Addis Ababa Science & Technology University

School of Chemical & Materials Engineering

Department of Chemical Engineering
Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering(ChEg1071)

Lecture On:
Basic Principles and Calculations in Chemical
Engineering

1
 OUTLINE FOR CHAPTER TWO

2. Basic Principles and Calculations in Chemical

Engineering

2.1. Units and Dimensions

2.2. The Mole Unit

2.3. Method of Analysis and Measurement

2.4. Physical and Chemical Properties of Compounds and

Mixtures

2
2. Basic Principles and Calculations
in Chemical Engineering

3
2.1. Units and Dimensions

Dimensions: are basic concepts of measurement such

as length, time, mass, temperature, pressure etc…
(A measure of something in physical space)

Units: are means of expressing the dimensions such as

meter or centimeter for length, hour or second for time,
kilogram or gram for mass, degree Celsius or Kelvin
for temperature, Pascal or kilo Pascal for pressure etc…

4
The two most commonly used systems of units:
• SI (Systeme International) system of units.
• AE, or American Engineering system of units
Dimensions and their respective units are classified as:
• Fundamental (or basic) dimensions /units are
those that can be measured independently and
are sufficient to describe essential physical
quantities.
• Derived dimensions /units are those that can be
developed in terms of the fundamental
dimensions /units.
 Cont...
• The use of units or dimensions along with the
numbers in your calculations requires more attention
than you probably have been giving to your
computations.
• The proper use of dimensions in problem solving is
not only sound from a logical viewpoint;
• It is also helpful in guiding you along an appropriate
path of analysis from what is at hand through what
has to be done to the final solution.

8
 Cont...
The rules for handling units are essentially quite simple:
• Treat the units as you would algebraic symbols.

Addition, Subtraction, Equality

You can add, subtract, or equate numerical
quantities only if the associated units of the
quantities are the same. Thus, the operation

• 5 kilograms + 3 joules → cannot be carried out

• 10 pounds + 5 grams → can be performed only

after the units are
transformed to be the
same. 9
 Multiplication and Division

You can multiply or divide unlike units at will such as

but you cannot cancel or merge units unless they are

identical.

EXAMPLE: Add the following:

(a) 1 foot + 3 seconds
(b) 1 horse power + 300 watts
 Cont...

• Dimensional equation: It contains both units and

numbers. For example the dimensional equation for v
= u +at is

• One quantity is multiplied by a number of ratios termed

conversion factors of equivalent values of combination
of time, distance, and so on, to arrive at the final
desired answer.

11
 Cont...

• Consistent use of dimensional equations throughout your

professional career will assist you in avoiding silly
mistakes such as converting 10 centimeters to inches
by multiplying by 2.54.

• 10 cm *2.54cm/inch =25.4cm2/inch which is wrong!

• But the correct conversion is
10cm*inch/2.54cm=3.94inch.

“Take care of your units & they will take care of you”

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 Cont...
EXAMPLE: Conversion of Units

(a) Convert 2 km to miles.

(b) Convert 400 in3/day to cm3/min.

(Use: 1mile=1.61km; 1 in= 2.54cm)

Solution:
(a)

(b)

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14
 Example: a semiconductor (ZnS) with a particle
diameter of 1.8 nanometers. Convert this value to:
(a) dm (decimeters)
(b) inches.

Solution:
(a)

(b)
 Cont...
• A basic principle exists that equations must be
dimensionally consistent.
• The principle requires that each term in an equation
must have the same net dimensions and units as every
other term to which it is added or subtracted or
equated.
• Dimensional considerations can be used to identify
the dimensions and units of terms or quantities in
terms in an equation.

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 Cont...
• The concept of dimensional consistency can be
illustrated by an equation that represents gas behavior
and is known as the Van der Waals equation.

