mass to moles. This is achieved by using the
molecular weight – the mass per mole:

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠
molecular 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑔
𝑔 𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑏
𝑙𝑏 𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒
𝑚𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡

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1.2 PROCESSES AND PROCESS VARIABLES

Process Unit (System)

System /
Process Unit

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1.2 PROCESSES AND PROCESS VARIABLES
Choosing a Basis
A basis is a reference chosen by you for the calculations you plan to make in a particular problem.
To select a sound basis, consider the following:
1. What do I have to start with (say 100 lb of oil, or 15 kg of fertilizer??)
2. What answer is being called for (e.g. amount of product per hour?)
3. What is the most convenient basis to use? (Are you given mass or mole composition??)

After you have selected your basis, write it prominently on your calculation sheets and also within
the computer program used to solve the problem.

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DENSITY AND SPECIFIC GRAVITY
Density (𝝆) is the ratio of the mass per unit volume as kg/m3 or lb/ft3
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑚
𝜌 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑉

Specific volume (𝑽) is the inverse of density

𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑉
𝑉 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑚

Specific gravity (SG) is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a reference material
(usually water)
𝑔 𝑙𝑏 𝑘𝑔
𝑐𝑚 𝑓𝑡 𝑚
𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐴 𝑔 𝑙𝑏 𝑘𝑔
𝑐𝑚 𝑓𝑡 𝑚

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CONCENTRATION
Concentration designates the amount of a component (solute) in a
mixture divided by the total of the mixture. The amount of the
component is usually expressed in terms of mass or moles of the
component whereas the amount of the mixture can be expressed as
the corresponding volume or mass of the mixture.

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CONCENTRATION
Common examples include:
• Mass per unit volume
• Moles per unit volume
• Mass (weight) fraction
• Mole fraction
• Parts per million (ppm) or parts per billion (ppb)  mass (weight ratio for
solids and liquids, and mole ratio for gases)
• Parts per million by volume (ppmv) and parts per billion by volume (ppbv)
 Volume of solute per volume of the mixture

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TEMPERATURE
Based on freezing point (Tf) and boiling point (Tb) of water at 1 atm
Celsius (centigrade) scale (℃)
• Tf = 0 ℃, Tb = 100 ℃, absolute zero ‐273.15℃
Fahrenheit scale (℉)
• Tf = 32 ℉, Tb = 212 ℉, absolute zero ‐459.67℉
Kelvin scale (K) and Rankine scale (°𝐑)
– T(K) = T (℃) + 273.15
– T (°R) = T (℉) + 459.67
– T (℉) = 1.8 * T (℃) + 32

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PRESSURE
Pressure is defined as “normal (perpendicular) force per unit area”. In SI system,
expressed in terms of N/m2 or pascal (Pa).

Pressure units Conversion factors

bar 1.013bar = 1atm
kPa 101.3kPa = 1atm
Torr 760 Torr = 1 atm
mmHg 760 mmHg = 1atm
in. Hg 29.92 in. Hg = 1 atm
ft H20 33.94 ft H20 = 1 atm
in. H20 407 in. H20 = 1atm
psi 14.69 psi = 1 atm

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HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE AND HEAD
Hydrostatic pressure: the pressure of a fluid exerted by the fluid above and
external pressure

Hydrostatic head: the height of the fluid that would exert the given pressure
at the base (remove external pressure P0)

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ABSOLUTE PRESSURE, GAUGE PRESSURE

𝑃 𝑃 𝑃

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FLOW RATE
Process streams are normally delivered to or removed from a process via
pipes. The flow rate of a process stream is the rate at which material is
transported through a carrying pipe.

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FLOW RATE
The mass flow rate 𝒎 of a process stream is the mass (𝑚) transported
through a pipe per unit time (𝑡)
𝑚
𝑚
𝑡
The molar flow rate 𝒏 of a process stream is the moles (𝑛) of a substance
transported through a pipe per unit time (𝑡)
𝑛
𝑛
𝑡
The volumetric flow rate 𝑽 of a process stream is the volume (𝑉) transported
through a line per unit time (𝑡)
𝑉
𝑉
𝑡

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