Chemical Engineering principles– First Year/ Chapter Two

Dr. Ahmed Faiq Al-Alawy

Chapter 2
Moles, Density and Concentration
2.1 The Mole
In the SI system a mole is composed of 6.022 x 1023 (Avogadro’s number) molecules. To
convert the number of moles to mass and the mass to moles, we make use of the molecular weight
– the mass per mole:
Mass
Molecular Weight (MW)
Mole
Thus, the calculations you carry out are

and
Mass in g = (MW) (g mol)
Mass in lb = (MW) (lb mol)
For example

 The atomic weight of an element is the mass of an atom based on the scale that assigns a
mass of exactly 12 to the carbon isotope 12C.
 A compound is composed of more than one atom, and the molecular weight of the
compound is nothing more than the sum of the weights of atoms of which it is composed.
Example 2.1
What is the molecular weight of the following cell of a superconductor material? (The figure
represents one cell of a larger structure.)

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Dr. Ahmed Faiq Al-Alawy

Solution

The molecular weight of the cell is 1764.3 g/g mol.

Example 2.2
If a bucket holds 2.00 lb of NaOH (MW=40), how many
a) Pound moles of NaOH does it contain?
b) Gram moles of NaOH does it contain?
Solution

Example 2.3
How many pounds of NaOH (MW=40) are in 7.50 g mol of NaOH?
Solution

2.2 Density
Density is the ratio of mass per unit volume, as for example, kg/m3 or lb/ft3. Density has
both a numerical value and units. Specific volume is the inverse of density, such as cm3/g or ft3/lb.

For example, given that the density of n-propyl alcohol is 0.804 g/cm3, what would be the volume
of 90.0 g of the alcohol? The calculation is

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Dr. Ahmed Faiq Al-Alawy

 In a packed bed of solid particles containing void spaces, the bulk density is

 A homogeneous mixture of two or more components, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous, is

called a solution.
For some solutions, the density of the solution is

For others you cannot.

2.3 Specific Gravity
Specific gravity is commonly thought of as a dimensionless ratio.

 The reference substance for liquids and solids normally is water.

 The density of water is 1.000 g/cm3, 1000 kg/m3, or 62.43 lb/ft3 at 4°C.
 The specific gravity of gases frequently is referred to air, but may be referred to other gases.
For Example If dibromopentane (DBP) has a specific gravity of 1.57, what is the density in (a)
g/cm3? (b) lbm/ft3? and (c) kg/m3?

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Dr. Ahmed Faiq Al-Alawy

Example 2.4
If a 70% (by weight) solution of glycerol has a specific gravity of 1.184 at 15°C, what is the density
of the solution in (a) g/cm3? (b) lbm/ft3? and (c) kg/m3?
Solution
(a) (1.184 g glycerol/ cm3)/(1 g water/ cm3) * (1 g water/ cm3) = 1.184 g solution/cm3.
(b) (1.184 lb glycerol/ft3)/(1 lb water/ft3) * (62.4 lb water/ft3) = 73.9 lb solution/ft3.
(c) (1.184 kg glycerol/m3)/(1 kg water/m3) * (1000 kg water/m3) = 1.184 * l03 kg solution/m3.

The specific gravity of petroleum products is often reported in terms of a hydrometer scale called
°API. The equation for the API scale is

The volume and therefore the density of petroleum products vary with temperature, and the
petroleum industry has established 60 °F as the standard temperature for volume and API gravity.
Example 2.5
In the production of a drug having a molecular weight of 192, the exit stream from the reactor flows
at a rate of 10.5 L/min. The drug concentration is 41.2% (in water), and the specific gravity of the
solution is 1.024. Calculate the concentration of the drug (in kg/L) in the exit stream, and the flow
rate of the drug in kg mol/min.
Solution
Take 1 kg of the exit solution as a basis for convenience.
Basis: 1 kg solution

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To get the flow rate, take a different basis, namely 1 minute.

Basis: 1 min = 10.5 L solution

2.4 Flow Rate

For continuous processes the flow rate of a process stream is the rate at which material is
transported through a pipe. The mass flow rate (m) of a process stream is the mass (m) transported
through a line per unit time (t).

