Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F.

Persincula

Chapter I
INTRODUCTION TO CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
CALCULATIONS

At the end of this chapter, the student will be able to:

1. Convert one system of units to another.

2. Identify the most commonly used units.
3. Perform numerical calculation and estimation in evaluating process operations using
range, mean, median and standard deviation calculation.
4. Explain the concept of dimensional homogeneity of equations.
5. Generate model equations that describe the processes using the process data via curve
fitting.

INTRODUCTION
Since Chemical Engineering encompasses design, operation, control, troubleshooting,
research etc., problems arising from these areas must be dealt with using the principles of
chemical engineering. It is therefore necessary to learn the basic principles, which include
conversion of one set of units in a function or equation into another for different process
variables, use of dimensional consistency to determine the units of any term in a function,
conversion of the composition of a mixture from mole fraction to mass fraction and vice versa
and other basic concepts useful in chemical engineering calculations. Chemical engineering is a
field concerned with the design, construction, operation if industrial plants in which matter
undergoes physical or chemical changes, and achieve a balance in economics and environmental
protection by using specially designed chemicals, materials and equipment. Chemical engineers
synthesize, design, test, scale up, operate, control and optimize processes in which materials
undergo physical or chemical changes.

The fields of specialization for Chemical Engineers are:

1. Research and development
2. Modeling and simulation
3. Design
4. Plant Operation
5. Sales and Marketing
6. Management and Administration

All systems involve processes designed to transform raw materials into desired products.
Many of the problems that arise in connection with the design of a new process or the analysis of
an existing one are a certain type: given amounts and properties of the raw materials, calculate
amounts and properties of the products, vice versa.

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Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F. Persincula

Unit Operations

The unit operation that will be involve in chemical engineering calculations are:

Heat Transfer: Heat Exchanger, direct heaters, steam generators, furnaces, preheaters,
shell-and-tube heat exchangers, coolers, evaporators, and condensers.
Mass Transfer: Distillation, extraction or leaching, absorption and desorption,
adsorption, liquid-liquid extraction, humidification, dehumidification, evaporators,
crystallization, drying, and ion-exchange.
Momentum Transfer: Fluid flow and handling, filtration, fluidization.
Others: Centrifugation, Sedimentation, Mixing and agitation, Size reduction, Screening,
Flotation.

Stoichiometry is the subject that deals with quantitative both in unit operations
and unit processes.

Fundamental groups of Principles Used

1) Law of Conservation of Energy
2) Law of Conservation of Matter (Mass)
3) Equilibrium Relationship of the system
4) Reaction Rate Relationship of The System

UNITS AND DIMENSIONS

Dimensions are the description of a particular kind of extent, or the characterization of
any physical quantity, or basically our concepts of measurement such as length, time, mass,
temperature (primary dimensions), and others such as power, density, velocity, acceleration,
etc. (derived or secondary dimensions).

Units are the commonly used measure of the same extent, or the arbitrary magnitudes
assigned to the dimensions. Units are means of expressing the dimensions such as feet, or
centimeters for length; hours or seconds for time; kilogram, gram, or pound for mass; Kelvin
or Celsius for temperature, and others.

Units can be treated like algebraic variables when quantities are added, subtracted,
multiplied or divided. The numerical values of two quantities may be added or subtracted only
if the units are the same. On the other hand, numerical values and their corresponding units
may always be combined by multiplication or division.

CONVERSION OF UNITS AND CONVERSION FACTORS

A measured quantity can be expressed in terms of any units as long as the appropriate
dimension is used.

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Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F. Persincula

A quantity that is expressed in one unit can be converted to its equivalent unit using
the conversion factor (new unit/old unit). The conversion factor is a dimensionless ratio of
different units in the same system or between systems of units. The given quantity must be
multiplied by the conversion factor to obtain the quantity with the desired unit.

Conversion factors may be obtained by taking the ratios of quantities listed in

Conversion Table.

Dimensional equation is setup, if given a quantity having a compound unit, and you
wish to convert it to its equivalent in terms of another set of units.

SYSTEMS OF UNITS
SI Units (Systeme Internationale d'Unites)

This system of unit is based on metric system. It is adopted by the general conference
on weights and measures, modernized metric system, 1670. The base units of SI are the meter
for length, the kilogram (kg) for mass, the second (s) for time, the degree Kelvin (K) for
temperature, the ampere (A) for electrical current and the candela (cd) for luminous intensity.

