CHE 202 TUTORIAL QUESTIONS

1. A mixture of methane and air is capable of being ignited only if the mole percent of methane

is between 5% and 15%. A mixture containing 9.0 mole% methane in air flowing at a rate

of 700 kg/h is to be diluted with pure air to reduce the methane concentration to the lower

flammability limit. Calculate the required flow rate of air in mol/h and the percent of

oxygen in the product gas. (Air may be taken to have an average molecular weight of 29.0).

2. A gas stream contains 18.0 mole% hexane and the remainder nitrogen. The stream flows

to a condenser, where its temperature is reduced and some of the hexane is liquefied. The

hexane mole fraction in the gas stream leaving the condenser is 0.0500. Liquid hexane

condensate is recovered at a rate of 1.50 L/min.

(a) What is the flow rate of the gas stream leaving the condenser in mol/min?

(b) What percentage of the hexane entering the condenser is recovered as a liquid?

3. Two mercury manometers, one open-end and the other sealed-end, are attached to an air

duct. The reading on the open-end manometer is 25 mm and that on the sealed-end

manometer is 800 mm. Determine the absolute pressure in the duct, the gauge pressure in

the duct, and the atmospheric pressure, all in mm Hg.

4. The ideal gas equation relating absolute pressure, P(atm); gas volume, V(liters); number of

moles of gas, n(mol); and absolute temperature, T(K) is given by:

PV = 0 08206nT
 (a) Convert the equation to one relating P(psig), V(ft3 ), n(lb-mole), and T( oF).

(b) A 30.0 mole% CO and 70.0 mole% N2 gas mixture is stored in a cylinder with a volume

of 3.5ft3 at a temperature of 85oF. The reading on a Bourdon gauge attached to the

cylinder is 500 psi. Calculate the total amount of gas (lb-mole) and the mass of CO

(lbm) in the tank.

(c) Approximately to what temperature (oF) would the cylinder have to be heated to

increase the gas pressure to 3000 psig, the rated safety limit of the cylinder?

5. 1000 kg/hr of a mixture containing equal parts by mass of methanol and water is distilled.

Product streams leave the top and the bottom of the distillation column. The flow rate of

the bottom stream is measured and found to be 673 kg/h, and the overhead stream is

analysed and found to contain 96.0 wt.% methanol.

(a) Draw and label a flowchart of the process and do the degree-of-freedom analysis.

(b) Calculate the mass and mole fractions of methanol and the molar flow rates of methanol

and water in the bottom product stream.

6. Chlorobenzene (C6H5Cl), an important solvent and intermediate in the production of many

other chemicals, is produced by bubbling chlorine gas through liquid benzene in the

presence of ferric chloride catalyst. In an undesired side reaction, the product is further

chlorinated to dichlorobenzene, and in a third reaction the dichlorobenzene is chlorinated

to trichlorobenzene. The feed to a chlorination reactor consists of essentially pure benzene

and a technical grade of chlorine gas (98 wt% Cl2, the balance gaseous impurities with an

average molecular weight of 25.0). The liquid output from the reactor contains 65.0 wt%

C6H6 , 32.0 wt% C6H5Cl, 2.5 wt% C6H4Cl2 , and 0.5 wt% C6H3Cl3 . The gaseous output

contains only HCl and the impurities that entered with the chlorine. Determine

(i) the percentage by which benzene is fed in excess,

(ii) the fractional conversion of benzene,

(iv) the mass ratio of the gas feed to the liquid feed.

7. Methanol is produced by reacting carbon monoxide and hydrogen. A fresh feed stream

containing CO and H2 joins a recycle stream and the combined stream is fed to a reactor.

The reactor outlet stream flows at a rate of 350 mol/min and contains 10.6 wt% H2, 64.0

wt% CO, and 25.4 wt% CH3OH. This stream enters a cooler in which most of the methanol

is condensed. The liquid methanol condensate is withdrawn as a product, and the gas stream

leaving the condenser—which contains CO, H2, and 0.40 mole% uncondensed CH3OH

vapor—is the recycle stream that combines with the fresh feed. Determine

(i) the molar flow rates of CO and H2 in the fresh feed,

(ii) the production rate of liquid methanol, and

(iii) the single-pass and overall conversions of carbon monoxide.

