Chemical Engineering Tools

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 Material Balance
Mass In = Mass Out + Accumulation

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 No Chemical Reaction Involved

A Slurry containing 25% by weight of solids is fed into a filter. The filter cake contains
90% solids and the filtrate contains 1% solids. Make a material balance around the
filter for a slurry feed rate of 2000 kg/h. For that feed rate, what are the corresponding
flow rates for the cake and the filtrate ?

Calculation Procedure
1.Sketch the system, showing the available data, indicating the unknown, defining the
system boundary, and establishing the basis for the calculations
2.Set up and solve the material balance equatios
3.Check the results

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 slurry Filter cake
2000 kg/h C kg/h
75% liquid
25% solid
Filtrate
1% Solid
System 99% Liquid
boundary F kg/h

In the present process, let the basis be 1 hour.

Overall balance : Filtrate out + cake out = slurry in
F + C = 2000 kg/h

Liquid balance : Liquid in filtrate + liquid in cake = liquid in slurry or

(wt fraction liquid in filtrate)(mass of filtrate) + (wt fraction liquid in cake)(mass of cake) = (wt
fraction liquid in slurry)(mass of slurry)
(1.0-0.001)F + (1.0-0.90)C = (1.0-0.25)2000

Simultaneous solving of the two equations, F+C=2000 and 0.99F+0.1C=1500, gives F to be

1460.7 kg/h of filtrate and C to be 539.3 kg/h of cake
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 Chemical reaction involved

• Natural gas consisting of 95% methane and 5% nitrogen by volume is burned in a

furnace with 15% excess air. How much air at 289K and 101.3 kPa (14.7 psia) is
required if the fuel consumption is 10 m3/s measured at 289K ?. Make an overall
material balance and calculate the quantity and composition of the flue gas.
Natural gas
10 m3/s
Flue gas
Furnace F m3/s
Air
A m3/s

System
boundary

Natural gas at 289K and 101.3 kPa = 10 m3/s

95% CH4 MW = 16
5% N2 MW = 28
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Air at 289K and 101.3 kPa = A m3/s R = 8.314 m3 kPa/(kg.mol)(K)  ideal gas constant
21% O2 (MW = 32 ); 79% N2 (MW = 28)

The ideal gas law can be used

Thus, n = PV/RT where n is number of moles, P is pressure, V is volume, R is the gas constant, and T
is absolute temperature
n CH4 = (101.3kPa)[(10 m3/s)(0.95)]/[8.314 m3kPa/kg.mol)(K)][(289K)] = 0.40 kg.mol/s
n N2 = (0.05/0.95)(0.40) = 0.02 kg.mol/s

The combustion reaction for CH4 is …………………….CH4 + 2O2  CO2 + 2 H2O

0.40 mol/s CH4 requires 2(0.4) mol/s O2 for stochiometric combustion.

Since 15% excess air is specified, the number of moles of oxygen in the air is (1.15)(0.80) = 0.92
kg.mol/s
The amount of Nitrogen in with the air is [(0.79 mol N 2/mol air)/(0.21 mol O2/mol air)[0.92 kg.mol/s
O2] = 3.46 kg.mol/s
Total moles in the incoming air are 0.92 + 3.46 = 4.38 kg.mol/s
Finally, using the ideal gas law to convert to volumetric flow rate, V = nRT/P = (4.38)(8.314)
(289)/101.3 = 103.9 m3/s of air

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• Set up the material balance and calculate the composition and quantity of the flue gas
• Convert to a mass basis. In the present problem, there is no accumulation.
• The output (the flue gas) includes nitrogen from the air ang from the natural gas, plus the
15% excess oxygen, plus the reaction products, namely : 0,40 mol/s CO2 and 2(0,40) = 0,80
mol/s water.
• Select 1 is as the basis. The inputs and outputs are as follows :

Component Kilogrammole x kilogram/mole = Kilogram

Input
Natural Gas
• CH4 0,40 16 6,40
• N2 0,02 28 0,56
Air
• N2 3,46 28 96,88
• O2 0,92 32 29,44
Total 133,28

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 Component Kilogrammole x kilogram/mole = Kilogram
Output
Flue Gas
• N2 (3,46 + 0,02) 28 97,44
• O2 (0,92-0,80) 32 3,84
• CO2 0,40 44 17,60
• H2O 0,80 18 14,40
Total 133,28

• The accumulation is zero. The overall material balance is 133.28 = 133.28 + 0

• The total quantity of flue gas, therefore is 133.28 kg/s (293 lb/s).

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Equilbrium

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 Phase Equilibrium

• Vapor-liquid Equilibrium Ratios (VLE) for ideal solution Behavior.

• Design caclculation involving VLE, such as distillation, absorption, or stripping, are
usually based on vapor-liquid equilibrium ratios (K)
• Ki = yi/xi ; yi = is the mole fraction of that species in the vapour phase and x i = is its
mole fraction in the liquid phase.
• Sometimes the design calculations are based on relative volatility ᾳi,j, which equals
Ki/Kj. The subscripts i and j referring to two different species
• In general, K values depend on temperature and pressure and the compositions of
both phases

Example : assuming ideal system behavior, calculate the K values and relative volatility
for the benzene-toluene systems at 373K (212 ⁰F) and 101.3 kPa (1 atm).

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• When a system obeys Raoult’s law and Dalton’s law, it is known as an “ideal system”. Then Ki
= P iͦ /P and ᾳi,j = P iͦ / P ͦj , where P iͦ is the vapor pressure of the pure ith component at the
system temperature and P is the total pressure.
• One way to obtain the necessary vapor-pressure data for benzene and toluene is employ the
Antoine equation :
• Log Po = A-[B/(T+C)]
• P = is in mm of mercury and T = is temperature in degrees Celsius, the following are the
values for the constants A,B and C

A B C
Benzene 6.90565 1211.033 220.790
Toluene 6.95464 1424.255 219.482

• Then, at 373 K (i.e., 100 ⁰C), log Pobenzene = 6.90565 – [1211.033/(100+220.790)] = 3.1305. and
Pobenzene therefore equals 1350.5 mmHg (180.05 kPa)
• Similary, log Potoluene = 6.95464-[1424.255/(100+219.482)] = 2.4966 ,so Potoluene equals 313.8
mm Hg (41.48 kPa). Total pressure P is 1 atm, or 760 mmHg.
• Therefore, Kbenzene = 1350.5/760 = 1.777, and Ktoluene = 313.8/760 = 0.413
• Relative volatility of benzene with respect to toluene , ᾳbenzene-toluene = 1350.5/313.8 = 4.304

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