Process Principles Second Year Dr.

Dan Egesa

Lecture 3
Solving Material Balance Problems for Single Units
Without Reaction
1. Mixer unit:

Example: It is required to prepare 1250 kg of a solution composed of 12 wt.% ethanol and

88 wt.% water. Two solutions are available, the first contains 5 wt.% ethanol, and the second
contains 25 wt.% ethanol. How much of each solution are mixed to prepare the desired
solution?

Solution:
1. Ethanol balance

Input = output

2. Water balance

Input = output
=

Sub. (1) in (2)

0.95(300-5 B) + 0.75 B = 1100 2850

- 4.75 + 0.75 B =1100
4 B =1750 …………………. B= 437.5 kg
Sub. B in (1) : A= 3000 – 5(437.5) = 812.5 kg

3. Checking: Total material balance (T.M.B.), Input = A + B = 437.5 + 812.5 =1250 kg

Output = M= 1250 kg

2. Extraction unit:

Example 1: Extraction of Streptomycin from a Fermentation Broth:

Streptomycin is recovered by contacting the fermentation broth with an organic solvent in an

extraction process. The extraction process is able to recover the Streptomycin because
Streptomycin has a greater affinity for dissolving in the organic solution than in the aqueous
solution. Figure E8.1 shows the overall process. Determine the mass fraction of Streptomycin
in the exit organic solvent assuming that no water exits with the solvent and no solvent exits
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Process Principles Second Year Dr. Dan Egesa

with the aqueous solution. Assume that the density of the aqueous solution is 1 g/cm 3 and the
density of the organic solvent is 0.6 g/cm3.

Mass fraction of Strep.=

?

Solution:

This is an open (flow), steady-state process without reaction. Assume because of the low
concentration of Strep. In the aqueous and organic fluids that the flow rates of the entering
fluids equal the flow rates of the exit fluids.

Basis: 1 min

3. Membrane unit:

Example 2: Separation of Gases Using a Membrane:

Membranes represent a relatively new technology for the separation of gases. One use that
has attracted attention is the separation of nitrogen and oxygen from air. The figure below
illustrates a nanoporous membrane that is made by coating a very thin layer of polymer on a

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Process Principles Second Year Dr. Dan Egesa

porous graphite supporting layer. What is the composition of the waste stream if the waste
stream amounts to 80% of the input stream?

Solution:

This is an open, steady-state process without chemical reaction. The system is the membrane
as depicted in Figure E8.2. Let yO2 be the mole fraction of oxygen as depicted in Figure E8.2,
yN2 be the mole fraction of nitrogen, and let nO2 and nN2 be the respective moles.

Basis: F=100 gmole

Input =
Output
F=P+W
W = 80% F = 0.8 x 100 = 80 gmole
P= 20 gmole

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 gmole
Process Principles Second Year Dr. Dan Egesa
gmole

= 5 gmole

= 15

gmole

Oxygen Material Balance (O2 M.B):

gmole

Nitrogen Material Balance (N2 M.B):

gmole

Mole fraction of O2 in waste,

Mole fraction of N2 in waste,

4. Distillation column:

Example: Overall Analysis for a Continuous Distillation Column:

A binary mixture consists of 35 % benzene and 65 % toluene are continuously fed to the
distillation column at a rate of 1000 kg/hr. Whereas, the distillate flow rate was 10% from the
feed flow rate. The distillate (top product) contains 85 % benzene. Calculate the quantity and
compositions of the waste stream.

Solution:

Although the distillation unit shown in Figure below is comprised of more than one unit of
equipment, you can select a system that includes all of the equipment inside the system
boundary. Consequently, you can ignore all the internal streams for this problem.

Basis: 1 hr
F = 1000 kg
P = (10 /100) of Feed = 0.1 x (1000) = 100 kg

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Process Principles Second Year Dr. Dan Egesa

Overall Material Balance:

Input = Output
F=P+W 1000 = 100 + W W = 900 kg

Benzene Material Balance:

(0.35) (1000) = (0.85) (100) + Kg of benz. in (W)
350 = 85 + Kg of benz. in (W) Kg of benz. in (W) = 265 kg

Toluene Material Balance:

(0.65) (1000) = (0.15) (100) + Kg of tol. in (W)
650 = 15 + Kg of benz. in (W) Kg of tol. in (W) = 635 kg

W = Kg of benz. in (W) + Kg of tol. in (W) = 265 + 635 = 900 kg

Mass fraction of benzene. in waste =

Mass fraction of tol. in waste =

5. Absorption column:
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Process Principles Second Year Dr. Dan Egesa

Example: A gaseous mixture (F) consists of 16 mol% CS 2 and 84 mol% air is fed to the
absorption column at a rate of 1000 Ib mole/hr. Most of the CS2 input are absorbed by liquid
benzene (L) which is fed to the top of the column. 1 % of benzene input are evaporated and
out with the exit gas stream which consists of 96 mol% air, 2 mol% CS 2 and 2 mol%
benzene. The product liquid stream (P) consists of benzene and CS 2. Calculate the mole flow
rates of (G), (L) and (P) and the compositions.