8. A gas contains 80.0 wt% propane, 15.0 wt% butane, and the balance water.

(a) Calculate the composition of this gas on both a wet and a dry basis and the ratio (mol

H O/mol dry gas).

(b) If 100 kg/h of this fuel is to be burned with 30% excess air, what is the required air feed

rate (kmol/h)?

9. Acetylene is hydrogenated to form ethane. The feed to the reactor contains 1.50 mol H2

/mol C2H2.

(a) Calculate the stoichiometric reactant ratio (mol H2 react/mol C2H2 react) and the yield

ratio (kmol C2H6 formed/kmol H2 react).

(b) Determine the limiting reactant and calculate the percentage by which the other reactant

is in excess.
 (c) Calculate the mass feed rate of hydrogen (kg/s) required to produce 4 × 106 metric tons

of ethane per year, assuming that the reaction goes to completion and that the process

operates for 24 hours a day, 300 days a year.

10. A stream of air (21 mole% O2, the rest N2) flowing at a rate of 10.0 kg/h is mixed with a

stream of CO2. The CO2 enters the mixer at a rate of 20.0 m3/h at 150 oC and 1.5 bar. What

is the mole percent of CO2 in the product stream?

11. An ideal gas mixture contains 35% helium, 20% methane, and 45% nitrogen by volume at

2.00 atm absolute and 90 oC. Calculate

(a) the partial pressure of each component,

(b) the mass fraction of methane,

(c) the average molecular weight of the gas, and

(d) the density of the gas in kg/m.

12. Liquid water is fed to a boiler at 24 oC and 10 bar and is converted at constant pressure to

saturated steam. Use the steam tables to calculate ΔĤ (kJ/kg) for this process, and then

calculate the heat input required to produce 15,000 m3 /h of steam at the exiting conditions.

Assume that the kinetic energy of the entering liquid is negligible and that the steam is

discharged through a 15-cm ID pipe.

13. A turbine discharges 200 kg/h of saturated steam at 10.0 bar absolute. It is desired to

generate steam at 250 oC and 10.0 bar by mixing the turbine discharge with a second stream

of superheated steam of 300 oC and 10.0 bar.

(a) If 300 kg/h of the product steam is to be generated, how much heat must be added to

the mixer?

(b) If instead the mixing is carried out adiabatically, at what rate is the product steam

generated?
14. An aqueous slurry at 30 oC containing 20.0 wt% solids is fed to an evaporator in which

enough water is vaporized at 1 atm to produce a product slurry containing 35.0 wt% solids.

Heat is supplied to the evaporator by feeding saturated steam at 1.6 bar absolute into a coil

immersed in the liquid. The steam condenses in the coil, and the slurry boils at the normal

boiling point of pure water. The heat capacity of the solids may be taken to be half that of

liquid water.

(a) Calculate the required steam feed rate (kg/h) for a slurry feed rate of 1 × 103 kg/h.

(b) Vapor recompression is often used in the operation of an evaporator. Suppose that the

vapor (steam) generated in the evaporator described above is compressed to 1.6 bar and

simultaneously heated to the saturation temperature at 1.6 bar, so that no condensation

occurs. The compressed steam and additional saturated steam at 1.6 bar are then fed to

the evaporator coil, in which isobaric condensation occurs. How much additional steam

is required?

15. Sulfur dioxide is oxidized to sulfur trioxide in a small pilot-plant reactor. SO2 and 100%

excess air are fed to the reactor at 450 oC. The reaction proceeds to a 65% SO2 conversion,

and the products emerge from the reactor at 550 oC. The production rate of SO3 is 1 × 102

kg/min. The reactor is surrounded by a water jacket into which water at 25 oC is fed.

(a) Calculate the feed rates (standard cubic meters per second) of the SO and air feed

streams and the extent of reaction, (kmol/s).

molecular species at 25 oC as references, prepare and fill in an inlet–outlet enthalpy

table and write an energy balance to calculate the heat (kW) that must be transferred

from the reactor to the cooling water.

(c) Calculate the minimum flow rate of the cooling water if its temperature rise is to be

kept below 15 oC.