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Process Variables: Amounts, Compositions, and Condition of Materials

The document discusses key process variables that are used to describe chemical processes, including mass, volume, flow rate, chemical composition, pressure, and temperature. It defines important concepts such as density, specific volume, specific gravity, mass and mole fractions, average molecular weight, concentration, and molarity. Process variables must be carefully measured and understood to analyze and design chemical processes.

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Farouk Bassa
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213 views

Process Variables: Amounts, Compositions, and Condition of Materials

The document discusses key process variables that are used to describe chemical processes, including mass, volume, flow rate, chemical composition, pressure, and temperature. It defines important concepts such as density, specific volume, specific gravity, mass and mole fractions, average molecular weight, concentration, and molarity. Process variables must be carefully measured and understood to analyze and design chemical processes.

Uploaded by

Farouk Bassa
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Process Variables

To design or analyze a process, we need to know the


amounts, compositions, and condition of materials
entering, leaving, and within the process.

The quantities used to describe a process are called


process variables. These must be measured or
computed.

In this class we will be concerned with a number of


process variables, including:

 Mass and Volume

 Flow Rate

 Chemical Composition

 Pressure

 Temperature
MASS AND VOLUME

Density
Density is the mass per unit volume of a substance
kg/m3, g/cm3, lbm/ft3 (symbolized by the Greek letter )

Density relates mass and volume of a substance.


density = (mass)/(volume) m =  V
EXAMPLE: Determine the mass of 200 cm3 of CCl4
and the volume (in cm3) of 6.20 lbm of CCl4
(ρ=1 595 kg/m3)

Gas/vapor densities depend heavily on Pressure and


Temperature - (P,T). Liquid and solid densities can
normally be looked up in
a table.
Densities of pure solids
and liquids also vary
when pressure and
temperature change, but
much less.
Solid and liquid densities
are often treated as
constants.
In most applications assume the density of water as
1.0 g/cm3- strictly true only for a specific temperature.

Specific Volume
The specific volume of a substance is the volume per
unit mass, the reciprocal of the density. V  1

Specific Gravity
The specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a
substance to that of a reference substance.
ρ - a dimensionless quantity.
ρ
sg=
ref

Usually reference for solids and liquids is water at 4oC


 = 1.000 g/cm3 = 1 000 kg/m3 = 62.43 lbm/ft3
For gases usual reference density is air.

Since density varies with temperature- specify the


o
ρ ( 20 C )
temperatures involved: sg=
ρ (4 C)
H2O
o

e.g. sg=0.73 204


o

this means "the specific gravity of the substance at


20oC is 0.73 times that of water at 4oC".
In CGS the numerical values of the density and s.g.
are the same
s.g. = 0.6 → ρ = 0.6 g/cm3
EXAMPLE: If dibromopentane has a sg of 1.57, what
is the density in a) g/cm3 b) lbm/ft3 c) kg/m3
EXAMPLE: A drum contains 8.00 liters of toluene.
What is the mass of the liquid?

EXAMPLE: A drum 700 lbm of a liquid mixture of


benzene and toluene. The density of the mixture is
measured to be 0.850 g/ml. Estimate the mass and
volumes of the two hydrocarbons in the drum
Flow Rates

Expressed as
 the mass flow rate, ṁ, mass per unit time
 the molar flow rate, ṅ, moles per unit time
 the volumetric flow rate, V̇ , volume per unit time
mass kg
m = mass kg ṁ=
time s
moles kmol
n = moles kg ṅ=
time s
volume m3
V = volume m3 V̇ =
time s

volumetric flow rate can be converted to mass flow


rate by using the density:
ṁ=ρ V̇
Most industrial flow measurement devices measure
the flow velocity. The volumetric flow rate is then
calculated from the velocity and the cross-sectional
area of the pipe:
V̇ =vA
Chemical Composition

Moles

A Mole is a measure of the number of particles


(6.02x1023) or quantity of substance.

A gram-mole (mol, gmol) of a substance is the amount


of a substance that contains as many elementary
entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kg of carbon 12.

A substance whose mass in grams is numerically the


same as its molecular (or atomic) weight contains
6.02x1023 particles and thus equates to one mole of the
substance.

Carbon Dioxide has a molecular weight of 44, so


1 mol of CO2 contains 44 grams and 6.02x1023
molecules of CO2
EXAMPLE: 1.505x1024 molecules of a substance has a
mass of 34.5 grams. What is the molecular weight of
the substance?
Kilogram-moles (kgmol) and pound-moles (lbmol,
mole) are also used. These are defined the same way
but using different mass units.

