NOV/DEC 2006/PT 44 Answer Key

PART A
1. Steady state heat conduction:
Heat can be conducted between two bodies which are in contact with each other; heat "flows"
from one to the other.
• Materials which conduct heat well are called conductors of heat. Electrical
conductors (such as metals) are good conductors of heat.
• Materials which do not conduct heat well are called insulators. Electrical insulators
(for example, wood or glass) are usually good insulators of heat. Materials with low
density, such as air or foamed plastic, are normally also good insulators unless they happen
to be electrical conductors. To prevent heat from moving from one place to another, we
usually place an insulator between.

2. Dimension less number:

The natural convection is determined by the Rayleigh number (Ra). This dimensionless
number is given by

where
Δρ is the difference in density between the two parcels of material that are mixing
g is the local gravitational acceleration
L is the characteristic length-scale of convection: the depth of the boiling pot, for example
D is the diffusivity of the characteristic that is causing the convection, and
μ is the dynamic viscosity.

3. Parallel floe in heat exchanger:

Both the shell side fluid and tube side fluid are flow in same direction.

4. Difference between a condenser and a heat exchanger:

S.No Condenser Heat exchanger

A device, such as an automobile radiator,
Condensers are heat exchangers which
used to transfer heat from a fluid on one
convert steam from its gaseous to its
1 side of a barrier to a fluid on the other side
liquid state at a pressure
without bringing the fluids into direct
below atmospheric pressure.
contact.

5. Power Number:
P =Np.Sp.gr.N3.D5 / 1.524 * 10 13
Where P – Impeller power (HP)
Np – Power number.
Sp.gr – Fluid specific gravity.
N – Rotational speed (rpm)
D – Impeller diameter (inch)

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6. Packing’s used for absorption:

• Ceramic Intaloks Saddle Ring,
• Ceramic Super Intaloks Saddle Ring,
• Super Cascade Ring,
• Ceramic Cascade Ring,
• Ceramic Pall Ring,
• Ceramic Cross-partition Ring,
• Ceramic Y Form Ring,
• Ceramic Conjugate Ring,
• Ceramic Raschig Ring

7. Dew point:
The temperature at which a vapor- gas mixture becomes saturated when cooled at constant total
pressure out of contact with a liquid.

8. Relative Humidity:
It is expressed in percentage of 100 pA / PA

Where pA and PA are the partial and vapor pressure at the dry bulb temperature of the mixture.

9. Reverse Osmosis:
A process by which a solvent such as water is purified of solutes by being forced through a
semipermeable membrane through which the solvent, but not the solutes, may pass.

10.Various laws used for crushing:

• Rittinger’s law:
The work required for crushing is proportional to the new surface created.
P/m = Kr ( 1/ Dsb – 1/ Dsa)
Where Dsa, Dsb are volume surface mean diameter of feed and product.
• Kicks law:
The work required for crushing a given mass of material is constant for the same reduction
ratio i.e., ratio of the initial particle size to the final particle

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 NOV/DEC 2006/PT 44 Answer Key

PART B
11. (a) (i) Heat transfer by conduction: 8 Marks
 Repeated question – Nov/Dec 2007

(ii) Different modes of Heat Transfer: 4 Marks

CONDUCTION

Heat can be conducted between two bodies which are in contact with each other; heat "flows"
from one to the other.
• Materials which conduct heat well are called conductors of heat. Electrical
conductors (such as metals) are good conductors of heat.
• Materials which do not conduct heat well are called insulators. Electrical insulators
(for example, wood or glass) are usually good insulators of heat. Materials with low
density, such as air or foamed plastic, are normally also good insulators unless they happen
to be electrical conductors. To prevent heat from moving from one place to another, we
usually place an insulator between.

CONVECTION

• This is a different kind of heat transfer than conduction. In conduction, heat itself is
moving; in convection, hot portions of a fluid move through the body of the fluid.
• The hot fluid mixes with the cold fluid, and heat is transferred more quickly than by
conduction.
• What we commonly call a "rolling boil" results from convection.
• Hot fluids rise through surrounding, cooler fluid because they are less dense; cooler fluids
sink through warmer fluids because they are denser.
• This causes circular motion of the fluid away from a source of heat.
• Convection in water drives ocean currents; convection in air drives weather patterns; and
convection of molten rock inside the earth is thought to drive plate tectonics.

RADIATION
•
• Radiation is the simplest means of heat transfer. Heat radiation is carried not by moving
atoms (as in conduction or convection) but by electromagnetic waves.
• Radiation is the only way that heat can move through a vacuum, and is the reason that
even a closed thermos bottle (which has a vacuum between the inner and outer parts) will
eventually come to the same temperature as its surroundings.