The volumetric flow rate (F) of a process stream is the volume (V) transported through a line per
unit time.

The molar flow (n) rate of a process stream is the number of moles (n) of a substance transported
through a line per unit time.

2.5 Mole Fraction and Mass (Weight) Fraction

 Mole fraction is simply the number of moles of a particular compound in a mixture or
solution divided by the total number of moles in the mixture or solution.
 This definition holds for gases, liquids, and solids.
 Similarly, the mass (weight) fraction is nothing more than the mass (weight) of the
compound divided by the total mass (weight) of all of the compounds in the mixture or
solution.
Mathematically, these ideas can be expressed as

Mole percent and mass (weight) percent are the respective fractions times 100.
Example 2.6
An industrial-strength drain cleaner contains 5 kg of water and 5 kg of NaOH. What are the mass
(weight) fractions and mole fractions of each component in the drain cleaner container?

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Dr. Ahmed Faiq Al-Alawy

Solution
Basis: 10 kg of total solution

The kilogram moles are calculated as follows:

Adding these quantities together gives the total kilogram moles.

Example 2.7
In normal living cells, the nitrogen requirement for the cells is provided from protein metabolism
(i.e., consumption of the protein in the cells). When individual cells are commercially grown,
(NH4)2SO4 is usually used as the source of nitrogen. Determine the amount of (NH4)2SO4 consumed
in a fermentation medium in which the final cell concentration is 35 g/L in a 500 L volume of the
fermentation medium. Assume that the cells contain 9 wt. % N, and that (NH4)2SO4 is the only
nitrogen source.
Solution
Basis: 500 L solution containing 35 g/L

2.6 Analyses of Multicomponent Solutions and Mixtures

The composition of gases will always be presumed to be given in mole percent or fraction
unless specifically stated otherwise.
The composition of liquids and solids will be given by mass (weight) percent or fraction
unless otherwise specifically stated.
For Example Table below lists the detailed composition of dry air (composition of air 21% O2 and
79% N2).
Basis 100 mol of air

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Dr. Ahmed Faiq Al-Alawy

2.7 Concentration
Concentration generally refers to the quantity of some substance per unit volume.
a. Mass per unit volume (lb of solute/ft3 of solution, g of solute/L, lb of solute/barrel,
kg of solute/m3).
b. Moles per unit volume (lb mol of solute/ft3 of solution, g mol of solute/L, g mol of
solute/cm3).
c. Parts per million (ppm); parts per billion (ppb), a method of expressing the
concentration of extremely dilute solutions; ppm is equivalent to a mass (weight)
fraction for solids and liquids because the total amount of material is of a much
higher order of magnitude than the amount of solute; it is a mole fraction for gases.
d. Parts per million by volume (ppmv) and parts per billion by volume (ppbv)
e. Other methods of expressing concentration with which you may be familiar are
molarity (g mol/L), molality (mole solute/kg solvent), and normality (equivalents/L).
Example 2.8
The current OSHA 8-hour limit for HCN (MW = 27.03) in air is 10.0 ppm. A lethal dose of HCN in
air is (from the Merck Index) 300 mg/kg of air at room temperature. How many mg HCN/kg air is
10.0 ppm? What fraction of the lethal dose is 10.0 ppm?
Solution
Basis: 1 kg mol of the air/HCN mixture

Example 2.9
A solution of HNO3 in water has a specific gravity of 1.10 at 25°C. The concentration of the HNO3
is 15 g/L of solution. What is the
a. Mole fraction of HNO3 in the solution?

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b. ppm of HNO3 in the solution?

Solution
Basis: 1 L of solution

Basis: 100 g solution

The mass of water in the solution is: 100 – 1.364 = 98.636 g H2O.
g MW gmol mol fraction
HNO3 1.364 63.02 0.02164 0.00394
H2O 98.636 18.016 5.475 0.99606
Total 5.4966 1

Example 2.10
Sulfur trioxide (SO3) can be absorbed in sulfuric acid solution to form more concentrated sulfuric
acid. If the gas to be absorbed contains 55% SO3, 41% N2, 3% SO2, and 1% O2, how many parts per
million of O2 are there in the gas? What is the composition of the gas on a N2 free basis?
Solution

Example 2.11
To avoid the possibility of explosion in a vessel containing gas having the composition of 40% N2,
45% O2, and 15% CH4, the recommendation is to dilute the gas mixture by adding an equal amount
of pure N2. What is the final mole fraction of each gas?
Solution

The basis is 100 moles of initial gas

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Original Mixture After Addition Final Mixture

Composition
mol% N2 Mole Fraction
N2 40 + 100 140 140/200 = 0.70
O2 45 45 45/200 = 0.23
CH4 15 15 15/200 = 0.07
Total 100 200 1.00

Example 2.12
Calculate the empirical formula of an organic compound with the following mass analysis: carbon,
26.9%; hydrogen, 2.2%; and oxygen as the only other element present.
Solution

Questions
1. Answer the following questions true or false:
a. The pound mole is comprised of 2.73 x 1026 molecules
b. The kilogram mole is comprised of 6.022 x 1026 molecules.
c. Molecular weight is the mass of a compound or element per mole.
2. What is the molecular weight of acetic acid (CH3COOH)?
3. For numbers such as 2 mL of water + 2 mL of ethanol, does the sum equal to 4 mL of the
solution?
4. Answer the following questions true or false:
a. The inverse of the density is the specific volume.
b. Density of a substance is the mass per unit volume.
c. The density of water is less than the density of mercury.

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5. A cubic centimeter of mercury has a mass of 13.6 g at Earth’s surface. What is the density of
mercury?
6. What is the approximate density of water at room temperature in kg/m3?
7. For liquid HCN, a handbook gives: sp. gr. 10°C/4°C = 1.2675. What does this statement
mean?
8. Answer the following questions true or false:
a. The density and specific gravity of mercury are the same.
b. Specific gravity is the ratio of two densities.
c. If you are given the value of a reference density, you can determine the density of a
substance of interest by multiplying by the specific gravity.
d. The specific gravity is a dimensionless quantity.
9. A mixture is reported as 15% water and 85% ethanol. Should the percentages be deemed to
be by mass, mole, or volume?
10. Answer the following questions true or false:
a) In engineering practice the compositions of liquids and solids are usually denoted in
weight (mass) fraction or percent.
b) In engineering practice the composition of gases is usually denoted in mole fraction
or percent.
c) e. A pseudo-average molecular weight can be calculated for a mixture of pure
components whether solid, liquid, or gases.
11. Do parts per million denote a concentration that is a mole ratio?
12. Does the concentration of a component in a mixture depend on the amount of the mixture?
13. Pick the correct answer. How many ppm are there in 1 ppb? (a) 1000, (b) 100, (c) 1, (d) 0.1,
(e) 0.01, (f) 0.001?
14. How many ppb are there in 1 ppm?
15. Does 50 ppm represent an increase of five times a value of 10 ppm?

Answers:
1. (a) T; (b) T; (c) T
2. 60.05
3. No
4. (a) T; (b) T; (c) T
5. 13.6 g/cm3
6. 1000 kg/m3
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7. The statement means that the density at 10°C of liquid HCN is 1.2675 times the density of
water at 4°C.
8. (a) F – the units differ; (b) T; (c) T; (d) F.
9. Mass
10. (a) T; (b) T; (c) T
11. For gases but not for liquids or solids.
12. No
13. 0.001
14. 1000
15. No (4 times)