Solution:
Basis = 1 hr
F = 1000 Ib mole

Air material balance: (Tie component)

(0.84) (F) = (0.96) (G)
(0.84)(1000) = (0.96) (G)
G = 840/0.96 = 875 Ibmole

Benzene material balance:

Benzene in (G) = (875) (0.02) = 17.5 Ib
mole
17.5 = 1% of benzene input
17.5 = (0.01) (L) L = 1750 Ibmole

Benzene in (P) = 99% of benzene input = (0.99) (L) =(0.99) (1750) = 1732.5 Ibmole

Let x = mole fraction of benzene in (P) P x = 1732.5 ……………...(1)

CS2 material balance:

(0.16) (F) = (0.02) (G) + P (1-x)
(0.16) (1000) = (0.02) (875) + P – P x
160 =17.5 + P – 1732.5 P = 1875 Ibmole

Sub. (P) in equation (1): x = (1732.5) / (1875) = 0.924

mole fraction of benzene in (P) mole fraction of CS2 in (P) =
1- 0.924 = 0.076

Checking total material balance:

Input = F + L = 1000 + 1750 = 2750 Ibmole
Output = G + P = 875 + 1875 = 2750 Ibmole

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Basic Principles First Year Asst. Prof. Dr. Ahmed Daham

6. Mixing of battery (Sulfuric) Acid:

You are asked to prepare a batch of 18.63% battery acid as follows. A tank of old weak
battery acid (H2SO4) solution contains 12.43% H2SO4 (the remainder is pure water). If 200 kg
of 77.7% H2SO4 is added to the tank, and the final solution is to be 18.63% H 2SO4, how many
kilograms of battery acid have been made? See Figure E8.4.

Solution:

Overall material balance:

Input = Output

A+F=P
200 + F = P ………………(1)

H2SO4 material balance:

(0.777) (200) + ( 0.1243) ( F) = (0.1863) (P) ……………..(2) H2O

material balance:

(0.223) ( 200) + (0.8757) (F) = (0.8137) (P)………………(3)

From equation(1), P = 200 + F

Sub. Equation (1) in (2):

(0.777) (200) + ( 0.1243) ( F) = (0.1863) (200 + F)

155.4 + 0.1243 F – 37.26 = 0.1863 F
F= 1905.5 kg & P =2105.5 kg

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Basic Principles First Year Asst. Prof. Dr. Ahmed Daham

Example 7. Dryer:

In the processing of the fish, after the oil is extracted, the fish cake is dried in rotary drum
dryers, finely ground, and packed. The resulting product contains 65% protein. In a given
batch of fish cake that contains 80% water (the remainder is dry cake), 100 kg of water is
removed, and it is found that the fish cake is then 40% water. Calculate the weight of the fish
cake originally put into the dryer.

Solution:

Basis: 100 kg water evaporated Overall

material balance:

Input = Output
A + W1 = B + W 2
A + 0 = B + 100 A = B + 100 …………….. (1)

BDC material balance:

Input = Output
(0.2) (A) = (0.6) (B) B = (1/3) A …………….(2) Sub.
Eq. (2) into (1):

A = (1/3) A +100 A = 150 kg initial cake

B = (1/3) A = (1/3) (150) = 50 kg

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Basic Principles First Year Asst. Prof. Dr. Ahmed Daham

Example 8: Crystallization:
A tank holds 10,000 kg of a saturated solution of Na 2CO3 at 30°C. You want to crystallize
from this solution 3000 kg of Na 2CO3.10H20 without any accompanying water. To what
temperature must the solution be cooled? The solubility data of Na 2CO3 as a function of the
temperature is given as below:

Temp. (oC) Solubility (g

Na2CO3 / 100 g H2O)
0 7
10 12.5
20 21.5
30 38.8

Solution:

Since the initial solution is saturated at 30 oC, you can calculate the composition of the initial
solution:

Basis: 1 g mol of Na2CO3.10H20

Comp. Mol Mol wt. Mass Mass fraction
Na2CO3 1 106 106 0.371
H20 10 18 180 0.629
Total 286 1.0

Basis: 10000 kg of saturated solution at 30oC

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Process Principles Second Year Dr. Dan Egesa

Because we are treated this problem as an unsteady-state problem (the flow = 0), the mass
balance reduces to:

Overall material balance:

Initial state – Final state = Crystal removed

10000 – F = 3000 F = 7000 kg

Na2CO3 material balance:

(0.28) (10000) - (M Na2CO3) (F) = (0.371) (3000) , where: M=mass fraction

(0.28) (10000) - (M Na2CO3) (7000) = (0.371) (3000)

M Na2CO3 = 0.241

Mass of Na2CO3 in the final state = (M Na2CO3) (F) = (0.241) (7000) = 1687 kg

H2O material balance:

(1-0.28) (10000) - (M H2O) (F) = (0.629) (3000)

(0.72) (10000) - (M H2O) (7000) = (0.629) (3000)

M H2O = 0.759

Mass of H2O in the final state = (M H2O) (F) = (0.759) (7000) = 5313 kg

To find the temperature of the final solution, calculate the composition of the final solution in
terms of (g Na2CO3. / 100 g H2O) so that you can use the tabulated solubility data listed
above.
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Process Principles Second Year Dr. Dan Egesa

1687 kg Na2CO3 31.8 g Na2CO3

=
5313 kg H2O 100 g H2O

Thus, the temperature to which the solution must be cooled lies between 20 oC and 30oC.
By linear interpolation:

38.8 − 31.8
(30o C) − 10o C = 26o C
38.8 − 21.5

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Process Principles Second Year Dr. Dan Egesa

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