CHE 481

PROBLEMS: CHAPTERS 1 & 2

Material Balance for a Process with Two Simultaneous Reactions PROBLEM 1 Formaldehyde (CH2O) is produced industrially by the catalytic oxidation of methanol (CH 3OH) according to the following reaction: CH3OH + O2 CH2O + H2O (1)

Unfortunately, under the conditions used to produce formaldehyde at a profitable rate, a significant portion of the formaldehyde reacts with oxygen to produce CO and H 2O by the following secondary reaction: CH2O O2 CO + H2O (2)

Air is fed to the reactor in a quantity that is twice the stoichiometric amount needed for complete conversion of methanol to formaldehyde and water (by equation 1). The conversion of methanol in the reactor is 90% and the yield of formaldehyde is 75% based on the theoretical amount that can be produced by reaction 1. Calculate the composition of the product gas stream leaving the reactor. Prepare a Flow Summary Table for each stream in this process.

Analysis of a Batch Reactor System PROBLEM 2 A bioreactor is used to produce ethanol (C2H5OH) and propenoic acid (C2H3CO2H) by digesting glucose (C6H12O6) in grains with yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in the following reactions: C6H12O6 2 C2H5OH + 2 CO2 C6H12O6 2 C2H3CO2H + 2 H2O (1) (2)

The bioreactor is initially charged with 4000 kg of a 12% solution of glucose in water. After fermentation, 120 kg of carbon dioxide are produced and 90 kg of unreacted glucose remains in the broth. Calculate the composition of the final broth solution (in weight percent units). Assume that none of the glucose is assimilated into the bacteria.

Combustion of a Fossil Fuel PROBLEM 3 A local utility company generates electricity by burning coal that has the following analysis on a dry basis: Component C H O N S Ash TOTAL Percent 83.05 4.45 3.36 1.08 0.70 7.36 100.0 An average Orsat analysis of the stack gas during a 24 hour period gives the following: Component CO2 + SO2 CO O2 N2 TOTAL Percent 15.4 0.0 4.0 80.6 100.0 Moisture in the fuel was 3.9% and the air on the average has 0.0048 lb water per lb dry air. The refuse showed that 14% of the coal was unburned with the remainder being ash. Show by material balance that the above data are consistent. What is the average percent excess air used? Recycle and Purge in a Reactor System PROBLEM 4 The conversion of coal to more convenient liquid products for subsequent use in the production of chemicals is gaining popularity. Two of the main gases that can be generated under suitable conditions for insitu (in the ground) coal combustion in the presence of steam (as occurs naturally in the presence of groundwater) are hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). After cleanup, these two gases can be combined to yield methanol according to the equation: CO + 2 H2 CH3OH (1) The fresh feed stream is mixed with a Recycle stream and is sent to the reactor. The fresh feed contains hydrogen (67.3%), carbon monoxide (32.5% ) and methane (0.2%). The conditions of the reaction are such that methane does not participate in the reaction and thus can be treated as an inert component. The reactor exit stream is fed to a Separator where methanol (100%) is withdrawn as a liquid from the other chemicals. These chemicals are hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane. In order to keep the methane from building up in the system a purge stream is taken off of the recycled gas stream such that the maximum concentration of methane in the separator exit stream is 3.2%. The once-through conversion of CO in the reactor is 18%. Prepare a Stream Summary Table for this process. What is the purge gas composition?

Adsorption PROBLEM 5 Activated carbon is used to reduce the level of a contaminating solute in a fermentation system from 19.2 g solute/L solution to 1.4 g solute/L solution. The solution specific gravity is 1.0 at 0oC/0oC. The solution is mixed with the activated carbon such that they reach equilibrium. The following solid-liquid data are determined and the Adsorptivity Capacity, y, is calculated accordingly: Cumulative g Carbon Added per 1000 g solution, z g Solute/1000 g solution, x g Solute Adsorbed/g Carbon (xo-xi)/z 0 0.01 0.04 0.08 0.20 0.40 19.2 17.2 12.6 8.6 3.4 1.4 -- 200 165 133 79 45