1 gmol of CO contains grams


1 lbmol of CO contains grams

If the molecular weight of a substance is M, then there


are M grams per gram-mole. This means you can use
the molecular weight as a conversion factor for going
from mass to moles.
mass in g
the g mol =
molecular weight
mass in lb
the lb mol =
molecular weight
or
mass in g = (mol. wt.)(g mol)
mass in lb = (mol. wt.)(g mol)

EXAMPLE: How many a) lb moles and b) gmol in


2.00 pounds of NaOH?
Use the same conversion factors for the different units
of mole as for converting mass units
(1 lbmole = 454 g-mole, etc.).

The molecular weight is used to convert from mass to


moles, so it is logical that it is also used to convert
between mass and molar flow rates:
ṁ
ṅ=
MW

Most material streams in process units are mixtures of


compounds. Composition of streams can be described
in various ways.

Composition Fractions

Composition fractions can be based on mass (x) or on


moles (y).

mass fraction xi
mass of A  kg A gA lbm A 
xA   or or 
total mass  kg total g total lbm total 

mole fraction yi
moles of A  kmol A mol A lb-moles A 
yA  or or
total moles  kmol total mol total lb  moles total 
Convert from "fraction" to "percent" by multiplying
by 100.

The units of mass measurement used don't make a


difference, as long as the top and bottom of the ratio
use the same units:
kg lb tons
x A  0.25  0.25  0.25  0.25  etc
kg total lb total tons total

EXAMPLE: A stream contains 20 g of oxygen gas, 70


g of nitrogen, 5 g of helium, and 5 g of hydrogen.
Find the mass and mole fractions and the mass and
mole percent compositions.
Parts per Million (PPM) and
Parts per Billion (PPB)

A concentration unit often seen in environmental


usage is parts per million or ppm. For solids and
liquids it is the grams of solute in 1 million grams of
solution. For gases it is the number of particles
(moles). PPM (or ppb) is a special kind of mass (or
mass) fraction

Used to express the concentration of trace species


Signifies how many parts (grams, moles) of the
species are present per million or billion parts (grams,
moles) of the mixture.

Parts per Million (ppm) = xA*106 or yA*106


Parts per Billion (ppb) = xA*109 or yA*109
EXAMPLE: The current OSHA 8 hour limit for HCN
in air is 10.0 ppm. Convert to mg HCN/kg air
Given a mass composition in percent or fraction form
convert to molar composition or vice-versa
assume a basis of 1 kg, 100 mol, etc.

E.G.: Air is 78 mole% nitrogen, 21 mole% oxygen,


and 1 mole% argon. What is its mass composition?
Basis:
Component moles mol wt mass mass fraction

The Average Molecular Weight of a mixture is


computed from the molar composition and the
molecular weight. It is a weighted average -- the
molecular weights are averaged using the mole
fractions as weights.
M̄ = y 1 M 1 + y 1 M 1 +…= ∑ yi M i
all compnents

and, using mass fractions


1 x 1 x2 xi
= + +⋯= ∑
M̄ M 1 M 2 all components M i

EXAMPLE: Calculate the average molecular weight of


air.
Do NOT try to calculate average densities or average
specific gravities using a weighted arithmetic mean,
use a weighted harmonic mean.
NC NC
1 x
NOT ρ́=∑ x i ρi BUT =∑ i
i=1 ρ́ i=1 ρi

Concentration

composition and concentration used interchangeably.

Concentration is based on volume and is one way of


expressing composition. The mass concentration is
the mass of a component per unit volume, similarly
molar concentration is the moles per unit volume.

The following are some ways to express


concentration, where the numerator signifies the solute
and the denominator signifies the solution.

Mass Concentration: g/cm3, lbm/ft3, kg/in3


Molar Concentration: kmol/m3, lb-mol/ft3, g-mol/L

The last molar concentration listed, g-mol/L is the


Molarity of the solute in the mixture.

Molarity of component A, MA = g-molA/Ltotal


EXAMPLE: If 1 g of salt is dissolved in 1000 liters of
water, what is the concentration of the mixture?
Assume additive volumes.

If we add 1 m3 of component A to 1 m3 of component


B, we cannot be sure to get 2 m3 of the mixture. When
it is true, we say that the "volumes add" or that
"volume is additive".

Volumes are additive only if the mixture is "ideal"


We will assume ideal solutions - ok if all components
are similar and if temp and pressures are not extreme.
EXAMPLE: How much KOH is in 5 ml of a 2 M
solution?

MUST be able to switch between volumetric, mass,


and molar compositions and flows.
Work problems in mass or mole units, converting in
and out of volume units if necessary. Trying to work
problems primarily in volume units is often a source
of problems.

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