Scribd
Upload
92 views36 pages

Fundamental Process Variables

Chemical engineering processes can be batch, continuous, or semi-batch. Fundamental process variables include mass, volume, mole, temperature, pressure, density, specific gravity, composition, and flow rates. Mass and mole are conserved in chemical processes. Density relates mass and volume. Specific gravity compares the density of a substance to a reference. The mole is a unit relating amounts of substances. Temperature can be measured on Celsius, Kelvin, Fahrenheit, or Rankine scales. Pressure can be measured as absolute, gauge, or atmospheric pressure.

Uploaded by

Ifiok Usoro
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
92 views36 pages

Fundamental Process Variables

Chemical engineering processes can be batch, continuous, or semi-batch. Fundamental process variables include mass, volume, mole, temperature, pressure, density, specific gravity, composition, and flow rates. Mass and mole are conserved in chemical processes. Density relates mass and volume. Specific gravity compares the density of a substance to a reference. The mole is a unit relating amounts of substances. Temperature can be measured on Celsius, Kelvin, Fahrenheit, or Rankine scales. Pressure can be measured as absolute, gauge, or atmospheric pressure.

Uploaded by

Ifiok Usoro
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 36

Introduction To Chemical

Engineering

Che 211
Reference Material:
David M. Himmelblau. “Basic Principles and
Calculations in Chemical Engineering”. Prentice Hall
FUNDAMENTAL PROCESS VARIABLES
•In chemical engineering terms a process can be defined as series of
operations involving the physical, chemical, or biological transformation of
an input material for the purpose of achieving a desired product material.

Types of Chemical Engineering Process


•Batch process: all materials are added at the start of the process, the
process is allowed to proceed and products are withdrawn after the
completion of the process

•Continuous process: feed is continuously supplied to the process and the


products are continuously withdrawn as the process proceeds

•Semi batch process: feed is continuously supplied, whereas the product is


withdrawn only at the end of the process

Chemical Process Variable


•Any measurement used to characterize or describe a chemical process.
The fundamental process variables
•Measurements to quantify a material or specify a chemical composition:
Mass, Volume and Mole

•Measurements used to specify process conditions:


Temperature and Pressure

Mass and Volume: Conservation Principles


•Conservation Law for Mass: Matter is neither created nor destroyed
For example, given two materials A and B;

•For volume, there is no generalized conservation law


1. For gases,

2. For liquids, (if volume change is negligible)


Mass and Volume: Density and Specific Gravity
Density (ρ):
•Ratio of mass per unit volume.

•Used as a factor for inter-conversion of mass and volume.

•It has both numerical values and units:

•Densities of gases depend on pressure and temperature

•Densities of solids and liquids do not change significantly with pressure


at ordinary conditions but change with temperature.

• The density of a solution changes with its composition and


temperature
Specific Gravity (sp gr)
•Ratio of two densities – that of the substance of interest to that of a
reference substance.

•The specific gravity of gases frequently is referenced to air, but may


be referenced to other gases.

•The reference substance for liquids and solids is normally water at 40C.
At 4oC:

•Because density is function of temperature it is important to


specify the temperature at which each of the densities is
calculated.

•If temperatures are not stated, assume ambient temperature and


4oC, respectively.
For example,

means specific gravity is 0.73 when the density of the substance is at


200C while that of the reference substance (water) is at 40C

Specific Gravity and API


API specific gravity- used for petroleum products

or

Specific Volume or Inverse of Density

Units-
The Mole Unit
• mole is a certain number of molecules, atoms, electrons , or other
specified types of particles

• According to the International Committee on Weights and Measures (SI


system) the mole is the amount of a substance that contains as many
elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kg of carbon 12.

• According to the SI unit, a mole contains 6.023 x 1023 molecules or


specified particles.