To indicate powers of ten, unit prefixes are used in the SI system i.e. 10 000 Joules is
10 kJ.

Customary units: (B-C)

CGS Units

This system of units is identical to SI units except for the base units of mass, which is
grams (g) and length, which is centimeter (cm).

American Engineering Units or English Units

The base units of this system are the foot for length, the pound-mass (lbm)) for mass
and the second (s) for time.

Table 1. SI and CGS Units

Base Units
Quantity Unit Symbol
Length meter (SI) m
centimeter (CGS) cm
Mass kilogram (SI) kg
gram (CGS) g
Moles gram-mole mol or g-mole
Time second s
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Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F. Persincula

Quantity Unit Symbol

Temperature kelvin K
Electric current ampere A
Light Intensity candela cd
Multiple Unit Preferences
tera (T) = 1012 centi ( c ) = 10-2
giga (G) = 109 milli (m) = 10-3
mega (M) = 106 micro (μ) = 10-6
kilo (k) = 103 nano (n) = 10-9
Derived Units
Quantity Unit Symbol Equivalent in Terms of Base Units
Volume Liter L 0.001 m3
1000 cm3
Force newton (SI) N 1 kg-m/s2
dyne (CGS) 1 g-cm/s2
Pressure pascal (SI) Pa 1 N/m2
Energy, work joule (SI) J 1 N-m = 1 kg-m2 /s2
erg (CGS) 1 dyne-cm = 1 g-cm2 /s2
gram-calorie cal 4.184 J – 4.184 kg-m2 /s2
Power Watt W 1 J/s = 1 kg-m2/s3

Components of System of Units

1. Base units. E.g. mass, length, time, temperature, electrical current and light intensity.
2. Multiple units. Multiples or fractions of base units. E.g. minutes, hours, and milliseconds
3. Derived units. Obtained by:
a. multiplying and dividing base or multiple units known as compound units. E.g. ft/min, kg-
m/s2
b. defined equivalents of compound units. E.g. 1 erg ≡ (1 g-cm/s2), 1 lbf ≡ 32.174 lbm-ft/s2.

SAMPLE PROBLEM No. 1:

Convert the following:

a) 8cp to Pa.s

8cp x 10-2P x 1g/cm.s x 1kg x 100cm x N x Pa

1cp 1P 1000g 1m kg.m/ s2 N/m2
-3
= 8x10 Pa.s

b) 150 ft.lb force to joule

150ft.lbforce x 1BTU x 1055.06J= 203.4J

778.17 ft.lbf BTU

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Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F. Persincula

c) 1000 dynes to N

1000dynes x 10-5N = 0.01N

1 dyne

d) 105barrels to m3

105 barrels x 42gal x 3.785x10-3 = 16.69m3

1 barrel gal

e) 34pints to m3

34pints x 1gal x 3.785L x 1000cm3 x 1m3

8pints 1gal 1L (100cm)3
= 0.0161 m3

f) 7150 BTU/s to W

7150 BTU x 1.055x103J x 1W = 7543250 W

s BTU 1J/s

FORCE AND WEIGHT

According to Newton’s second law of motion, force is proportional to the product of
mass and acceleration.

Force (F) is defined as

F = ma (1)

The units of force (Newton, dyne and pound-force) are defined in terms of the units of
mass (m) and acceleration (a) based on equation (1):

SI: 1 Newton = 1kg m/ s2 CGS: 1dyne = 1 g cm / s2

English: 1lbf = 32.174 lbm ft / s2

Weight, w, is the force of an object due to gravity:

w = mg (2)

At 45 0C latitude and sea level:

g = 9.8066 m/ s2 = 980.66 cm/ s2 = 32.174 ft/ s2

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Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F. Persincula

Conversion of force from a defined unit (dyne) to a natural unit (g cm/s2) is done using
a conversion factor, gC.

kg m g cm lbm ft 2
gC  1 1  32.174 s
N s2 dyne s 2 lb f

Consequently,
g kg g lb
 9.8066  980.66 1 m
gC N dyne lb f

NUMERICAL CALCULATION AND ESTIMATION

Scientific Notation, Significant Figures and Precision

Scientific notation a number is expressed as the product of another number (usually

between 0.1 and 10) and a power of 10.

Examples: 123,000,000 = 1.23 x 108 (or 0.123 x 109)

0.000028 = 2.8 x 10-5 (or 0.28 x 10-4)

Significant figures are the digits of a number from the first nonzero digit on the left to
either (a) the last digit (zero or nonzero( on the right if there is a decimal point, or (b) the last
nonzero digit of the number if there is no decimal point.