(iii) Requirements of insulated bodies: 4 Marks

 Repeated question – Nov/Dec 2007

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 NOV/DEC 2006/PT 44 Answer Key

(b) (i) Natural & Forced convection: 4 Marks

 Repeated question – Nov/Dec 2007

(ii) Advantages of counter current heat exchangers: 4 Marks

• High/ Low pressure limits

• Thermal Performance
• Temperature ranges
• Product Mix (liquid/liquid, particulates or high-solids liquid)
• Pressure Drops across the exchanger
• Fluid flow capacity
• Clean ability, maintenance and repair
• Materials required for construction
• Ability and ease of future expansion

(iii) Equation for over all heat exchanger: 16 Marks

 Repeated question – Nov/Dec 2007

12. (a) Shell and tube heat exchanger: 16 Marks

• A shell and tube heat exchanger is a class of heat exchanger designs.

• It is the most common type of heat exchanger in oil refineries and other large chemical processes,
and is suited for higher-pressure applications. As its name implies, this type of heat exchanger
consists of a shell (a large pressure vessel) with a bundle of tubes inside it.
• One fluid runs through the tubes, and another fluid flows over the tubes (through the shell) to
transfer heat between the two fluids.
• The set of tubes is called a tube bundle, and may be composed by several types of tubes: plain,
longitudinally finned, etc.

THEORY AND APPLICATION

• Two fluids, of different starting temperatures, flow through the heat exchanger.
• One flows through the tubes (the tube side) and the other flows outside the tubes but inside the
shell (the shell side).
• Heat is transferred from one fluid to the other through the tube walls, either from tube side to shell
side or vice versa.

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• The fluids can be either liquids or gases on either the shell or the tube side. In order to transfer heat
efficiently, a large heat transfer area should be used, leading to the use of many tubes.
• In this way, waste heat can be put to use. This is an efficient way to conserve energy.
• Heat exchangers with only one phase (liquid or gas) on each side can be called one-phase or
single-phase heat exchangers.

(b) Distillation column: 12 Marks

• Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling
liquid mixture.
• Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction.
Commercially, distillation has a number of applications.
• It is used to separate crude oil into more fractions for specific uses such as transport,power
generation and heating.
• Water is distilled to remove impurities, such as salt from seawater.
• Air is distilled to separate its components—notably oxygen, nitrogen, and argon—for industrial
use. Distillation of fermented solutions has been used since ancient times to produce distilled
beverages with higher alcohol content.
• The premises where distillation is carried out, especially distillation of alcohol are known as a
distillery.

IDEALIZED DISTILLATION MODEL

• The boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the
pressure in the liquid, enabling bubbles to form without being crushed.
• A special case is the normal boiling point, where the vapor pressure of the liquid equals the
ambient atmospheric pressure.
• It is a common misconception that in a liquid mixture at a given pressure, each component boils at
the boiling point corresponding to the given pressure and the vapors of each component will
collect separately and purely.
• This, however, does not occur even in an idealized system. Idealized models of distillation are
essentially governed by Raoult's law and Dalton's law, and assume that vapor-liquid equilibria are
attained.
• Raoult's law assumes that a component contributes to the total vapor pressure of the mixture in
proportion to its percentage of the mixture and its vapor pressure when pure, or succinctly: partial
pressure equals mole fraction multiplied by vapor pressure when pure. If one component changes
another component's vapor pressure, or if the volatility of a component is dependent on its
percentage in the mixture, the law will fail.
• Dalton's law states that the total vapor pressure is the sum of the vapor pressures of each individual
component in the mixture.
• When a multi-component liquid is heated, the vapor pressure of each component will rise, thus
causing the total vapor pressure to rise.
• When the total vapor pressure reaches the pressure surrounding the liquid, boiling occurs and
liquid turns to gas throughout the bulk of the liquid. Note that a mixture with a given composition
has one boiling point at a given pressure, when the components are mutually soluble.

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 NOV/DEC 2006/PT 44 Answer Key

CONTINUOUS DISTILLATION

• Continuous distillation is an ongoing distillation in which a liquid mixture is continuously (without

interruption) fed into the process and separated fractions are removed continuously as output
streams as time passes during the operation.
• Continuous distillation produces at least two output fractions, including at least
one volatile distillate fraction, which has boiled and been separately captured as a vapor condensed
to a liquid. There is always a bottoms (or residue) fraction, which is the least volatile residue that
has not been separately captured as a condensed vapor.
• Continuous distillation differs from batch distillation in the respect that concentrations should not
change over time. Continuous distillation can be run at a steady state for an arbitrary amount of
time.
• Given a feed of in a specified composition, the main variables that affect the purity of products in
continuous distillation are the reflux ratio and the number of theoretical equilibrium stages
(practically, the number of trays or the height of packing). Reflux is a flow from the condenser
back to the column, which generates a recycle that allows a better separation with a given number
of trays.
• Equilibrium stages are ideal steps where compositions achieve vapor-liquid equilibrium, repeating
the separation process and allowing better separation given a reflux ratio.
• A column with a high reflux ratio may have fewer stages, but it refluxes a large amount of liquid,
giving a wide column with a large holdup.
• Conversely, a column with a low reflux ratio must have a large number of stages, thus requiring a
taller column.
• Continuous distillation requires building and configuring dedicated equipment. The resulting high
investment cost restricts its use to the large scale.