Where;
• N is number of moles, P is pressure, V is volume, R is
gas constant, T is temperature, a and b are constants
• The constant, a, must have the units of pressure*
(volume)2 in order for the expression in the first set of
parentheses to be consistent throughout.
• Similarly, the constant, b, must have the same units of
volume, “V”. Therefore, all equations must exhibit
dimensional consistency.
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 Cont...
• Example: Consider the following equation for the
rate of heat transfer across the boundary layer:
Q = Ah∆T
Where;
• Q is rate of heat transfer
• A is heat transfer area perpendicular to heat flow
direction
• h is heat transfer coefficient
• ∆T is temperature difference
What is the SI unit of the heat transfer coefficient h?
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 Cont...
Solution:
• The SI unit of Q is w
• The SI unit of A is m2
• The SI unit of ∆T is k
• The SI unit of h is: h = w/m2.k

• Revise: System of Units (fundamental units and

derived units), Scientific Notation, Significant
figures !!!

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2.2. The Mole Unit

• Mole of a substance is the ratio of measured mass of a

substance per molecular weight of that substance.
• The SI unit of mole is mol.
• In SI unit 1 mole has 6.023*1023 molecules.
• Mathematically,

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 C o n t ...

• Mole fraction: It is the ratio of moles a

particular substance divided by the total
number of moles present. This definition holds
for gases, liquids and solids.
• Mass fraction: It is the ratio of the mass of a
substance divided by the total mass of all
substances present.

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 Cont...
• Mathematically, the above definitions can be written
as:
•

• Thus, the percent mole and percent mass (weight) are

the respective fraction times 100.
• Example 3: A drain cleaner bottle has 5kg of NaOH
and 5kg of water. What are the mass fraction and
mole fractions of each component in the bottle? (Mw
of Na=23, O=16, H=1).
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 Cont...
• Given: mass of water=5kg; mass of NaOH=5kg
• Required: mass fraction (Xm) and mole fraction (Xn) of
each component?
• Solution:
• Total mass=mass of water + mass of NaOH=5kg+5kg =
10kg
• Mass fractions:
• Xm of water=mass of water/total mass=5kg/10kg = 0.5
• Xm of NaOH = mass of NaOH/total mass=5kg/10kg =
0.5
• Mole fractions:
• Mw of water = 18kg/kmol
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• Mw of NaOH = 40kg/kmol
 Cont...

• Total moles = mole of water + mole of NaOH = 0.278+

0.125 = 0.403kmol
• Xn of water = mole of water/ total moles =
0.278kmol/0.403kmol = 0.69
• Xn of NaOH = mole of NaOH/ total moles =
0.125kmol/0.403kmol = 0.31

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 Cont...
• Example 4: A liquid mixture of n-butane (C4H10), n-
pentane (C5H12) and n-hexane (C6H14) has the following
composition in percent. (Mw of C=12,H=1). Take basis as
100kg for total mass of the mixture.
Components Mass Composition (%)
C4H10 50
C5H12 30
C6H14 20

For this mixture, calculate

a) The mass of each component
b) The mole fraction of each component
c) The average molecular mass of the mixture
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2.3. Method of Analysis and Measurement
2.3.1. Density
• Density is the ratio of mass per unit volume.
• Mathematically,
•

• The SI unit of density is kg/m3. Its symbol is a Greek letter ρ,

“roh”, has both a numerical value and units. To determine the
density of a substance, we must find both its volume and its
mass.
• Specific gravity (relative density)( ): It is the ratio of density
of liquid per density of water. Specific gravity is a
dimensionless ratio.

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 Cont...
How can we measure the density of solids and liquids?

• For solids: First fill the measuring cylinder with inert liquid.
Then, insert a known mass of solid in the liquid. The liquid
displaces when the solid is inserted. Measured the volume of
displaced liquid which has equal volume that of the solid.
Thus, the density of solid will be the ratio of the mass of solid
per displaced liquid volume.

Density of
ice(Solid) <
density of pure Measuring
liquid water density of
solid(Marble)
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For liquids: Cont...

• (1). First, we measure mass of the glass beaker alone

and record its mass. Then, fill the beaker with a
known volume of liquid to be measured its density.
After that, we measure the mass of the beaker which
is filled with liquid. The mass of the liquid will be the
difference of the masses. Thus, the density of liquid
will be mass of in per its volume.

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 Cont...

(2). We measure the masses of equal volume of the

liquid and water. Then, the specific gravity of a liquid
will be the ratio of mass of liquid per mass of water
where both liquid and water have identical volume.

