INDUSTRIAL

PROCESS
CALCULATIONS
CHE 202
LESSON 9:
Energy Balances – Part I
 CONTENTS
Terminologies
Introduction to Types of Energy to Be
1. 2. Associated with 3.
Energy Balance Included in Energy
Energy Balances
Balances

Energy Balances for

4. Energy Balance Procedures 5. Non-Reactive Processes

Energy Balances for

6. 7. Combined Mass and Energy
Reactive Processes Systems
 INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY BALANCE
▪We now take up the second prominent topic in this course -
energy balances.
▪To provide publicly acceptable, effective, and yet economical
conversion of our resources into energy and to properly utilize
the energy so generated, we must understand the basic principles
underlying the generation, uses, and transformation of energy in its
different forms.
▪Energy is expensive. We have not yet learned how to use
efficiently the seemingly endless supply of “free” energy provided
by the sun, winds, and tides.
 INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY BALANCE
▪Nuclear power generation is feasible, but the need for safe
disposal of radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors is a serious
unresolved problem; and there are not nearly enough waterfalls
and dams to provide sufficient hydroelectric power to meet the
world’s energy needs.
▪This leaves us with fuel combustion - burning a combustible gas,
oil, or solid fuel, and using the energy released as a source of
thermal or (indirectly) electrical energy.
▪Process industries have always recognized that wasting energy
leads to reduced profits, but throughout most of this century the
…
 INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY BALANCE
▪… cost of energy was often an insignificant part of the overall
process cost, and gross operational inefficiencies were tolerated.
▪In the 1970s, a sharp increase in the price of natural gas and
petroleum raised the cost of energy severalfold and intensified the
need to eliminate unnecessary energy consumption.
▪If a plant uses more energy than its competitors, its product could
be priced out of the marketplace.
▪As an engineer designing a process, one of your principal jobs
would be to account carefully for the energy that flows into and
…
 INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY BALANCE
▪… out of each process unit and to determine the overall energy
requirement for the process.
▪You would do this by writing on the process, in much the same
way that you write material balances to account for the mass flows
to and from the process and its units.
▪Typical problems that may be solved using energy balances include
the following:
1. How much power (energy/time) is required to pump 1250 m3/h
of water from a storage vessel to a process unit? (The answer
determines the size of the required pump motor.)
 INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY BALANCE
2. How much energy is required to convert 2000 kg of water at 30 oC to
steam at 180oC?
3. A hydrocarbon mixture is distilled, producing a liquid and a vapor
stream, each with a known or calculable flow rate and composition. The
energy input to the distillation column is provided by condensing
saturated steam at a pressure of 15 bar. At what rate must steam be
supplied to process 2000 mol/h of the feed mixture?
4. A highly exothermic chemical reaction A → B takes place in a
continuous reactor. If a 75% conversion of A is to be achieved, at what
rate must energy be transferred from the reactor to keep the contents
at a constant temperature?
 INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY BALANCE
5. How much coal must be burned each day to produce enough energy to
generate the steam to run the turbines to produce enough electricity to
meet the daily power requirements of a city of 500,000 people?
6. A chemical process consists of four reactors, 25 pumps, and a number of
compressors, distillation columns, mixing tanks, evaporators, filter
presses, and other materials handling and separation units. Each
individual unit either requires or releases energy.
a. How can the process operation be designed to minimize the total energy
requirement? (For example, can the energy released by an
energy-emitting process unit be transferred to an energy-absorbing
process unit?)
 INTRODUCTION TO ENERGY BALANCE
b. What is the total energy requirement for the process as it is finally
designed, and how much will it cost to provide this energy? (The
answer could determine whether or not the process is economically
feasible.)
▪In this part of the Note, we show how energy balances are
formulated and applied.
 TERMINOLOGIES ASSOCIATED WITH ENERGY
BALANCES
▪System: The quantity of matter or region of space chosen for study
enclosed by a boundary.

▪Surroundings: Everything outside the system boundary.

 TERMINOLOGIES ASSOCIATED WITH ENERGY
BALANCES
▪Boundary: The surface that separates the system from the
surroundings. It may be a real or imaginary surface, either ridged or
movable.

▪Open system (flow system): A system that is open to interchange

of mass with the surroundings. Heat and work can also be exchanged.
 TERMINOLOGIES ASSOCIATED WITH ENERGY
BALANCES
▪Closed system (nonflow system): A system that does not
interchange mass with the surroundings. But heat and work can be
exchanged.

▪Property: Observable (or calculable) characteristic of the system

such as pressure, temperature, volume, etc.
 TERMINOLOGIES ASSOCIATED WITH ENERGY
BALANCES
▪State: Conditions of the system (specified by the values of
temperature, pressure, composition, etc.)