(ii) STEAM DISTILLATION 4 Marks

• Like vacuum distillation, steam distillation is a method for distilling compounds which are heat-
sensitive.
• This process involves using bubbling steam through a heated mixture of the raw material. By
Raoult's law, some of the target compound will vaporize (in accordance with its partial pressure).
The vapor mixture is cooled and condensed, usually yielding a layer of oil and a layer of water.
• Steam distillation of various aromatic herbs and flowers can result in two products; an essential
oil as well as a watery herbal distillate.
The essential oils are often used in perfumery andaromatherapy while the watery distillates have many
applications in aromatherapy, food processing and skin care

13. (a) (i) Different types of impellers used in agitated vessel: 10 marks
Ribbon mixers consist of helical or spiral mixing blades that sweep across nearly the entire surface of the
vessel. There are many variations to handle a wide variety of compounds. When pastes adhere to vessel
walls, the tank may be aligned vertically so that the blades vertically lift the material as it is sheared. Heat

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transfer operations use this type of design. The main design criteria for ribbon mixers are the blade
thickness, number of spirals, wall clearances, and spiral pattern.

ii. Twin-rotor mixers use two parallel rotors with intermeshed flights along their axes. There is a tight
clearance to the vessel walls, so high shearing action between the rotors and between rotors and wall
occurs. This design is similar to a twin-screw extruder, except that the product is not forced through a die,
nor is it normally melted. These, as well as single rotor mixers are useful for continuous mixing processes,
and will produce a high degree of mixing for homogeneity.

iii.Kneading mixers consist of two kneading arms that intermesh as well as form a close tolerance to the
mixer wall. These are effective for pastes such as adhesives, toothpaste, and flour-based doughs. Mixing
is accomplished via a combination of stretching, squeezing, folding, and shearing in between kneading
arms and walls. This multiple action makes kneading mixers effective for heat transfer as well.

iv.Rubber and plastic compounds present unique mixing challenges because of their high elasticity. High
shearing forces are required, and a common solution is the Banbury® mixer
This high-torque, low RPM mixer shears material between two thick blades and the mixer wall. It
typically has thick shafts and requires very high HP per unit volume for mixing. As the friction is very
high, temperatures of the materials will rise. Potential for off-product or degradation can occur unless
there is a cooling jacket. Shear forces are not especially high, however mixing is usually done under
pressure as a mechanical ram forces material to the blades. These mixers are great for granular dispersions
in plastics and for other compounding operations.
(ii) Principle of absorption and adsorption: 6 Marks

 Repeated question – Nov/Dec 2007

(b) (i) Packing’s used for absorption: 8 Marks

 Repeated question – Nov/Dec 2007
(ii) Absorption Tower: 8 Marks
 Repeated question – Nov/Dec 2007
14. (a) Spray drier and tunnel drier: 16 marks
i. Repeated question – Nov/Dec 2007
(b) (i) Cooling towers: 12 Marks
 Repeated question – Nov/Dec 2007

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(ii) Humid Heat: 4 Marks

It is defined as the heat capacity of 1 kg dry air and the moisture contained in it.
CH = 1.006=1.84 H kJ / kg dry air. K

15.(a) Jaw and roll crusher: 16 Marks

CRUSHERS

• A crusher is a machine designed to reduce large rocks into smaller rocks, gravel, or rock dust.
• Crushers may be used to reduce the size, or change the form, of waste materials so they can be
more easily disposed of or recycled, or to reduce the size of a solid mix of raw materials (as in
rock ore), so that pieces of different composition can be differentiated.
• Crushing is the process of transferring a force amplified by mechanical advantage through a
material made of molecules that bond together more strongly, and resist deformation more, than
those in the material being crushed do.
• Crushing devices hold material between two parallel or tangent solid surfaces, and apply sufficient
force to bring the surfaces together to generate enough energy within the material being crushed so
that its molecules separate from (fracturing), or change alignment in relation to (deformation),
each other.
• The earliest crushers were hand-held stones, where the weight of the stone provided a boost to
muscle power, used against a stone anvil. Querns and mortars are types of these crushing devices.