(3). It can be measured directly

Fig. Hydro
by hydrometer instrument. meter

• However, the density of gas measurement is very

difficult since it is compressible. Therefore, the
property of gas is measured in terms of pressure.
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 Cont...
Example 5: If the specific gravity of aluminum (Al) is 2.7.
What is its density? (Density of water 1g/cm3).
a) g/cm3
b) lbm/ft3
c) kg/m3
Example 6: Two immiscible liquids are allowed to separate in a
vessel. One liquid has a specific gravity of 0.936 and the second
liquid has a density of 9.63lbm/gal. A block of 9in length, 9in
width and 9in height has a mass of 25.8lbm is dropped into the
vessel.
a) Will the block float on top, stop at the interface where the
two liquids are separated or sink?
b) What fraction of the volume of the block is in one or both of
the liquids? 30
 Cont...
2.3.2. Specific Volume

• The specific volume of any substance is the inverse of

its density.
• i.e. Specific volume is the ratio of volume per its mass.
• Mathematically’

• The unit of specific volume is m3/kg.

• The symbol of specific volume isνν.

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 Cont...
2.3.3. Analysis of Substances

• The analysis of gases such as air, combustion products and

the like are usually done on dry basis; i.e. water vapor is
excluded from the analysis.
• Dry basis analysis is called Orsat analysis and if we include
water vapor for gas analysis, the analysis will be wet basis.
• If the gas acts as an ideal gas at constant temperature and
pressure, the mole fraction (percent) will be equal to the
volume fraction (percent).
• Consider the composition of air; 21% oxygen and 79%
nitrogen.
• This means that at room temperature and pressure any
sample of air will contain 21% oxygen by volume and also
21% mole of oxygen.
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 Cont...
• However, for non-ideal (real) gas the mole fraction
(percent) is not equal to the volume fraction (percent).

• Note! The analysis of gas in most books is expressed in

terms of mole fraction or percent.

• The analysis of liquids and solids is expressed in terms of

mass fraction or percent.

• For mixtures, the average density or specific gravity is

obtained by multiplying the individual component density
or specific gravity by respective mass fraction of the
components in the mixture and summing the products.
However, don’t multiply by respective mole fractions.
Why?
• Because, density or specific gravity of any substance is
dependent on mass, but is not dependent on mole.
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 Cont...
2.3.4. Concentrations

• Concentration is the quantity of some soluble solute

per unit fixed amount of solvent.
• Concentration can be expressed in terms of the
following units.
a) Concentration in mass per unit volume (g/L)
b) Concentration in mole per unit volume (mol/L)
c) Concentration in parts per million (ppm=1*106g/L)
• The SI unit of concentration is mol/L.

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 Cont...
2.3.5. Basis

• The basis is the reference chosen by you for the

calculations you plan to make in any particular problem.
• A proper choice of basis frequently makes the problem
much easier to solve.
• It is important that your basis is indicated at the beginning
of the problem you have to start to solve.
• A basis can be a period of time, hour or a given mass of
material.
• Therefore, you can take 1kg or 1hour. However, you
don’t choose two bases at the same time!
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 Cont...
• To select an appropriate basis, you should ask yourself
the following questions.

a) What do I have to start with?

b) What do I want to find out?
c) What is the most convenient basis to use?

• Hence, the ability to choose the basis is that requires in

solving the problem can only come with practice.

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 Cont...
2.3.6. Temperature

• The definition of temperature is stated by Maxwell’s

thermodynamically as follows.
• “The temperature of a body is a measure of its thermal
state considered in reference to its power to transfer heat
to another bodies”
• Temperature can be measured degree Fahrenheit (oF) or
degree Celsius (oC). These measurements are relative
scales. Kelvin is an absolute temperature scale. The SI
unit of temperature is Kelvin (oK).
• The relation between oC and oF is determined from water
property.

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 Cont...
• The upper and lower limit of liquid water in oC scale to
change to vapor and solid is 100oC and 0oC
respectively.
• Similarly, the upper and lower limit of liquid water in
oF scale to change to vapor and solid is 212oF and 32oF

respectively.
• Now to determine the oC and oF scale relation we can
derive a relationship from the two scale ratios.

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 Cont...