▪Steady State: The accumulation in the system is zero, the flows in

and out are constant, and the properties of the system are invariant.
 TERMINOLOGIES ASSOCIATED WITH ENERGY
BALANCES
▪Unsteady State: The system is not in the steady state

▪Equilibrium (state): The properties of the system are invariant;

implies a state of balance. Types are thermal, mechanical, phase, and
chemical equilibrium.
 TERMINOLOGIES ASSOCIATED WITH ENERGY
BALANCES
▪Phase: A pan (or whole) of the system that is physically distinct, and
macroscopically homogeneous of fixed or variable composition, such
as gas, liquid, or solid.

▪Adiabatic system: A system that does not exchange heat with the
surroundings during a process (perfectly insulated).
 TERMINOLOGIES ASSOCIATED WITH ENERGY
BALANCES
▪Isothermal system: A system in which the temperature is invariant
during a process.

▪Isobaric system: A system in which the pressure is constant during

a process.
 TERMINOLOGIES ASSOCIATED WITH ENERGY
BALANCES
▪Isochoric system: A system in which the volume is invariant during
a process.

▪State variable (point function) (state function): Any variable

(function) whose value depends only on the state of the system and
not upon its previous history (e.g. internal energy).
 TERMINOLOGIES ASSOCIATED WITH ENERGY
BALANCES
▪Path variable (function): Any variable (function) whose value de
pends on how the process takes place, and can differ for different
histories (e.g.. heat and work).
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪Before we begin the discussion of the types of energy we will be
including in the energy balance, we need to mention certain notation
that will be used.
▪All of the terms in the energy balance will be integrated quantities
just as were the terms in the mass balance in previous lessons.
▪Thus, for example, heat, , will be the net amount of heat
transferred to or from the system over a fixed interval no matter
how the local transfer occurred at any selected instant of time.
▪If we have to identify a rate of transfer, we will place an overlay dot
on the symbol for the variable, thus
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪Because many of the variables with which we will be working are
extensive variables, if we want to designate the related
intensive variables, we place an overlay caret (^) on the symbol
for the variable, thus

▪The first two types of energy we will discuss, namely work and heat,
are energy transfer between the system and surroundings without
any accompanying mass transfer.
▪These two types of energy cannot be stored in a system-they are
solely transfers into and out of a system.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪Because many of the variables with which we will be working are
extensive variables, if we want to designate the related
intensive variables, we place an overlay caret (^) on the symbol
for the variable, thus

▪The first two types of energy we will discuss, namely work and
heat, are energy transfer between the system and surroundings
without any accompanying mass transfer.
▪These two types of energy cannot be stored in a system - they are
solely transfers into and out of a system.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪Other types of energy are:
•Kinetic energy
•Potential energy
•Internal energy and
•Enthalpy
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
A. WORK
▪Work (W) is a term that has wide usage in everyday life (such as "I
am going to work") but has a specialized meaning in connection with
energy balances.
▪ Work is a form of energy that represents a transfer of energy between
the system and surroundings.
▪ Work cannot be stored.
▪ Work is positive when the surroundings per form work on the system.
▪ Work is negative when the system performs work on the surroundings.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪The different types of works are:
1. Mechanical work
•Work that occurs because of a mechanical force that moves the
boundary of a system.
•You might calculate, W, on the system or by the system as

(9.1)

where F is an external force (a vector) in the direction of s (a vector)

acting on the system boundary (or a system force acting at the
boundary on the surroundings).
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
2. Electrical work
•Electrical work occurs when an electrical current passes through an
electrical resistance in the circuit.
•If the system generates an electrical current (e.g. an electrical
generator inside the system) and the current passes through an
electrical resistance outside the system, the electrical work is
negative because the electrical work is done on the surroundings.
•If the electrical work is done inside the system and the electrical
current is generated out side the system, the electrical work is
positive.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
2. Shaft work
•Shaft work occurs by a force acting on a shaft to tum it against a
mechanical resistance.
•When a pump outside the system is used to circulate a fluid in the
system, the shaft work is positive.
•When a fluid in the system is used to tum a shaft that performs
work on the surroundings, the shaft work is negative.
3. Flow work
•Flow work is performed on the system when fluid is pushed into the
system by the surroundings.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
• For example, when a fluid enters a pipe some work is done on the
system to force the fluid into the pipe.
• Similarly, when fluid exits the pipe, the system does some work on the
surroundings to push the exiting fluid into the surroundings.
EXAMPLE 9.1: Calculation of Mechanical Work by a Gas on a
Piston Showing how the path affects the value of the Work.
Suppose that an ideal gas at 300 K and 200 kPa is enclosed in a cylinder by
a frictionless piston, and the gas slowly forces the piston so that the
volume of gas expands from 0.1 to 0.2m3. Examine Figure 9.1. Calculate
the work done by the gas on the piston (the only part of the system
boundary that moves) if two different paths are used to go from the initial
state to the final state:
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
Path A: the expansion occurs at constant pressure (isobaric)(p = 200 kPa)
Path B: the expansion occurs at constant temperature (isothermal)(T= 300 K).