Using a LLSQ method the Freundlich isotherm is: y = 37.919 x0.583 (R2=0.999) And the Langmuir isotherm is: y = (29.698 x)/(1 + 0.0955x) (R2=0.987) Complete a Flow Summary Table for this process when the contaminated solution is 10 L. How much carbon would be required to remove all of the polluting solute? Flash Calculation PROBLEM 6 A liquid mixture of Hexane (68.6%) and Toluene (31.4%) is sent to a flash tank operated at 80oC and 1 atm. Calculate the composition of the liquid and vapor phases that will remain in equilibrium at these conditions. Compressor PROBLEM 7 It is desired to remove benzene from an air exhaust stream to meet EPA and OSHA regulations. It is proposed to use compression as the first step to remove 95% of the benzene. At what pressure must this compressor operate to accomplish this goal when the initial benzene content of the air stream is 1.8 mole% at 26oC and 1 atm? Pump PROBLEM 8 Water is pumped from a lake whose level is located 25 feet below ground level where the water supply is needed. The desired rate is 0.5 ft3/s. Neglecting friction in the piping system and negligible heat transfer from the water during its flow, calculate the power requirement to accomplish this task.

Distillation PROBLEM 9 Twenty thousand kg/h of a saturated, equimolar mixture of benzene and toluene are fed as stream F to a distillation column designed to produce a Distillate (D) stream that is 98% benzene and a Bottoms stream that is 96% Toluene. A total condenser operated at 50oC condenses all of the Vapor (V) stream coming off the top of the column. The condensate is split into the Distillate (D) stream removed from the process as product and a Reflux (R) streams that is returned to the top of the column. The reflux ratio (R/D) is 4.0. Similarly, the Waste stream (W) leaving the bottom of the column is partially vaporized producing a Boilup stream (U) and a Bottoms stream (B). Prepare a Flow Summary Table for this process. What are the values of the heat duty on the condenser, Qc, and reboiler, Qr? Multi-unit Material & Energy Balances PROBLEM 10 Carbon monoxide (g) at 60oF is destroyed by combustion with air fed at 80% of that which is theoretical required in Reactor 1. The combustion gases (CO, CO2 and N2) from this reactor are used to generate 450 psig steam by heating 60oF water in a heat exchanger. These Reactor 1 gases leave the steam heat exchanger at 800oF and is combined with a portion of the exit gases leaving Reactor 2 (1,400oF) producing a feed stream to Reactor 2 at 1,100oF. Two thousand, two hundred (2,200) lbmoles/h of SO2 (g) (77oF) are also fed to Recator 2 along with pure oxygen (O2) at the same temperature. In addition to the exit gas stream from Reactor 2, a second stream (P) is removed at 1,000oF. The portion of the exit gas stream from Reactor 2 that is not recycled is used to heat up air (60 oF) in an exchanger. This hot air becomes the feed air to Reactor 1. The Reactor 2 gases leaving the air exchanger are at 450oF. Additional data Reactor 2 (SO2 oxidation): Reactants: SO2 O2 TOTAL Products: SO3 SO2 O2 TOTAL Mole fraction: 0.667 0.333 1.000 Mole fraction: 0.586 0.276 0.138 1.000 o Temp., F 77 77 Temp., oF 1,000 1,000 1,000 Prepare a Flow Summary Table for this process. What are the heat duties of the two exchangers?

PROBLEM NO. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

SOURCE (7TH EDITION) HIMMELBLAU, EX. 10.3, PAGE 270 HIMMELBLAU, EX. 10.4, PAGE 273 HIMMELBLAU, EX. 10.9, PAGE 290 HIMMELBLAU, EX. 12.6, PAGE 369 HIMMELBLAU, EX. 20.3, PAGE 596 HIMMELBLAU, EX. 19.4, PAGE 577 HIMMELBLAU, EX. 17.2, PAGE 517 HIMMELBLAU, EX. 22.5, PAGE 670 HIMMELBLAU, EX. 24.9, PAGE 742 HIMMELBLAU, EX. 26.4, PAGE 815