FACULTY OF CHEMICAL & NATURAL RESOURCES ENGINEERING

FINAL EXAMINATION
COURSE : MATERIAL & ENERGY BALANCE

COURSE CODE : BKF2343

LECTURER : CHONG FUI CHIN

FARHANA BT AZIZ
KAMAL BIN YUSOH
NURUL SA’AADAH BT SULAIMAN
SYED MOHD SAUFI BIN TUAN CHIK

DATE : 24 NOVEMBER 2010

DURATION : 3 HOURS

SESSION/SEMESTER : SESSION 2010/2011 SEMESTER I

PROGRAMME CODE : BKB/BKC/BKG

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATE:

1. This question paper consists of FOUR (4) questions. Answer ALL questions.
2. All answers to a new question should start on new page.
3. All calculations and assumption must be clearly stated.
4. Candidates are not allowed to bring any material other than those allowed by
the invigilator into the examination room.

EXAMINATION REQUIREMENTS:

1. TEXTBOOK entitled ‘Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes’,

by Richard M. Felder and Ronald W. Rousseau.

DO NOT TURN THIS PAGE UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO

This examination paper consists of SIX (6) printed pages including front page.
CONFIDENTIAL BKB/BKC/BKG/1011I/BKF2343

QUESTION 1

A liquid mixture contains 70.0 wt% ethanol (E), 10.0 wt% of a dissolved solute (S), and
the balance water. A stream of this mixture is fed to a continuous distillation column
operating at steady state. Product streams emerge at the top and bottom of the column.
The column design calls for the product streams to have equal mass flow rates and for the
top stream to contain 85.0 wt% ethanol and no S.

a) Assume a basis calculation, draw and fully label a process flowchart, do the degree-
of-freedom analysis, and verify that all unknown stream flows and compositions can
be calculated (do not perform any calculation yet).
(10 Marks)

b) Calculate
i. the mass fraction of S in the bottom stream and
ii. the fraction of the ethanol in the feed that leaves in the bottom product stream
(i.e., kg E in the bottom stream/kg E in feed) if the process operates as
designed.

(8 Marks)

c) An analyzer is available to determine the composition of ethanol-water mixtures. The

calibration curve for the analyzer is a straight line on a plot on logarithmic axes of
mass fraction of ethanol, x (kg E/kg mixture), versus analyzer reading, R. The line
passes through the points (R = 15, x = 0.100) and (R = 38, x = 0.400). Derive an
expression for x as a function of R (x =…...) based on the calibration, and use it to
determine the value of R that should be obtained if the top product stream from the
distillation column is analyzed.
(7 Marks)

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QUESTION 2

A fertiliser plant produces ammonia in a catalytic reactor with fresh feed containing
74.25% H2, 24.75% N2, and inert gases of 0.7% CH4, 0.3% Ar, on mole basis. The feed is
mixed with a recycle stream and is passed through the converter, the conversion per pass
is limited to 25%. The converter outlet gases pass through the heat exchanger where it
cools down. Later, the gases are passed through a condenser which separates 65% of the
ammonia present in the converter outlet gas. Non condensable gases (H2, N2) and
uncondensed ammonia are recycled back. In order to limit the concentration of inerts to
10 mole% in the mixed feed, a portion of the recycled stream is purged.

a) Write out the chemical process stoichiometric equation.

(1 Mark)

b) Draw a flowchart of the process (as in Figure 1) and label the equipment for Unit
Operation 1, 2 and 3; and the compositions for Stream A, Stream B and Stream C.

(6 Marks)

c) Write out the equations for the total moles fed to the reactor (ṅ1), moles of ammonia
produced (ṅ2) and recycle stream (ṅ3). For a fresh feed of 100 kmol s-1, perform the
calculations to solve all unknowns in the flowchart.

(12 Marks)

d) Calculate the recycle feed rate and recycle ratio, purge gas rate, product ammonia
mass rate.

(6 Marks)

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Mixed feed
Stream A ṅ1 (kmol s -1)
Unit Unit Unit
Operation 1 Operation 2 Operation 3

Stream B

Stream C ṅ2 kmol
ammonia s -1

Figure 1: Ammonia fertilizer process

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QUESTION 3

A mixture containing 35.0 mole% n-butane and the balance isobutane at 10 °C enters a
heat exchanger at a rate of 24.5 kmol h-1 and a pressure high enough for the mixture to be
liquefied. The exchanger has been designed to heat and vaporize the liquid and heat the
vapour mixture to 180 °C. The heating fluid is a high molecular weight liquid with a
constant heat capacity Cp = 2.62 kJ kg-1°C-1. It enters the heat exchanger at 215 °C and
flows countercurrently to the hydrocarbon mixture.

a) Draw the flowchart of the process.

(5 Marks)

b) Assuming that the heat capacities and heats of vaporization of n-butane and
isobutane are independent of pressure and the mixture vaporizes at 10 °C, calculate
the enthalpy change undergone by the hydrocarbon mixture in the heat exchanger.
Show the process paths for the mixture and construct the enthalpy table.

(17 Marks)

c) According to the heat exchanger design calculation, the heating fluid exit
temperature should be 45 °C. If there is no heat lost, what is the required mass flow
rate of the heating fluid in kg h-1?

(3 Marks)

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QUESTION 4

a) Ten moles of carbon monoxide per hour react with 120% excess of water vapor in the
chemical reactor to produce a gas product of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The
conversion of carbon monoxide in this reaction is 90%. Determine the outlet gas
composition from the reactor.
(10 Marks)

b) The heat loss for the above reaction is found to be 150 kJ h-1. If the exit gas
temperature is 800°C, estimate the inlet gas temperature to the reactor.

(15 Marks)

END OF QUESTION PAPER