Anders Celsius Lord Kelvin

•
oC
= 5/9(oF – 32) or
• oF = 1.8oC + 32

• The Kelvin scale is used to measure absolute temperature.

• oK= oC + 273.15

• The Rankine scale is used to measure lower temperature materials to

determine its properties.

• oR = oF + 460
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Figure. Relation among temperature scales
 Cont...
2.3.7. Pressure

• Pressure is defined as normal fore per unit area.

• Mathematically,
•
• Where:
• P is pressure
• F is normal force
• A is Area
• The SI unit of pressure is Pascal (Pa), 1Pa=1N/m2.

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 Cont...
• To understand the pressure, consider the following
cylinder contains water.
Atmospheric pressure

Water
Normal force

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 Cont...

• Pressure exerted on the top of the water by the

atmosphere and on the bottom of the cylinder by the
water.

• If a hole is drilled on the side of the cylinder, you will

have exerted a normal force against the water surface
and by means of a plug we can prevent the water from
exit the cylinder through the hole.

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 Cont...
• Relative pressure: an open-ended manometer is used
to measure relative pressure since the reference for
open-end is the pressure of the atmosphere at the open-
end of the manometer.
Pa

N2
ρf

Manometer fluid

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 Cont...
• The relative pressure of N2 is equal to the sum of
atmospheric pressure and pressure due to manometer
fluid.

PrN2= Pa+ ρfgh

• Where:
• PrN2 is relative pressure of N2.
• Pa is atmospheric pressure.
• ρfgh is pressure due to manometer fluid.

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 Cont...
• Absolute pressure: it is measured by closed ended
manometer.

• Closing off the end of the manometer and creating

vacuum in the end results in a measurement against a
complete vacuum and this measurement is called
absolute pressure.

• Therefore, the zero point for an absolute pressure scale

corresponds to perfect vacuum, whereas the zero point
for a relative pressure scale usually corresponds to the
pressure of the air which surrounds us at all times.

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 Cont...
• The absolute pressure of N2 is equal to the pressure due to
manometer fluid.
PabN2= ρfgh
• Where:
• PabN2 is absolute pressure of N2.
• ρfgh is pressure due to manometer fluid.
Vacuum

N2
ρf

Manometer fluid
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 Cont...
• For open–ended manometer the relative pressure of any
fluid is equal to the sum of absolute pressure and
atmospheric pressure.

• Pr = Pab + Pa
• Where:
• Pr is relative pressure.
• Pab is absolute pressure.
• Pa is atmospheric pressure.

• You must not confuse the standard atmosphere with the

atmospheric pressure.
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 Cont...

• The standard atmosphere: It is defined

as the pressure equivalent to 1atm or
760mmHg at 0oC.

• The atmospheric pressure: It is a

variable and must be obtained from a
barometer each time you need it.

• Note: Barometer is used to measure

atmospheric pressure. Fig. Mercury
Barometer

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 Terminology
Gauge pressure, Pg
P of a system is measured by a gauge, which excludes Patm
It’s measured relative to Patm

Absolute pressure, Pabs

Total P exerted on a system
Pabs = Patm + Pg
It’s measured relative to high vacuum (0 psia)

1 atmosphere
0 psig 100 psig

0 psia 14.7 psia 114.7 psia

vacuum range
AASTU 2015/16
2.4. Physical and Chemical Properties of
Compounds and Mixtures
• Accurate values of physical and chemical properties of
compounds and mixtures are required for chemical
engineering design and analysis.
• Physical properties like density, boiling point, viscosity,
melting point etc.
• Chemical properties like heat content, ash content,
organic or inorganic content, corrosives, reactivity with
any gases, liquids or solids etc.
• There are two types of data sources for engineering
calculations. These are from experimentation and
estimations.