Examples: 2300 or 2.3 x 103 has two significant figures

2300. or 2.300 x 103 has four significant figures
2300.0 or 2.3000 x 103 has five significant figures
23,040 or 2.304 x 104 has four significant figures
0.035 or 3.5 x 10-2 has two significant figures
0.03500 or 3.500 x 10-2 has four significant figures

Rules:

1. The more significant figures, the more precise the values.

2. When two or more quantities are combined by multiplication and/or division, the number of
significant figures in the result should equal the lowest number of significant figures of any of the
multiplicands or divisors.

Example:
3.57 x 4.286 = 15.30102 = 15.3

3. When two or more numbers are added or subtracted, the positions of the last significant figures
of each number relative to the decimal point should be compared. Of these positions, the one

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Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F. Persincula

farthest to the left is the position of the last permissible significant figure of the sum or
difference.

Example:
15 30
- 2.56
1527.44 = 1530

The rounding off number, the rulings for digit to be dropped should be applied. Always
make the last digit of the rounded off number even.

Example:
1.35 = 1.4
1.25 = 1.2

Validating Results

Approaches to validate a quantitative problem solution are:

1. Back-substitution: after you solve a set of equations, substitute your solution back into the
equations and make sure it works.

2. Order of magnitude estimation: means coming up with a crude and easy to obtain
approximation of the answer to a problems and making sure that the more exact solution comes
reasonably close to it.

3. Test of Reasonableness: means verifying that the solution makes sense.

Estimation of Measured Values: Sample Mean

1 1 N
Sample Mean or Arithmetic Mean: X  ( X 1  X 2  ..  X N )   X j (3)
N N j 1
Random Variable is being done on values changing in an unpredictable manner from
one run to another in the same experimental conditions.

True Value is the value measured if all the conditions were set constant and on an exact
time, estimated by sample mean (arithmetic mean).

Sample Variance of Scattered Data

Range: The crudest measure of scatter which gives no indication of whether or not most
of the values cluster close to the mean or scatter widely around it.
R  X max  X min (4)
1
Sample Variance: s X2  [( X 1  X ) 2  ( X 2  X ) 2  ...  ( X N  X ) 2 ] (5)
N 1

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Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F. Persincula

Sample Standard Deviation: s X  s X2 (6)

SAMPLE PROBLEM No. 2

The volumetric flow rate of a process fluid, V (cc/s), is measured five times with the ffg.
results:

Measurement 1 2 3 4 5
V(cm3/s) 232 248 227 241 239

a) Calculate: v range, Sv2, Sv

b) Report the value of v in the form v= a+b, choosing values a and b

Required: a. V, R, Sv2, Sv b. V = a+b

Solution:
a. V = 1/5(232+248+227+241+239)
V = 237.4
R = 248-227
Sv2 = ¼(232-237.4)2 + (248-237.4)2 + (227-237.4)2 + (241-237.4)2 + (239-237.4)2 = 66.3
Sv = 8.14

b. V = a+b V + nSv
a = 237.4
b = 8.14(2) = 16.28
V = 237.4 + 16.28
V = 237.4 + 6.86%

DIMENSIONAL HOMOGENEITY AND DIMENSIONLESS

QUANTITIES
An equation is valid if it is dimensionally homogeneous that is, each term in the
equation must have the same net dimensions and units as every other term to which it is
added, subtracted or equated.

This can be illustrated by the Redlich-Kwong equation,

(7)

RT a
P  1
V b T 2 V (V  b)
Inspection of the above equation shows that b must have the unit of volume and a
must have the units [(pressure)(temperature)1/2(volume)2].

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Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F. Persincula

Dimensionless groups are variables or parameters put together either by theory or

based on experiments and results to a single quantity with no net dimensions or units. One
example is the Prandtl number, NPr.

NPr = Cp/k (8)

Dimensionless quantity can be a pure number or a multiplicative combination of

variables with no net dimensions.

SAMPLE PROBLEM No. 3

What is the replace value of 61.6 when uc = Pa.s, Vc = 1m3/kgmol , Tc = K

Solution:

Conversion factors needed are:

1cp = 1x10-3 Pa.s
106cm3 = 1m3
1000 μp = 1cp

PROCESS DATA REPRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS

(CURVE FITTING)
Objective: Use calibration data to estimate the value of y for a value of between tabulated
points (interpolation) or outside the table data (extrapolation)

Interpolation estimation the value of y for a value of x between tabulated points.

