Revision – Energy balance

1. Saturated steam at 1 atm is discharged from a turbine at a rate of 1150 kg/h.

Superheated steam at 300°C and 1 atm is needed as a feed to a heat exchanger. To
produce the superheated steam, the turbine discharge stream is mixed with
superheated steam at 400°C and 1 atm. The mixing unit operates adiabatically.
Calculate the amount of superheated steam produced at 300°C and the required
volumetric flowrate of the 400°C steam.

2. 1000 kg/h of steam at 55 atm pressure and 500°C drives a turbine. The inlet velocity
of the steam is 80 m/s and the exit steam velocity of 480 m/s. The exit steam flows 8
m down the turbine inlet. The shaft work delivered by the turbine is 90 kW and the
heat lost from the turbine is calculated to be 4.2 x 104 kcal/h.
a. Predict the specific enthalpy change (kJ/kg) for this process.
b. If the steam pressure is increased to 60 atm, suggest the changes you would
expect in the specific enthalpy calculations. Provide suitable reasoning to justify
your answer.

Unit conversion
1N = 1kg m/s2
1W = 1 N m/s
1J = 0.239 cal
3. A system combining a solid-oxide fuel cell with a gas turbine has been proved to
achieve higher operating efficiencies at higher pressures. The exhaust gases from the
fuel cell are entering a steam turbine as shown in the following figure.

Calculate the shaft work done by the turbine.

Evaluate how does the system behaves if the process takes place adiabatically.

Unit conversion: 0.1 MPa = 1 bar

4. A stream of gas containing 10 mol% methane (CH4) and 90 mol% air is heated from
20°C to 300°C.
The molar flow rate of gas is 89.3 moles/s. Assume the kinetic energy; potential energy
and work done are negligible in this process and no chemical reaction taking place
between CH4 and air.
CH4 (g) 20°C, 1 atm; Air (g) 25°C, 1 atm
Component 𝑛𝑖𝑛̇ (mol) 𝐻̂
𝑖𝑛 (kJ/mol) 𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑡
̇ (mol) ̂
𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑡 (kJ/mol)

CH4 (g) 𝑛1̇ 0 𝑛1̇ ̂2

𝐻
Air (g) 𝑛2̇ ̂
𝐻1 𝑛2̇ ̂3
𝐻

a. Assess the energy balance for the above process assuming no chemical reaction.

b. If methane completely reacts with the oxygen present in the air, how would this
affect your net enthalpy change? Give suitable reasoning to justify your answer (no
calculations required).
5. Ethanol (C2H5OH) is produced commercially by the hydration of ethylene (C2H4) as
shown in the reaction equation (5.1) below:
𝐶2 𝐻4 (𝑔) + 𝐻2 𝑂(𝑣) → 𝐶2 𝐻5 𝑂𝐻(𝑔) 𝐸. 𝑞 (5.1)

Some of the product ethanol is converted to diethyl ether (C 2H5OC2H5) in the

undesired side reaction as shown in reaction equation (5.2).
2𝐶2 𝐻5 𝑂𝐻(𝑔) → 𝐶2 𝐻5 𝑂𝐶2 𝐻5 (𝑔) + 𝐻2 𝑂(𝑣) 𝐸. 𝑞 (5.2)

The feed enters the reactor at 310°C and the reactor operates isothermally.

Data for Diethyl Ether

ΔH°f = -272.8 kJ/mol for the liquid
ΔH°v = 26.05 kJ/mol (assume independent of T)
Cp[kJ/mol.°C]=0.08945 + 40.33 x10-5 T (°C) – 2.244 x 10-7 T2 (°C)

component 𝑛𝑖𝑛̇ (mol) 𝐻̂

𝑖𝑛 (kJ/kg) 𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑡
̇ (mol) 𝐻̂
𝑖𝑛 (kJ/kg)

C2H4 (g) 0.537 ̂1

𝐻 0.510 ̂3
𝐻
H2O (g) 0.367 ̂2
𝐻 0.3414 ̂4
𝐻
C2H5OC2H5 (g) - - 0.0242 ̂5
𝐻
C2H5OH (g) - - 0.0014 ̂6
𝐻

Reference: all molecular species at 25°C

Access the energy balance for the process to determine the heating or cooling
requirement in kJ/mol.
6. Liquid mixture containing 35 mole% 𝑛-pentane and the balance 𝑛-hexane is fed to a
heat exchanger. The flow rate of the liquid mixture is 24.5 mol/h. The inlet temperature
of the feed mixture is 10°C while exit temperature of the heated vapor mixture is
180°C. A heating fluid which is fed to the exchanger counter currently at 215 °C and
has a constant heat capacity, Cp = 2.62 kJ/ (kg.°C). The exit temperature of the heating
fluid is 55°C. Table below is the inlet-exit enthalpy table.

Reference: n-hexane (l) at 10°C, n-pentane (l) 10°C, heating fluid 215 °C
Component 𝑛𝑖𝑛̇ (mol/h) 𝐻̂
𝑖𝑛 (kJ/mol) 𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑡
̇ (mol/h) ̂
𝐻𝑜𝑢𝑡 (kJ/mol)

n-hexane (l) 15.93 ̂1 = 0

𝐻 - -

n-pentane (l) 8.575 ̂2 = 0

𝐻 - -

n-hexane (v) - - 15.93 ̂3

𝐻

n-pentane (v) - - 8.575 ̂4

𝐻

Heating fluid 𝑚̇ℎ ̂5 = 0

𝐻 𝑚̇ ℎ ̂6
𝐻

a. State any TWO assumptions used in your calculations.

b. Assess the energy balance for the above process.
c. The process operator of the plant observes that the exit temperature of the mixture
is found to be only 140°C instead of the design value of 180°C. Suggest a possible
reason why this is the case, and also recommend a change that could be made to
the heat exchanger operating parameters to compensate this temperature
difference.