CHE2162: Material and

Energy Balances
Course Coordinator and Lecturer: Dr Akshat Tanksale
Email: [email protected]
Room: 69-207
 Processes and Process Variables
By the end of this lecture you should be able to
Define what a process is and what process units are.

Define the following process variables and convert

between them:
Mass, volume, density, specific volume and specific gravity
Mass flow rate, volume flow rate and mass velocity
Moles and moles
Mass fraction and mole fractions,
Average molecular weight
ppm and ppb

Illustrate how to measure Temperature and Pressure.

Define and calculate pressure due to liquid head
Homework reading Felder 3.1 to 3.6 and Reference: visual
encyclopedia on CD
 Processes
What is a process?
Process (in a chemical industry) is any operation carried out
on the materials such that it changes its chemical form
(reactions), physical form (drying, evaporating, melting,
freezing), purity (distillation, extraction, absorption),
Temperature and/or Pressure (heating, cooling,
compressing, expanding) or location (pumping, conveying)

Process can be single unit or multi-unit

Single units are illustrated by blocks

Flow streams are illustrated by arrows
 Multi-unit processes are illustrated by process flow
diagram (or block flow diagrams)
 Process Variables
Mass (; g, kg), Mass flow rate (; kg/h, tonnes/day)
Volume (; cm3, L), Volumetric flow rate (; L/min,
gallon/min, m3/h, scfs, sccm)
Standard or normal flow rates are given to a set a reference
conditions (usually 0C and 1 atm)
Useful to calculate the molar flow rate

Density (): mass per unit volume (g/cm3, kg/L,

kg/m3)
Specific Volume: volume per unit mass (cm3/g,
m3/kg)
Densities of pure solids and liquids are essentially
insensitive to pressure, and vary relatively slightly
with temperature.
Mass-Volume conversion Felder 3.1

Density of a pure substance can be used as a

conversion factor to relate the mass and volume
(or and ) of that substance.
e.g., 20 cm3 of carbon tetrachloride
3

20 1.595 3
= 31.9

or 6.20 lbm/h of carbon tetrachloride

1 3 3
6.2 454 = 31.9
1.595
Specific gravity

The specific gravity (SG) of a substance is the ratio

of the density () of the substance to the density of
a reference substance at a specific condition ( ).
The most common reference for solids and liquids
is water at 4.0C, which has the following density:
1.000 g/cm3 = 1000 kg/m3 = 62.43 lbm/ft3
Flow Rate
The flow rate of a process stream can be expressed as a
mass flow rate (mass/time) or as a volumetric flow rate
(volume/time).
Density can be used as a conversion factor between

mass and volumetric flow rate. = =

Flow Rate MeLTS.me

Suppose a gas is flowing through a cone-shaped

pipe.
If the system is said to be in steady state, how do the
mass flow rates of the gas at inlet and outlet compare?
If the pressure is constant, how do the volumetric flow
rates at these two points compare?
What if the density decreases from inlet to outlet?
Flow Rate Measurement Felder 3.2

A flowmeter is a device mounted in a process line

that provides a continuous reading of the flow rate
in that line.
Two common flowmeters are the rotameter and the
orifice meter.

Refer: Visual Encyclopaedia in F&R CD

Chemical Composition Felder 3.3

atomic weight weight of an atom of an element on a

scale by which 12C has a mass of exactly 12.
molecular weight sum of the atomic weights of the
atoms that constitute a molecule of the compound.
MW is a conversion factor between mass and moles for
a particular compound.
mole (gram mole) the amount of that species whose
mass in grams is numerically equal to its molecular
weight.
Note: Do not confuse between gram-mole, kg-mole and lbm-
mole
E.g. 1 mole C = 12 g; 1 kmol C = 12 kg and 1 lbm-mol C =
12 lbm
Conversely: 12 g C = 1 mole = 0.001 kmol = 0.0022 lbm-mol
 E.g. molecular weight of glucose (C6H12O6) =
C H O
6 12.0107 + 12 1.00794 + 6 15.9994 = 180.1775 g/mol
Conversion of Mass to Mole

Calculate the number of moles, kmol and lbm-mol in

500.0 g of glucose (MW = 180)

500.0
Number of moles = = 2.78
180

1
500.0 1000
Number of kmol = = 2.78 103
180

1
500.0 453.59
Number of lbm-mol = = 6.12 103
180

Homework: Example 3.3-1 F&R

Mass and Mole Fractions

Mass fraction of component A = =


Mole fraction of component A = =

This notation is used

= mass or mole fraction of liquids throughout this unit
and in CHE3165,
= mass or mole fraction of gases CHE4170 and
CHE4180

Note: There is inconsistent notation in F&R. In Chapter 3, is given

as mass fraction and is given as mole fraction. But in Chapter 4
and above is used as mass and mole fraction of liquids, and is
used as mass and mole fraction of gases.
Homework Problem: Conversion of Mass to Molar Composition

A mixture of gases has the following composition by

mass:
O2 16%
CO 4.0%
CO2 17%
N2 63%

What is the molar composition?

Solution to Homework Problem

Component, Mass Mole

Fraction, Fraction,
O2 0.16 0.15
CO 0.040 0.04
CO2 0.17 0.12
N2 0.63 0.69
Total 1.00 1.00
Classwork Problem: Conversion of Molar to Mass Composition

Typical flue gas from coal combustion in thermal power

stations has the following composition by mole:
N2 75.6%
CO2 11.6%
SO2 0.14%
H2O 8.7%
O2 3.96%

What is the mass composition?

 Since the total mass of the gas is not given assume
a basis of 100 moles
Component Mole Mole, Molecular Mass, Mass Fraction,

, Fraction, (mol) Weight, = =
(g/mol)

N2 0.756 75.6 28 75.6 28 2116.8

= 0.725
= 2116.8 2919.48
CO2 0.116 11.6 44 11.6 44 510.4
= 0.175
= 510.4 2919.48
SO2 0.0014 0.14 64 0.14 64 8.96
= 0.003
= 8.96 2919.48
H2O 0.087 8.7 18 8.7 18 156.6
= 0.054
= 156.6 2919.48
O2 0.0396 3.96 32 3.96 32 126.72
= 0.043
= 126.72 2919.48
Total 1.00 100 2919.48 1.00
Average Molecular Weight

In some cases it is useful to know the average

molecular weight of a mixture of compounds (eg.
air, polymers, etc.)
Average molecular weight formula:

=
=1
Homework Problem: Average Molecular Weight

Calculate the average molecular weight of the flue

gas with the following composition by mole:
N2 75.6%
CO2 11.6%
SO2 0.14%
H2O 8.7%
O2 3.96%

Answer: 29.2 g/mol

Concentration

Mass Concentration of A =


Molar Concentration of A =

Parts per million (ppm), billion (ppb), trillion (ppt)

are units used to express concentrations of trace
species (present in minute amounts) in mixtures of
gases and liquids.
Units may refer to mass or molar ratios.
Pressure Felder 3.4

Pressure is the ratio of a force to the area over

which the force acts.

The SI pressure unit is called the pascal (Pa) which

has units of N/m2.
Fluid pressure: defined as the ratio of F/A, where F
is the minimum force that would have to be
exerted on the frictionless plug hole to contain the
fluid.
 Hydrostatic pressure: based on the total force
acting on the bottom of the container, and may
be considered as the sum of the atmospheric
pressure (Po) acting on the top of column of liquid
and the weight of the column.
Height h of a column is proportional to the pressure, thus
pressures may be expressed as an equivalent length,
referred to as a head of liquid.

P Po gh

Homework: Example 3.4-2 F&R
Atmospheric Pressure, Absolute Pressure and Gauge Pressure

Absolute pressure (psia) includes the sum of the

atmospheric contribution as well as that due to the
fluid acting on a particular area.
Gauge pressure (psig) is that contribution from the
fluid, and does not include atmospheric pressure.
Consequently, a pressure of 0 psig indicates only
atmospheric pressure is acting on the gauge.

= +
Pressure measurement

Elastic-element methods
A Bourdon tube is C-shaped and has an oval cross-section
with one end of the tube connected to the process
pressure. The other end is
sealed and connected to the
pointer or transmitter
mechanism.
As pressure in the system
increase, the tube tends to
straighten, causing a
deflection of the pointer
Pressure measurement

liquid column pressure measurement methods

Liquid column gauges consist of a vertical column of liquid
in a tube whose ends are exposed to different pressures.
The liquid column will rise or fall until its weight is in
equilibrium with the pressure differential between the two
ends of the tube.
Manometer

A manometer is
a U-shaped tube
partially filled
with a fluid of
known density
(the manometer
fluid).
Pressure at (a)
and (b) is the
same.

1 + 1 1 = 2 + 2 2 +
Manometer variations

1 2 =
1 + 1 1 = 2 + 2 2 +
Temperature Felder 3.5

Temperature of a substance in a particular state

(solid, liquid, gas) is a measure of the average
kinetic energy possessed by the substance
molecules.
The energy cannot be directly measured, and
therefore must be inferred through indirect means of
a physical property of the substance
resistance thermometer (electrical resistance)
thermocouple (voltage at junction of 2 dissimilar metals)
Type K (chromel {90% nickel and 10% chromium}alumel
{95% nickel, 2% manganese, 2% aluminium and 1% silicon})
is the most common general purpose thermocouple with a
sensitivity of approximately 41 V/C (chromel positive relative
to alumel when the junction temperature is higher than the
reference temperature). Range = 200 C to +1350 C
pyrometer (spectra of emitted radiation)
thermometer (density change of a fluid)
Temperature scales

Temperatures can be expressed directly in terms of

the measured physical properties (i.e., ohms/cm3).
Defined temperature scales:
Celsius or Fahrenheit scales most common whereby the
scale is arbitrarily assigned two values based on the
freezing (0C or 32F) and boiling (100C or 212F) points
of water at 1 atm pressure.
Absolute zero (lowest theoretical temperature attainable in
nature) is -273.15C or -459.67F.
Kelvin and Rankin are scales equivalent to Celsius and
Fahrenheit, respectively, but have a value of 0 assigned to
absolute zero.