Fig. 9.1
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
Solution
▪The piston must be frictionless, and the process is ideal (occur very
slowly) for the following calculations to be valid. Otherwise, some of
the calculated work will be changed into a different form of
unmeasured energy such as internal energy or heat.
▪The system is the gas. We are asked to use Equation (9. I) to
calculate the work but because we do not know the force exerted
by the gas on the piston, we will have to use the pressure
(force/area) as the driving force, which is OK since we do not know
the area of the piston anyway, and because p is exerted normally on
the piston face.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
Solution
▪All of the data we need is provided in the problem statement.
▪Let the basis be the amount of gas cited in the problem statement

The mechanical work done by the system on the piston (in moving the
system boundary) per unit area is
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪Note that by definition, the work done by the system is negative. If
in the integral alone dV is positive (such as in expansion), the value of
the integral will be positive and W negative (work done on the
surroundings). If dV is negative. W will be positive (work done on
the system).
▪See Figure 9.2 for illustration of the two processes.
Path A (the constant pressure process)
TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES

Fig. 9.2
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
Path B (the constant temperature process)
The gas is ideal. Then

In Figure 9.2, the two integrals are under the respective curves in the
p-V plot.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
B. HEAT
▪Heat (Q) is commonly defined as that part of the total energy flow
across a system boundary that is caused by a temperature difference
(potential) between the system and the surroundings (or between
two systems). See Figure 9.3.
▪Engineers say "heat" when meaning "heat transfer”, or "heat flow.“
▪Heat is neither stored nor created.
▪Heat is positive when transferred to the system.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪ A process in which no heat transfer occurs is an adiabatic process (Q = 0).
▪ Examples of an adiabatic process include processes in which the system
and its surroundings are at the same temperature and processes in which
the system is perfectly insulated.

Fig. 9.3: Heat transfer is energy crossing the system boundary

because of a temperature difference.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪Some misconceptions about heat we should avoid (saying heat
transfer is better) are:
•Heat is a substance.
•Heat is proportional to temperature.
•A cold body contains no heat.
•Heating always results in an increase in temperature.
•Heat only travels upward.
▪Heat transfer is usually classified in three categories: conduction,
convection and radiation.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪ Heat, as is work, is a path function.
▪ To evaluate heat transfer quantitatively, we must apply the energy balance or
use an empirical formula to estimate the heat transfer.
▪ One example of such a formula is the rate of heat transfer by convection that
can be calculated from
(9.2)

where is the rate of heat transfer (such as J/s), A is the area for heat transfer (such as m 2),
(T2 - T1) is the temperature difference between the surroundings at T2 and the system at T1
(such as °C), and U is an empirical coefficient determined from experimental data for the
equipment involved [it would have the units of J/(s)(m2)(°C)].
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪For example, ignoring conduction and radiation, the convective heat
transfer rate from a person (the system) to a room (the
surroundings) can be calculated using U = 7 W/(m2)(°C) and the
data in Figure 9.4.

Fig. 9.4: Heat transfer from a person.

 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES

▪A device (system) that uses a high temperature fluid and a low

temperature fluid to do work is known as a "heat engine."
▪Examples are power plants, steam engines, heat pumps, and so on.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
C. KINETIC ENERGY
▪Kinetic energy (KE) is the energy a system, or some material,
possesses because of its velocity relative to the surroundings, which
are usually, but not always at rest.
▪The wind, moving automobiles, waterfalls, flowing fluids, and so on,
possess kinetic energy.
▪The kinetic energy of a material refers to what is called the
macroscopic kinetic energy, namely the energy that is associated
with the gross movement (velocity) of the system or material, and
not the kinetic energy of the individual molecules that belong in the
category of internal energy.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
The equation used to calculate the kinetic energy (or specific kinetic
energy) relative to stationary surroundings is
(9.3a) or (9.3b)

EXAMPLE 9.2: Calculation of the Specific Kinetic Energy for

a Flowing Fluid
Water is pumped from a storage tank through a tube of 3.00 cm inner
diameter at the rate of 0.001 m3/s. See Figure 9.5 What is the specific
kinetic energy of the water in the tube?
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES

Fig. 9.5
Solution
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
D. POTENTIAL ENERGY
▪Potential energy (PE) is energy the system possesses because of the
force exerted on its mass by a gravitational or electromagnetic field
with respect to a reference surface.
▪When an electric car or bus goes uphill it gains potential energy -
energy that can be recovered to some extent by regeneration -
charging the batteries if needed when the automobile goes down the
hill on the other side.
▪We can calculate the potential energy in a gravitational field from
(9.4a)
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
or the specific potential energy
(9.4b)
where h is the distance from the reference surface and the symbol (^)
again means potential energy per unit mass.
▪The measurement of h takes place to the center of mass of a system.
EXAMPLE 9.3: Calculation of Potential Energy Change of Water
Water is pumped from one reservoir to another 300 ft away, as
shown in Figure 9.6. The water level in the second reservoir is 40 ft
above the water level of the first reservoir. What is the increase in
specific potential energy of the water in Btu/lbm?
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES

Fig. 9.6
Solution
Because we are asked to calculate the potential energy change of one
pound of water and not of the whole reservoir, which would require
knowledge of the mass of water in the reservoir, we can assume that
the 40 ft corresponds to the difference in height of the one pound of
water when it is pumped from one level to the other level.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
Let the water level in the first reservoir be the reference plane. Then
h = 40 ft.

E. INTERNAL ENERGY (U)

▪Internal energy (U) is a macroscopic concept that takes into account,
all of the molecular, atomic, and subatomic energies, all of which
follow definite microscopic conservation rules for dynamic systems.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪Internal energy can be stored. Because no instruments exist with
which to measure internal energy directly on a macroscopic scale,
internal energy must be calculated from certain other variables that
can be measured macroscopically, such as pressure, volume,
temperature, and composition.
▪To calculate the internal energy per unit mass ( ) from the variables
that can be measured, we make use of a special property of internal
energy, namely that it is an exact differential because it is a point or
state variable.
▪Custom dictates the use of temperature and specific volume as the
two variables.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪For a single phase and single component, we say that is a function of
T and .

▪By taking the total derivative, we find that

(9.5)

▪Consequently, changes in the specified internal energy over a

specified time interval can be computed by integrating Equation (9.5)
as follows:
(9.6)
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪For an ideal gas U is a function of temperature only.
▪Equation (9.6) alone is not valid if a phase change occurs during the
process.
▪Note that you can only calculate differences in internal energy, or
calculate the internal energy relative to a reference state, but not
absolute values of internal energy.
▪The internal energy of a system containing more than one component
is the sum of the internal energies of each component:
(9.7)
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
EXAMPLE 9.4: Calculation of an Internal Energy Change
using the Heat Capacity
What is the change in internal energy when 10 kg mol of air is cooled
from 60°C to 30°C in a constant volume process?

Solution
Since you don't know the value of Cv, you have to look the value up. It
is 2.1 X l 04 J/(kg mo1)(°C) over the temperature range. Use Equation
(9.6) to carry out the calculation:
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES

F. ENTHALPY
▪You will find that the term U + pV (or per unit mass or mole)
occurs repeatedly in an energy balance.
▪The combined variables are called the enthalpy (pronounced
en-thal-py).
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
(9.8a)

where p is the pressure and V is the volume, or per unit mass or mole

(9.8b)

▪To calculate the specific enthalpy (enthalpy per unit mass), as with the
internal energy, we use the property that the enthalpy is an exact
differential.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪We will express the enthalpy in terms of the temperature and
pressure (a more convenient variable than the specific volume).
▪If we let

by taking the total derivative of we can form an expression analogous

to Equation (9.5):
(9.9)
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
▪ By definition is the heat capacity at constant pressure, and is
given the special symbol CP. For most practical purposes is so small
at modest pressures that the second term on the righthand side of
Equation (9.9) can be neglected.
▪ Changes in enthalpy over a specified time interval can then be calculated
by integration of Equation (9.9) as follows:

(9.10)

▪ However, in processes operating at high pressures, the second term on

the righthand side of Equation (9.9) cannot necessarily be neglected, but
must be evaluated from experimental data.
 TYPES OF ENERGY TO BE INCLUDED IN
ENERGY BALANCES
EXAMPLE 9.5 Calculation of an Enthalpy Change
Calculate the enthalpy change for the process in Example 9.4, except
assume that the enthalpy change occurs in a constant pressure, steady-state
flow process.
Solution
For the example you have to look up the value of CP. It is 2.9 X 104
J/(kg mo1)(°C). Use Equation (9.10) to carry out the calculation: