ORIGINAL ‘oN5050 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE (CN5050 ~ Advanced Separation Processes (Semester 2201442015) ‘Aon 2018 - Time Alowed 2.6 Hours FACULTY OF ENGINEERING. EXAMINATION FOR INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES 4. This examination paper contains THREE questions and comprises FIFTEEN printed pagi 2, Attempt AL! es LL questions. 3, This is an OPEN BOOK Examination. 4, The symbol shave their usual meanings 5, White your answers in the space provided below each question. Please wite Mateulation rmbee your matriculation number below acNsos0 ‘Question (40 marks) Gaseous effluents from wastewater treatment plants contain ammonia, which must be removed before the gas is escharged tothe atmosphere. During your interstip in a process design company, following process data are provided. Gas and liquid side mass transfer coefficients are 1.0% 10” cm/s and 0.5 x 10" cm’, respectively. The absorber operates at 2 ‘atm pressure and 25°C. niet gas contains 1 moleX ammonia and the exit concentration must bee brought down to 0.1 mole. Fresh water is used as the absorbent, which is free of ‘ammonia and the flow rate is two times ofthe molar gas low rate. Gas procesing rate inthe absorber is 1 m'/s (25°, 1 atm). tthe operating pressure and temperature af the column, ullbsiam dstrbution of ammonia betwen the two phases is given by p=400e, where p and XC ate partial pressure (mm Hg) and mole faction of ammonia in ges and fiuid phase, respectively. The column diameter is 2m. tis packed with 10 mm Raschig rings. Not: 1 atm 0 mm He. You have been asked to compare an ammonia removal process based an physical absorption using fresh water vesus another process that has chemical reaction in the liquid phase Where the benefit ofintrodicing reaction has been maximized. Your mentor expects that you wil find the concentration of the reagent necessary to maximize the reaction benefit and compare the column heights ofthe two processes.(CNs050eNs050cNs050 Question? (30 marks) It was ciscussed in one of the lectures that inthe central airconditioning stems in large ‘commercial and Indusval bulldings,chiled water i used to col ai which s then use to coc! the indoor air, ir culated through the buldng picks up volatile organic comsounds (VOCS). slong the way. A large fraction ofthis aire continuously purged and makeup fresh ale Introduced in order fo maintain VOC concentration in the indoor air within clowable limit ‘The process is schematically shown in Figure Q2a n order to reduce power consumption of the chiller unt tis proposed thatthe fraction af recyled ai is increased, but passed through | process to clean up the VOC. A consultant was engaged to do an assessrrent and make ‘ecommendations, The key findings in the consuitan's report are summarized below: ‘+ Air ow theough the bulling is 10,000 m/e (ealeulated at 1 atm pressure and 28°C), 75% ‘af which makeup fesh at 4 Methyl ethyl ketone (MEK is the main VOC and if 50% oft can be removed from the recyebed airstream, then the make-up fresh ar can be reduced to 50% + Further reduction in make-up fresh al wll require removing a second VOC, which wil introduce adétinal complesty to the process and It not recommended in the fst, stage. + Although removing SO% MEK from the reoydle stream is adequate 2 tis stage, 90% removal is recommended as a proactive measure for the new allowable MEK limit in Indoor alto be enforcedin a year'stime. Recycle Make-up a Chiles |_| ruse fresh air 30°C NEY air, Bites oe Figure Qa: Schematic of building ar handing unit. You are required to design an adsorption process to remove MEK from the reccled alr stream as per the consultant's recommendation using information provided in Table 2 and preliminary breakthrough simulation results given in Figure Q2b. You ae expected to give the ‘cle time, feed velocty and the number of columns necessary to continously process recycled ar. All supporting calculations used to arrive at the design parameters must be leary shown,‘cNs050 “Table Q2:Equilbrium and kinetic information for MEK adsorption on activated carbon. Temperature (C _ _ 22 MEK in the royce stream imei Langmuir isotherm beens) ate Saturation capacity, (mole/ec) 1449 OF mass transfer coefficient for mm adsorbent partie att atm | 18x10" pressure, k(S") LDF mass transfer coefficient for 3 mm adsorbent particle at 1 atm | 20x10" pressure, k(s") ‘Recommended process operating conditions [Temperature Some aiabove Pressure (atm) ‘Adsorbent parle size frm) Column length Bed voidage Length to diameter ratio forthe column ‘Regeneration time (he) | teosss a aes Secor tin anaes 9 meoooi8|a/s) mas = Time () Figure Q2b: Preliminary breakthrough simulation results.-10- ‘cns050212 ‘cns050 question 3 (Total 30 marks) Price of natural gas is going down in tandem with decining oll price. However, price of ethane remains high. As such, now there is some economic incentive fo separate ethane from methane before puting natural gas in the transmission line, Natural {988 is typically supplied to the transmission line at 50 atm pressure. The ideal ‘membrane for this process should be ethane selective in order to be abie to obtain, methane stream as the raffinate product and thus retain its high pressure. The extract stream may be obtained at atmospheric pressure. In order to answer the following questions, assume natural gas composiion as 85 mole% methane and 5 rmole% ethane, 4) Assuming perfect mixing as the flow pattern on both sides of a membrane ‘module, determine tne membrane selectivity necessary to have 90 mole% pure ethane at 50% and 60% recovery. You are free to choose between graphical ‘and analytical methods to answer this question. (20 marks)214 eNs050 b) If ethane permeance is unaffected by change in selectviy, what is the percentage increase of requited membrane area for increasing the recovery from 80% to 60%?