Environmental engineering
CE 475
3- Mass Balance
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Introduction
•Materials and energy balances are key tools in achieving a
quantitative understanding of the behavior of environmental
systems.
•They serve as a method of accounting for the flow of energy and
materials into and out of environmental systems.
•Mass balances provide us with a tool for modeling the production,
transport, and fate of pollutants in the environment.
•Energy balances likewise provide us with a tool for modeling the
production, transport, and fate of energy in the environment.
•Examples of the application of mass balances include prediction of
rainwater runoff, oxygen balance in streams, and audits of
hazardous waste production.
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Conservation of Matter
The law of conservation of matter states that (without nuclear reaction)
matter can neither be created nor destroyed.
Materials Balances
Fundamentals
Balance = deposit – withdrawal ………………………….(3.1)
For an environmental process, the equation would be written
Accumulation = input – output …………………………...(3.2)
Where accumulation, input, and output refer to the mass quantities
accumulating in the system or flowing into or out of the system.
The "system" may be, for example, a pond, river, or a pollution control
device.
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The control volume
Example 3.1.
Mr. and Mrs. Green have no children. In an average week they
purchase and bring into their house approximately 50 kg of consumer
goods (food, magazines, newspapers, appliances, furniture, and
associated packaging). Of this amount, 50 percent is consumed as
food. Half of the food is used for biological maintenance and
ultimately released as CO2; the remainder is discharged to the sewer
system. The Greens recycle approximately 25 percent of the solid
waste that is generated. Approximately 1 kg accumulates in the house.
Estimate the amount of solid waste they place at the curb each week.
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Solution
Begin by drawing a mass balance diagram and labeling the known and unknown inputs
and outputs.
Input = accumulation in house + output as food to people + output as solid waste
One half of input is food = (0.5) (50 kg) = 25 kg
The mass balance equation is rewritten as
50 kg = 1 kg + 25 kg + output as solid waste
Output as solid waste = 50 - 1 - 25 = 24kg
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Solution – continue
The mass balance diagram with the appropriate masses may be redrawn as
shown below:
We can estimate the amount of solid waste placed at the curb by performing
another mass balance around the solid waste as shown in the following diagram.
The mass balance equation is
Solid waste in = output to recycle + output to curb
Because the recycled amount is 25 percent of the solid waste
Output to recycle = (0.25)(24 kg) = 6 kg
24kg = 6 kg + output to curb
Output to curb = 24 - 6 : 18kg
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Time as a Factor
Mass rate of accumulation = mass rate of input - mass rate of output
……….(3-3)
where rate is used to mean "per unit of time." In the calculus this may be
written as
…………………………….(3.4)
where M refers to the mass accumulated and (in) and (out) refer to the
mass flowing in or out of the control volume. As part of the description of
the problem, a convenient time interval that is meaningful for the system
must be chosen.
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Example 3.2.
Truly Clearwater is filling her bathtub but she forgot to put the
plug in. If the volume of water for a bath is 0.350 m3 and the
tap is flowing at l.32 L/min and the drain is running at 0.32
L/min, how long will it take to fill the tub to bath level?
Assuming Truly shuts off the water when the tub is full and
does not flood the house, how much water will be wasted?
Assume the density of water is 1,000 kg/m3.
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Efficiency
The effectiveness of an environmental process in removing a
contaminant can be determined using the mass balance technique.
In concentration and flow rate terms, the mass balance equation is
…………………………….(3.5)
Where
The ratio of the mass that is accumulated in the process to the incoming mass is
a measure of how effective the process is in removing the contaminant.
…………………………….(3.6)
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…………………………….(3.7)
Example 3.3.
The air pollution control equipment on a municipal waste incinerator
includes a fabric filter particle collector (known as a baghouse). The
baghouse contains 424 cloth bags arranged in parallel, that is 1/424 of the
flow goes through each bag. The gas flow rate into and out of the
baghouse is 47 m3/s, and the concentration of particles
entering the baghouse is 15 g/m3. In normal operation the baghouse
particulate discharge meets the regulatory limit of 24 mg/m3. During
preventive maintenance replacement of the bags, one bag is inadvertently
not replaced, so only 423 bags are in place.
Calculate the fraction of particulate matter removed and the efficiency of
particulate removal when all 424 bags are in place and the emissions
comply with the regulatory requirements.
Estimate the mass emission rate when one of the bags is missing
and recalculate the efficiency of the baghouse. Assume the efficiency for
each individual bag is the same as the overall efficiency for the baghouse.
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The state of mixing
Example 3.4
A storm sewer is carrying snow melt containing 1.200 g/L of
sodium chloride into a small stream. The stream has a
naturally occurring sodium chloride concentration of 20
mg/L. If the storm sewer flow rate is 2,000 L/min and the
stream flow rate is 2.0 m3/s, what is the concentration of salt
in the stream after the discharge point? Assume that the
sewer flow and the stream flow are completely mixed, that
the salt is a conservative substance (it does not react), and
that the system is at steady state.
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Including Reactions and Loss Processes
𝑑𝑀 𝑑 (𝑖𝑛) 𝑑 (𝑜𝑢𝑡)
Equation 3.4 ( = − ) is applicable when no chemical or
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
biological reaction takes place and no radioactive decay occurs of the
substances in the mass balance. In these instances the substance is said to
be conserved.
ln most systems of environmental interest, transformations occur within
the system: by-products are formed (e.g., CO2) or compounds are
destroyed (e.g., ozone). Because many environmental reactions do not
occur instantaneously, the time dependence of the
reaction must be taken into account. Equation 3.3 may be written to a
count for time- dependent transformations as follow:
Accumulation rate = input rate - output rate + transformation rate
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Time-dependent reactions are called kinetic reactions. The rate of
transformation, or reaction rate (r)
…………………………….(3.8)
In first-order reactions, the rate of loss of the substance is
proportional to the amount of substance present at any given time, t
For simple completely mixed systems with first-order reaction, the
total mass of substance (M) is
…………………………….(3.9)
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Equation 3.8 can be written as
…………………………….(3.10)
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Example 3.5
A well-mixed sewage lagoon (a shallow pond) is receiving 430
m3/d of untreated sewage. The lagoon has a surface area of 10 ha
(hectares) and a depth of 1.0 m. The pollutant concentration in
the raw sewage discharging into the lagoon is 180 mg/L. The
organic matter in the sewage degrades biologically (decays) in the
lagoon according to first-order kinetics. The reaction rate constant
(decay coefficient) is 0.70 d- l. Assuming no other water losses or
gains (evaporation, seepage, or rainfall) and that the lagoon is
completely mixed, find the steady-state concentration of the
pollutant in the lagoon effluent.
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