• A mole is the amount of a chemical species whose mass is equal to its


molecular weight. Molecular weight = the mass of a mole

• A gmol is the standard unit for mole

• **Note that 1 lb mole 1.0 g mole


• The American engineering system pound mole (abbreviated lb mol)
has 6.023 X 1023 x 453 .6 molecules.

• Thus a pound mole of a substance has more mass than does a gram
mole of the substance.
1 kmol = 1000 gmol
1 lbmol = 454 gmol

• To convert the number of moles to mass:

• Computations of mole can also be carried out in terms of ton moles,


kilogram moles, or any corresponding units if they are defined
analogously to the above
If the molecular weight of H2O is 18, then:
1 gmol contains 18 g of H2O (MW = 18 g/gmol)
1 kmol contains 18 kg of H2O (MW = 18 kg/kmol)
1 lbmol contains 18 lbm of H2O (MW = 18 lbm/lbmol)

•Values of the molecular weights are built up from the tables of atomic
weights based on an arbitrary scale of the relative masses of the elements.

•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, whose nucleus
contains 6 protons and 6 neutrons.

•On this scale of atomic weights, hydrogen is 1.008, carbon is 12.01, which
are rounded off to 1 and 12 respectively.

• A compound is composed of more than one atom, and the molecular


weight of the compound is simply the sum of the weights of the atoms of
which it is composed.
•For example, H2O consists of 2 hydrogen atoms and 1
oxygen atom, and its molecular weight is: (2)(1.008) +
16.000 = 18.02.

•These molecular weights are all relative to the 12C atom


as 12.000
Any desired unit of mass can be attached to these
weights; for example, H2 can be 2.016 g/g mol , 2.016 lb/lb
mol, 2.016 ton/ton mol, oz/oz mol and so on.

•Average molecular weights for mixtures of constant


composition can be computed even though they are not
chemically bonded if their compositions are known
accurately.
Quantifying Materials in a Continuous Chemical Process
For continuous process, it is best to use flow rates to measure the amount
of materials flowing through the process:

1. Mass flowrate , is defined as mass/time and its dimension is: (Mt-1 )

2. Volume flowrate ,is defined as volume/time and its dimension is: L3t-1

3. Molar flowrate ,is defined as moles/time and its dimension is: (nt-1 )
Chemical Composition
• In a mixture of two or more components, the
composition may be expressed as:
• Mole fraction of A:

• Mass fraction of A:

• mole percent and weight percent of A is obtained by


multiplying respective fractions by 100

• For liquids and solids, it will always be assumed that


the composition is on a weight basis unless otherwise
stated.

• For gases, it will be assumed to be in molar basis.


Other methods of expressing concentration include:

1. Molarity (mol/L) and normality (equivalents/L).

2. Parts per million (ppm) and parts per billion (ppb)


– normally used for expressing concentration of
extremely dilute solutions.

3. Partial pressure – a method to express the


concentration of a gas mixture.
Low concentrations of solutes in solution
ppm and ppb
• ppm: parts / million
• ppb: parts / billion
• These are ratios: solute/solution
• But contribution of solute to volume or mass of
solution is negligible
• Hence ppm = parts solute/ million parts of solvent
• Hence ppb = parts solute/ billion parts of solvent
• ppm = g solute/106 g solvent= 103 mg solute/106 g
solvent
Relating ppb to ‘concentrations’

For water as solvent:


Example. The specific gravity of gasoline is approximately 0.70.
a. Determine the mass (kg) of 50.0 liters of gasoline.
b. If the mass flow rate of gasoline delivered by a gasoline pump
is 1150 kg/min, what is the corresponding volumetric flow rate in
liters/s.
c. Gasoline and kerosene (specific gravity = 0.82) are blended to
obtain a mixture with a specific gravity of 0.78. Calculate the
volumetric ratio (volume of gasoline/volume of kerosene) of the
two compounds in the mixture, assuming the law of additive
volume is applicable.