JAW CRUSHER

• A jaw or toggle crusher consists of a set of vertical jaws, one jaw being fixed and the other being
moved back and forth relative to it by a cam or pitman mechanism.
• The jaws are farther apart at the top than at the bottom, forming a tapered chute so that the material
is crushed progressively smaller and smaller as it travels downward until it is small enough to
escape from the bottom opening.
• The movement of the jaw can be quite small, since complete crushing is not performed in one
stroke.
• The inertia required to crush the material is provided by a weighted flywheel that moves a shaft
creating an eccentric motion that causes the closing of the gap.
• Single and double toggle jaw crushers are constructed of heavy duty fabricated plate frames with
reinforcing ribs throughout.
• The crushers’ components are of high strength design to accept high power draw.
• Manganese steel is used for both fixed and movable jaw faces.
• Heavy flywheels allow crushing peaks on tough materials. Double Toggle jaw crushers may
feature hydraulic toggle adjusting mechanisms.

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GYRATORY CRUSHER

• A gyratory crusher is similar in basic concept to a jaw crusher, consisting of a concave surface and
a conical head; both surfaces are typically lined with manganese steel surfaces.
• The inner cone has a slight circular movement, but does not rotate; the movement is generated by
an eccentric arrangement.
• As with the jaw crusher, material travels downward between the two surfaces being progressively
crushed until it is small enough to fall out through the gap between the two surfaces.
• A gyratory crusher is one of the main types of primary crushers in a mine or ore processing plant.
Gyratory crushers are designated in size either by the gape and mantle diameter or by the size of
the receiving opening.
• Gyratory crushers can be used for primary or secondary crushing.
• The crushing action is caused by the closing of the gap between the mantle line (movable)
mounted on the central vertical spindle and the concave liners (fixed) mounted on the main frame
of the crusher.
• The gap is opened and closed by an eccentric on the bottom of the spindle that causes the central
vertical spindle to gyrate.
• The vertical spindle is free to rotate around its own axis. The crusher illustrated is a short-shaft
suspended spindle type, meaning that the main shaft is suspended at the top and that the eccentric
is mounted above the gear.
• The short-shaft design has superseded the long-shaft design in which the eccentric is mounted
below the gear.

(b) (i) Cyclone separator: 5 Marks

• Cyclonic separation is a method of removing particulates from an air, gas or water stream,
without the use of filters, through vortex separation. Rotational effects and gravity are used to
separate mixtures of solids and fluids.
• A high speed rotating (air) flow is established within a cylindrical or conical container called
a cyclone. Air flows in a spiral pattern, beginning at the top (wide end) of the cyclone and ending
at the bottom (narrow) end before exiting the cyclone in a straight stream through the center of the
cyclone and out the top.
• Larger (denser) particles in the rotating stream have too much inertia to follow the tight curve of
the stream and strike the outside wall, falling then to the bottom of the cyclone where they can be
removed. In a conical system, as the rotating flow moves towards the narrow end of the cyclone
the rotational radius of the stream is reduced, separating smaller and smaller particles.
• The cyclone geometry, together with flow rate, defines the cut point of the cyclone. This is the size
of particle that will be removed from the stream with a 50% efficiency.
• Particles larger than the cut point will be removed with a greater efficiency, and smaller particles
with a lower efficiency.
• Large scale cyclones are used in sawmills to remove sawdust from extracted air.
• Cyclones are also used in oil refineries to separate oils and gases, and in the cement industry as
components of kiln preheaters. Smaller cyclones are used to separate airborne particles for
analysis.

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Filter press: 7 Marks

 Repeated question – Nov/Dec 2007

(ii) Centrifuge: 4 Marks

• Centrifugation is a process that involves the use of the centrifugal force for
the separation of mixtures, used in industry and in laboratory settings.

• More-dense components of the mixture migrate away from the axis of the
centrifuge, while less-dense components of the mixture migrate towards the axis.

• Chemists and biologists may increase the effective gravitational force on a test tube
so as to more rapidly and completely cause the precipitate ("pellet") to gather on the
bottom of the tube.
• The remaining solution is properly called the "supernate" or "supernatant liquid".
The supernatant liquid is then either quickly decanted from the tube without
disturbing the precipitate, or withdrawn with a Pasteur pipette.

• The rate of centrifugation is specified by the acceleration applied to the sample,

typically measured in revolutions per minute (RPM) or g.

• The particles' settling velocity in centrifugation is a function of their size and shape,
centrifugal acceleration, the volume fraction of solids present, the density
difference between the particle and the liquid, and the viscosity.

• In the chemical and food industries, special centrifuges can process a continuous
stream of particle-laden liquid.

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