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Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F. Persincula

Extrapolation estimation the value of y for a value of x outside the range of the table
data.

Techniques of drawing a line or curve through the data using the following methods:

1. Two-Point Linear Interpolation: applied only for data points plotted closely together.

x  x1
y  y1  ( y 2  y1 ) (9)
x2  x1
2. Fitting a Straight Line: applied if points show relatively little scatter and fall in a straight
line.

y  ax  b (10)
y  y1
Slope: a 2 (11)
x 2  x1
Intercept: b  y1  ax1 (12)
b  y 2  ax2 (13)

Rule: If the points in a table are relatively closer together, linear interpolation, if the points are
widely separated or if the data are to be extrapolated, curve fitting.

SAMPLE PROBLEM No. 4

Rotameter Calibration Data

Flow rate V(L/min) 20 52.1 84.6 118.3 151.0

Rotameter reading 10 30 50 70 90
a. Calculate V(R) eqn.
b. Calculate V when R = 40

Solution:

100

75

V(R) 50

25

20 40 60 80 100
R
Figure 1. Calibration Graph

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Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F. Persincula

(R1,V1) = (10,20) (R2,V2) = (40,70)

b = 70-1.666 x 40 = 3.36

3. Fitting Nonlinear Data: applied if data points do not lie in a straight line, a need for
hypothesizing a nonlinear equation then transforming it to make it linear and confirmed if the
hypothesized equation is correct.

Example of plots that yield straight lines:

1. y = ax2 + b, plot y versus x2, with slope = a and intercept = b

2. y2 = a/x + b, plot y2 versus 1/x, with slope = a and intercept = b
3. 1y  a( x  3)  b plot 1/y versus (x + 3), with slope = a and intercept = b
4. sin y = a(x2 – 4) plot sin y versus (x2 – 4), with slope = a and intercept = 0
5. y = 1/(C1x – C2) becomes 1/y = C1x – C2
plot 1/y versus x, with slope = C1 and intercept = C2
( y  1) 2
6. y = 1 + x(mx2 + n)1/2 becomes 2
 mx 2  n
x
plot (y – 1)2/x2 versus x2, with slope = m and intercept = n

Exponential function: y = aebx transformed to ln y = lna + bx

Plot ln y versus x, with slope = b and intercept = lna

Power law: y = axb transformed to ln y = ln a + b ln x

Plot ln y versus ln x, with slope = b and intercept = ln a

4. Logarithmic Coordinates.

Log plot: plot with logarithmic scales on both axis.

Semilog plot: a plot with one logarithmic and one rectangular axis.
a. If y versus x data appear linear on a semilog plot, then ln y versus x would be linear on a
rectangular plot, and the data can therefore be correlated by an exponential function y = aebx.
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Chemical Engineering Calculations I Compiled by Mary Rose F. Persincula

b. If y versus x data appear linear on a log plot, then ln y versus ln x would be linear on a
rectangular plot, and the data can therefore be correlated by a power law y = axb.
c. When plotting values of variable z on a logarithmic axis and your plot yields a straight line
through two points with coordinate values z1 and z2, replace z2 – z1 with ln (z2/z1) (= ln z2 – ln
z1) in the formula for the slope.
d. Do not plot values of ln z on a logarithmic scale and expect anything useful to result.

General Rule:
1. Convert the non-linear equation to a linear equation.
2. Calculate the corresponding x and y values based on the linear form of equation.
3. Plot the x and y values.
4. Calculate the y intercept and slope of the linear form of equation.
5. Transform the equation to its non-linear form.

5. Fitting a Line to Scattered Data

Use linear regression or the method of least squares: the best lines through the data is
the one that minimizes the sum of the squares of the residuals.

n n
 (a, b)   d i2   ( yi  ax  b) 2 (14)
i 1 i 1

1 n 1 n 2
sx   xi
n i 1
s xx   xi
n i 1
(15-16)

1 n 1 n
s y   yi s xy   xi y i (17-18)
n i 1 n i 1

Best Line: y = ax + b
s xy  s x s y s xx  s xy s x
Slope: a (19) Intercept: b (20)
s xx  ( s x ) 2 s xx  ( s x ) 2
Best Line through the origin: y = ax
s xy  xi yi
Slope: a  (21)
s xx  xi2

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