Problems
1. Convert the following:
a) 120 g mol of NaCl to g.
b) 120 g of NaCl to g mol.
c) 120 lb mol of NaCl to lb.
d) 120 lb of NaCl to lb mol.
2. Convert 39.8 kg of NaCl per 100 kg of water to kg mol of NaCl per kg mol of water.
3. How many lb mol of NaNO3 are there in 100 lb?
4. The density of a material is 2 kg/m3. What is its specific volume?
5. An empty 10 gal tank weighs 4.5 lb. What is the total weight of the tank plus the water when
it is filled with 5 gal of water?
6. If you add 50 g of sugar to 500 mL of water, how do you calculate the density of the sugar
solution?
7. For ethanol, a handbook gives: sp. gr. 60°F = 0.79389. What is the density of ethanol at
60°F?
8. The specific gravity of steel is 7.9. What is the volume in cubic feet of a steel ingot
weighing 4000 lb?
9. The specific gravity of a solution is 0.80 at 70°F. How many cubic feet will be occupied by
100 lb of the solution at 70°F?
10. A solution in water contains 1.704 kg of HNO3/kg H2O, and the solution has a specific
gravity of 1.382 at 20°C. What is the mass of HNO3 in kg per cubic meter of solution at
20°C?

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11. Forty gal/min of a hydrocarbon fuel having a specific gravity of 0.91 flows into a tank truck
with a load limit of 40,000 lb of fuel. How long will it take to fill the tank in the truck?
12. Pure chlorine enters a process. By measurement it is found that 2.4 kg of chlorine pass into
the process every 3.1 minutes. Calculate the molar flow rate of the chlorine in kg mol/hr.
13. Commercial sulfuric acid is 98% H2SO4 and 2% H2O. What is the mole ratio of H2SO4 to
H2O?
14. A compound contains 50% sulfur and 50% oxygen by mass. Is the empirical formula of the
compound (1) SO, (2) SO2, (3) SO3, or (4) SO4?
15. How many kg of activated carbon (a substance used in removing trace impurities) must be
mixed with 38 kg of sand so that the final mixture is 28% activated carbon?
16. A gas mixture contains 40 lb of O2, 25 lb of SO2, and 30 lb of SO3. What is the composition
of the mixture in mole fractions?
17. Saccharin, an artificial sweetener that is 3000 times sweeter than sucrose, is composed of
45.90% carbon, 2.73% hydrogen, 26.23% oxygen, 7.65% nitrogen, and 17.49% sulfur. Is
the molecular formula of saccharin (a) C14H10O6N2S2, (b) C5H7O3NS, (c) C8H9O2NS, and
(d) C7H5O3NS?
18. A mixture of gases is analyzed and found to have the following composition: CO2 12.0%,
CO 6.0%, CH4 27.3%, H2 9.9% and N2 44.8%. How much will 3 lb mol of this gas weigh?
19. A liquefied mixture of n-butane, n-pentane, and n-hexane has the following composition:
n-C4H10 50%, n-C5H12 30%, and n-C6H14 20%. For this mixture, calculate:
a) The weight fraction of each component.
b) The mole fraction of each component.
c) The mole percent of each component.
d) The average molecular weight of the mixture.
20. How many mg/L is equivalent to a 1.2% solution of a substance in water?

Answers:
1. (a) 7010 g; (b) 2.05 g mol; (c) 7010 lb; (d) 2.05 lb mol
2. 0.123 kg mol NaCl/kg mol H2O
3. l.l77 lb mol
4. 0.5 m3/kg
5. 46.2 lb
6. Measure the mass of water (should be about 500g) and add it to 50 g. Measure the volume
of the solution (will not be 450 mL). Divide the mass by the volume.
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7. 0.79389 g/cm3 (assuming the density of water is also at 60°F)

8. 8.11 ft3
9. 2 ft3
10. 870 kg HNO3/m3 solution.
11. 132 min
12. 0.654 kg mol/hr
13. 9
14. SO2
15. 14.8 kg
16. O2 0.62; SO2 0.19; SO3 0.19
17. (d)
18. 72.17 lb
19. (a) C4: 0.50, C5: 0.30, C6: 0.20; (b) C4: 0.57, C5: 0.28, C6: 0.15; (c) C4: 57, C5: 28, C6: 15;
(d) 66.4 kg/kg mol
20. 12000 mg/L

Supplementary Problems (Chapter Two):

Problem 1

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 Chemical Engineering principles– First Year/ Chapter Two
Dr. Ahmed Faiq Al-Alawy

Problem 2

Problem 3

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Dr. Ahmed Faiq Al-Alawy

Problem 4

Problem 5

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Problem 6

Problem 7

Solution

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