Chapter Three

Material Balance
 Materials and energy balances

Tools for quantitative understanding of the behavior of

environmental systems.

For accounting of the flow of energy and materials into

and out of the environmental systems.
Materials and energy balances

Material Balance Energy Balance

Pollutant Energy
modeling
production, transport, and fate
 Unifying Theories
Conservation of Matter

The law of conservation of matter states that (without nuclear

reaction) matter can neither be created nor destroyed.

We ought to be able to account for the “matter” at any point in

time.

The mathematical representation of this accounting system is

called a materials balance or mass balance.
 Unifying Theories
Conservation of Energy

The law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be

created or destroyed.
Meaning that we should be able to account for the “energy” at
any point in time.
The mathematical representation of this accounting system we
use to trace energy is called an energy balance.
 Material Balances

The simplest form of a materials balance or mass balance

Accumulation = input – output

input
Accumulation output
Environmental System
(Natural or Device)
The control volume
Control Volume

Consumer Food to
goods Accumulation people

Solid
Waste
Examples of Control Volume
 Time as a factor

Mass rate of accumulation = Mass rate of input – Mass rate of output

Example

Selam 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 1.32 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
Selam 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
 Solution

Vaccumulation
Qin = 1.32 L/min Qout = 0.32 L/min

We must convert volumes to masses.

→Mass = (volume)(density)
→Volume = (flow rate)(time) = (Q)(t)
Solution

➢ From mass balance we have

Accumulation = mass in –mass out
(Vacc)() = (Qin)()(t) - (Qout)()(t)
Vacc = (Qin)(t) – (Qout)(t)
Vacc = 1.32t – 0.32t
350L = (1.00 L/min)(t)
t= 350 min
The amount of wasted water is
Waste water = (0.32)(350) = 112 L
 Efficiency
Mass
Mass flow rate = = (concentration)(flow rate)
time
dM
Mass balance ➔ = cin Qin − cout Qout
dt
dM dt Cin Qin − Cout Qout
Efficiency of a system =
Cin Qout Cin Qout

mass in − mass out

OR ➔  =
mass in
 Example
The air pollution control equipment on a municipal waste incinerator includes
a fabric filter particle collector (known as a bag house). The bag house
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.
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.
 Solution

Cout = 24 mg/m3
Qout = 47 m3/s
Baghouse
Cin = 15 g/m3
Accumulation =
Qin = 47 m3/s
particle
removal

Hopper
kinetic reactions : reactions that are time dependent.

Reaction kinetics: the study of the effects of

temperature, pressure, and concentration on the rate of a
chemical reaction.
 Rate of reaction

The rate of reaction, ri, the rate of formation or disappearance of a

substance.

Homogenous reactions. single phase reactions

Heterogeneous reactions : multiphase reactions (between phases

surface)
 Rate of reaction

ri = kf1(T,P);f2([A],[B], …)

Rate constant
Concentration of reactant
Assuming that the pressure and temperature are constant

aA + bB cC

Rate of reaction ➔ rA = - k[A]α[b]β = k[C]γ

 Order of reaction

Rate of reaction ➔ rA = - k[A]α[b]β = k[C]γ

order of reaction = α + β,
the order with respect to reactant A is α, to B is β, and to product C
is γ.
rA = -k zero-order reaction
rA = -k[A] first-order reaction
rA = -k[A2] second-order reaction
rA = -k[A][B] second-order reaction
Order of reaction
 Types of Reactors
batch reactors and flow reactors.

fill-and-draw
material flows into, through, and out of
the reactor
Unsteady state
 Flow reactors
IDEAL REACTORS REAL REACTOR

(Plug flow tubular reactor )

no mixing of the fluid in a
longitudinal direction

fall between the PFTR (no

mixing) and CSTR (complete
(completely stirred tank reactor) mixing)
•composition is uniform throughout
 Steady-state conservative system

Conserved system: where no chemical or biological

reaction takes place and no radioactive decay occurs for
the substance in the mass balance.

Steady-state :

Input rate = Output rate ➔ Accumulation =0

 Steady-state conservative system
Decay rate = 0
Accumulation rate = 0
Qs
Stream
Qm
Cs Mixture
Cm
Qw
Wastes Q = flow rate
Cw C = concentration

CsQs + QwCw = QmCm

 Example
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 2.00
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
storm flow are completely mixed, that the salt is a conservative substance
(it does not react) and that the system is at steady state.
 Including reactions
For non conservative substances
Accumulation rate = input rate – output rare ±
transformation rate
 Simple completely mixed systems

With first-order reactions

Total mass of substance = concentration x volume
when V is a constant, the mass rate of decay of the substance is

first-order reactions can be described by r = -kC=dC/dt,

➔
 Example

A well-mixed sewage lagoon is receiving 430 m3/d of sewage

out of a sewer pipe. The lagoon has a surface area of 10 ha and
a depth of 1.0m. The pollutant concentration in the raw sewage
discharging into the lagoon is 180 mg/L. The organic matter in
the sewage degrades biologically in the lagoon according to
first-order kinetics. The reaction rate constant is 0.70 d-1.
Assuming no other water losses or gains and that the lagoon is
completely mixed, find the steady-state concentration of the
pollutant in the lagoon effluent.
 Solution
Decay

Cin = 180 mg/L Sewage Ceff = ?

Qin = 430 m3/d Qeff = 430 m3/d
Lagoon

Control volume

Accumulation=input rate – output rate – decay rate

Assuming steady-state condition, accumulation = 0
input rate = output rate + decay rate
CinQin = CeffQeff + (K)(Clagoon)(V)
 Exercise

Consider a 10.0 x 106 m3 lake fed by a polluted stream having a

flow rate of 5.0 m3/s and pollution concentration equal to 10.0
mg/L. There is also a sewage outfall that discharges 0.5 m3/s of
wastewater having a pollutant concentration of 100 mg/L. The
stream and sewage wastes have a reaction rate coefficient of
0.20/day. Assuming the pollution is completely mixed in the lake,
and assuming no evaporation or other water losses or gains, find
the steady-state concentration.