UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

SECOND SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS MAY 2011

PROGRAMME BEng (Hons) Chemical and Environmental Engineering BEng (Hons) Chemical and Renewable Energy Engineering MODULE NAME DATE Chemical Process Design Thursday 5 May 2011 TIME 9:30 12:30 hrs MODULE CODE DURATION CHE3202(5) 3 Hours

NO. OF QUESTIONS SET

NO. OF QUESTIONS TO BE ATTEMPTED

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES There are 2 Sections in this paper: Section A and Section B. Section A consists of THREE (3) Questions. Question 1 is compulsory. Plus answer any other ONE (1) Question from this Section. Section B consists of THREE (3) Questions. Answer any TWO (2) Questions from this Section. Use SEPARATE answer books for each Section. Figures 1 and 4 are attached.

CHEMICAL PROCESS DESIGN CHE3202(5)

SECTION A

Answer TWO (2) Questions from this Section. Question 1 is compulsory. Plus answer any other ONE (1) Question. Use SEPARATE answer books for each Section. Data on atomic masses: C: 12 O: 16 H: 1 S: 32 N:14

Question 1 (Compulsory) [40 marks] In view of the expected long-term energy shortages, considerable effort is being deployed to develop innovative processes for upgrading low-quality energy sources to high-quality fuels. The process flow in Figure 1 shows a scheme in which high sulphur coal is gasified to produce a clean synthetic natural gas (SNG). Powdered coal and steam (0.8 lb water per lb coal) are charged to a reactor which at high temperature and pressure produces a complex mixture of gases including 10% mole basis methane. The heat for the reaction is provided by burning some of the charged coal with oxygen introduced directly into the reactor. The raw product gas is cooled, treated for removal of entrained ash, and sent to a second reactor, the shift converter. In this unit, the H2 to CO mole ratio of 0.56 is increased by converting 62.5% of the CO. The shifted gas, still containing 10% methane, is next treated for removal of the acid gases, hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide. The residual gas, containing 49.2% hydrogen on a water free basis is then sent to a catalytic reactor which generates more methane. The final water free product gas contains 5% hydrogen, 0.1% carbon monoxide and the rest methane (all in mole basis). Given coal has the following mass-basis composition of 66%C, 3% H, 3% S, 18% ash and the rest water, (a) develop the complete degree-of-freedom table for the process. You are advised to use the copy of Figure 1 provided with this examination paper, and in case of its use, attach it with your answer book for this section. [18 marks] calculate all flows (in lbmol/h) for the process based on a feed of 10000 lb/h. Assumption: 25% of carbon fed finally appears in the product. [22 marks] Figure 1 (attached)

(b)

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CHEMICAL PROCESS DESIGN CHE3202(5)

Answer any other ONE (1) Question. Question 2 [20 marks] (a) Formaldehyde, CH2O, is produced industrially by partial oxidation of methanol, CH3OH, with air over Ag catalyst. Under optimized reaction conditions (Figure 2), about 55% conversion of the methanol is attained with a feed consisting of 40% methanol in air. Although formaldehyde is the main product, some production of by-products such as CO, CO2, and small amount of formic acid (HCOOH), also takes place. The gross reactor output is usually scrubbed to separate out a gas stream containing CO, CO2, H2 and N2 and a liquid stream containing the unconverted CH3OH, the products CH2O and H2O as well as the undesirable by-products, HCOOH. Assuming that the liquid stream contains equal amounts of CH2O and CH3OH and 0.5% formic acid, while the gas stream contains 7.5% hydrogen, calculate the complete compositions of both streams for a feed basis of 1000 mol/day. [14 marks]

Figure 2: Formaldehyde production (b) A biochemical reaction is being analyzed in the laboratory for the possible values a dimensionless design parameter x may take. The mathematical modeling of the process yields the following relationship involving this parameter:

3 xe x 1 = 0
Using the Newton-Raphson iteration method, find a value of x (to 4 decimal places of accuracy) if published data indicates it being in the range 0.748 and 2.252. [6 marks]

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CHEMICAL PROCESS DESIGN CHE3202(5)

Question 3 [20 marks] In an ammonia plant (Figure 3), a feed gas containing 74% hydrogen, 24.5% nitrogen, 1.2% methane and 0.3% argon is catalytically reacted to produce ammonia. The products of reaction are refrigerated to separate out 75% of the ammonia product per pass. The remaining process stream is recycled back to the reactor. In order to stabilize the buildup of the inerts methane and A in the process, part of the recycle gas is purged. Assuming that the purge rate is adjusted so that the combined reactor feed contains 18% methane and 65% of the nitrogen is converted per pass, (a) develop the degree-of-freedom table to show that the process is completely specified [10 marks] calculate the flows in the process for a basis of 1000mol/h feed and submit your results in the attached table given overleaf with your answer book for this section. [10 marks]

(b)

Figure 3: Ammonia synthesis loop process

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CHEMICAL PROCESS DESIGN CHE3202(5)

SECTION B

Answer any TWO (2) Questions from this Section. Use SEPARATE answer books for each Section. Question 4 [20 marks] (a) What is the maximum number of independent chemical reactions that could take place between five compounds given the atom matrix,

1 1 3 0

0 0 2 1

1 0 1 0

2 0 4 1

0 1 2 0

involving four types of elements A, B , C and D ? Construct a set of independent reactions for this system. [10 marks] b) Use the atom matrices to show that the stoichiometric equation below is balanced. CH3OH + 3/2 O2 CO2 + 2H2O [10 marks]

Question 5 [20 marks] (a) Explain what you understand by the thermodynamic degree of freedom of a system. [6 marks] State the precise relationship that exists between the degree of freedom (d.o.f), number of components and number of phases. [4 marks]

(b)

(c)

Deduce an expression for the d.o.f , D , for a single component non-reacting system and use the expression to explain the triple point of water. [5 marks]

(d)

Differentiate between the application of the Phase rule to single component system and multi-component /multiphase systems. [5 marks]

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CHEMICAL PROCESS DESIGN CHE3202(5)

Question 6 [20 marks] In the sulphuric acid industry, oleum is a term used for 100% acid containing free, unreacted SO3, dissolved in the acid. A 20% oleum, for example, is 20 lb SO3 in 80 lb 100% acid, per 100 lb mix. A contact sulphuric acid plant produces 10 tons 20% oleum and 40 tons 98% acid per day (see flowsheet in Figure 4.0 attached). The oleum tower is fed with a portion of the acid from 98% tower. The 98% tower is fed with 97% acid, obtained by diluting part of the 98% output. The gas fed to the oleum tower analyzes 10.8% SO3. Devise a solution strategy for the problem and discuss how you would attempt the problem, if you were to calculate the amount of acid to be fed to each tower per day.

Figure 4 (attached)

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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CHEMICAL PROCESS DESIGN CHE3202(5)

Figure 1

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Figure 1: Coal gasification process for SNG production