51
 Cont...
2.4.1. Techniques of Problem Solving

• One of the main objectives of this course is to enhance your

problem solving skills.
• If you have good habit of problem solving early in your
career, you will save your time and avoid many frustrations
in all aspects of your work in and out of school.
• The following techniques are used to solve material and
energy balance problems.
a) You should read the problem thoroughly and understand
what is required for an answer.
b) You should determine what additional data is needed, if
any, and obtain this information.
52
 Cont...
c) Draw a simplified diagram of what is taking place and
write down the given data.
d) Make a basis on which to start the problem
e) If a chemical equation is involved, write it down and
make sure that is balanced.
f) Decide what formulas or principles are governing in
this specific case and what type of calculations and
intermediate answers you will need to get the final
answer.
g) Make calculations in good form, being careful to check
the arithmetic and units.
h) Analyze your answers.
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 Cont...
2.4.2. The Chemical Equation and Stoichiometry

• Stoichiometry: It comes from two Greek words

“stocheion” means basic constituent and “mertain” means
measure.
• Stoichiometry is the measure of basic constituents.
• Chemical Equation: It is a chemical reaction equation
which shows the reaction of reactant and the output
products with balanced constituents of elements.
• To solve any chemical process problem involving with
chemical equation, first make sure that the equation is
balanced.
54
 Cont...
• In real application of industrial reactors you will not find
exact stoichiometry amounts of materials used.
• To make a desired reaction take place excess reactants are
used. However, excess reactants must be in a limited
quantity.
• Limiting reactant: it is the reactant that is represent in
the smallest stoichiometry amount.
• In other words, if two or more reactants are mixed and the
reactions were to proceed according to the chemical
equation to completion, the reactant that would first
disappear is called the limiting reactant.
• Excess reactant: It is a reactant in excess of the limiting
reactant.
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 Solving Limiting reagents 1: g to mol
4NH3 + 5O2 → 6H2O + 4NO
Q - How many g NO are produced if 20 g NH3 is
burned in 30 g O2?
A - First we need to calculate the number of moles of
each reactant
# mol 20 g NH3 1 mol NH3 = 1.176
NH3= x 17.0 g NH3 mol NH3
1 mol O2 0.9375
# mol O2= 30 g O2 x =
32.0 g O2 mol O2
A – Once the number of moles of each is calculated
we can determine the limiting reagent via a chart
…
Oxygen is the limiting reactant.
 Cont...
• The percent excess of a reactant is based on the amount of
any excess reactant above the amount required to react with
the limiting reactant on the basis of chemical equation.
• Mathematically,

• For example, excess air is used for fuel combustion process.

• Conversion: It is the fraction of the feed or the reactant in
the feed that is converted into products. Not all limiting
reactant necessarily reacts in the process.
• Mathematically,

57
 Cont...
• Selectivity: It is the ratio of the moles of the desired product
produced to the moles of undesired product produced in a
set of reactions.
• Yield: It is the ratio of product moles to the moles of
reactant feed for single reactant and product.
• If more than one products or reactants are involved, the
reactants upon which the yield is to be expressed must be
clearly stated.
• For example, suppose the reaction sequence as follows to
determine selectivity and yield.
A B C Where:
A is feed
C
B is desired product
C is undesired product
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 Cont...

• Selectivity and yield are that measure the degree to which

a desired reaction proceeds relative to competing
undesirable reactions.
• Therefore, as a chemical engineer, who are the designers
of equipments(Example: reactor), you want to maximize
production of the desired products and minimize
production of the unwanted products(Decreasing the total
cost of production).

59
 Cont...
•Let’s look at a reactant, which can form a desired product D, and
an undesired side-product U in parallel reactions.
Two Problems:
•“repair” of low S generally not possible
•undesired side-product usually needs to be
separated

60
 Cont...

Example 7: In electrolytic manufacturing of chlorine gas

from a sodium chloride solution is carried out by the
following reaction:
2NaCl + 2H2O 2NaOH + H2 + Cl2
How many kg of Cl2 gas can be produced from 10m3 of a
brine solution containing 5% by weight of sodium
chloride? (Specific gravity of brine=1.07; Mw of
Cl=35.5, Na=23, H=1, O=16).

61
 Cont...
Given:
• Volume of brine=10m3
• Mass of NaCl=5% of mass of brine
• Specific gravity of brine=1.07
Solution:
• Density of brine=1.07×1000kg/m3=1070kg/m3
• Mass of brine=density of brine × volume of brine
• Mass of brine=1070kg/m3×10m3=10700kg
• Mass of NaCl=0.05×10700kg=535kg
• Mw of 2NaCl=117kg/kmol
• Mw of Cl2=71kg
• Mass of Cl2 produced =
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