SOLUTION:

a.
b.

c.
Example. A mixture contains:
10.0 mole% ethyl alcohol (C2H5OH)
75.0 mole % ethyl acetate (C4H8O2)
15.0 mole% acetic acid (CH3COOH)

a. Calculate the mass fractions of each component in the mixture.


b. What is the average molecular weight of the mixture?
c. What would be the mass (kg) of a sample containing 25.0 kmol of
ethyl acetate?
a.
b.
Relative and Absolute Temperature Scales
Temperature: The average kinetic energy possessed by the substance.
1. Relative Temperature Scale – Celsius and Fahrenheit
The zero value is preset at some arbitrarily defined level.

2. Absolute Temperature Scale – Kelvin and Rankine


A temperature scale on which a reading of zero coincides with the
theoretical absolute zero (zero entropy configuration)
T(K) = T(0C) + 273.15

T(0R)
•When temperature is used as a unit difference, then the following
relationship is used:
∆ 0R

∆ 0R
Calculation on Temperature and Unit Temperature Difference
1. Convert 400 oF to:
a. oC b. K c. oR

2. The thermal conductivity (k) of aluminum at 32oF is:


k = 117 Btu/(hr)(ft2)(oF/ft)
Find the equivalent value in terms of Btu/(hr)(ft2)(K/ft).

Solution:

210.6
Pressure
Pressure is defined as normal force per unit area.

Absolute and Relative Pressures


Absolute Pressure (PA)
Pressure measured from zero atmospheric pressure.

Gauge Pressure (PG)


Pressure measured relative to the local atmospheric
pressure. It can be regarded as the difference between
absolute pressure and the local atmospheric pressure and
the gauge pressure
PG = Pabs - Patmospheric
•When using English units, gauge pressure and absolute pressure are
designated as psig and psia, respectively.
The Atmospheric (Barometric) Pressure
•Can vary with location, weather conditions and other
factors.
•Usually determined from a barometer (barometric pressure)

•The Standard Atmospheric Pressure:


Patm = 1.000 atm
= 760.0 mmHg
= 101.3 kPa
= 29.92 in Hg
= 33.91 ft H2O
= 14.7 psi (lbf/in2)

Example: A car tire gauge measures a tire pressure of 32.0 psi. The
local atmospheric pressure is 14.2 psi. What is the absolute pressure
of the air in the tire?
Solution: The tire gauge measures gage pressure, relative to the local
value of atmospheric pressure. Thus, p = pg + pa = 32.0 + 14.2 psi =
46.2 psia.
Pressure Measure Device – The Manometer
•Used for measurement of pressures
below 3 atm.

•U-shaped tube partially filled with a fluid


of known density (manometer fluid).

•Both ends of the tube are exposed to


different pressures causing differences in the
level of the manometer fluid in both arms.

•The differences between pressures can be


calculated from the measured difference
between the liquid levels of each arm.
Manometer Pressure Calculations
•Based on the principle that the fluid pressure must be the same at any two
points at the same height in a continuous fluid.
∆P = P1 – P2 = (ρf – ρ )gh
Types of Manometer
Hydrostatic Pressure
•Hydrostatic pressure is the pressure at the bottom of a static (non-moving)
column of water.

•Relationship between pressure on top (Po) and pressure at the bottom (P):

P = Po + ρgh
where;
P = pressure at the bottom of the fluid
Po = pressure at the top of the column
ρ = density of the fluid
h = height of the fluid
g = acceleration due to gravity
Hydrostatic Pressure Calculation
Example: Molasses flood occurred in which 2.3 million gallons of crude
molasses flowed from a 30-foot high storage tank that ruptured, killing 21
people and injuring 150. The estimated specific gravity of crude molasses is
1.4. What were the mass of molasses in the tank in lbm and the pressure at
the bottom of the tank in lbf/in2.?
Calculation for pressure at the tank bottom in
ASSIGNMENT
Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q5
Q6

Q7

Q8
Q9

Q10

Q11

Q12

You might also like