Examination for the Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical)

Examination for the Master of Engineering (Chemical)

Semester 2, 2018

105458 CHEM ENG 3033 SEPARATION PROCESSES

105996 CHEM ENG 7052 SEPARATION PROCESSES

Official Reading Time: 10 mins

Writing Time: 180 mins
Total Duration: 190 mins
Part Questions Time Marks

A CLOSED BOOK Answer 3 of 3 questions 60 mins 60 marks

B CLOSED BOOK Answer 3 of 3 questions 120 mins 120 marks
180 Total
Instructions
 PARTS A and B are a Closed-book Examination
 Submit answers to PARTS A and B in separate books
 Begin each answer on a new page
 Examination materials must not be removed from the examination room
Materials
 2 Books
 Calculator without alphanumeric memory or remote communications capability
is permitted
 English language dictionary is permitted
Attachments
 Enthalpy-composition Diagram for Ethanol-Water at 1 Atmosphere Pressure
 Colburn's Analytical Solutions as a Chart
 Graphical paper

DO NOT COMMENCE WRITING UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO DO SO

WRITE YOUR NAME AND STUDENT NUMBER ON ANY LOOSE DIAGRAMS

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PART A
QUESTION A1 20 MARKS
Ethanol can be separated from water by extractive distillation using superheated steam1.

A plant in Port Adelaide has a waste stream of mixed ethanol and water, which is at a bulk
temperature of 60 OF and contains small amounts of inert matter, together with
superheated steam available at 1,218 Btu/lb water.

You are asked to professionally

a. Estimate the maximum ethanol concentration that could be achieved for a feed-stream
of 50:50 mol% [10 Marks]
b. Show that if a feed ratio of steam-to-ethanol of 1:2 is used there will be an overall 52 %
recovery of ethanol in the tops with resulting xN = 0.22 [5 Marks]
c. Determine how many actual stages will be needed if each equilibrium stage is 50 %
efficient. [5 Marks]

QUESTION A2 20 MARKS
a. The q-line for a given feed condition is defined by the intersection between operating
lines at the feed stage. Given
𝐿̅ − 𝐿
𝑞=
𝐹
Derive carefully
𝑞 𝑧𝑖
𝑦𝑖 = ( ) 𝑥𝑖 − ( )
𝑞−1 𝑞−1
[8 Marks]
b. In an actual stage the phases however do not reach equilibrium
i. With the aid of a carefully labelled diagram illustrate the relationship between the
compositions in an actual stage with those in an ideal stage [6 Marks]
ii. What factors influence the performance of an actual stage? [6 Marks]

QUESTION A3 20 MARKS
The two-film inter-phase mass transfer model is used in vapour-liquid separation processing
in packed columns.

a. With the aid of a carefully labelled diagram illustrate this two-film model. Be sure to
state any assumptions that you make [6 Marks]
b. Based on your diagram, derive an expression for the operating line for the packed
column [9 Marks]
c. Column packing is of various types - the function is to provide as large surface area as is
possible for contact of two phases. What are the five (5) main requirements of packing?
[5 Marks]

1
McCabe, W.L., Smith, J.C., Harriott, P., 2001. Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering, 6th edition McGraw-
Hill, NY, USA. ISBN: 0070393664.
Foust, A.S., Wenzel, L.A., Clump, C.W., Maus, L., Anderson, L.B., 1980. Principles of Unit Operations. John Wiley
& Sons, NY, USA. ISBN: 0471268976.

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PART B
QUESTION B1 40 MARKS
A solids waste-steam from a plant in Whyalla is to be processed to extract a valuable oil. The
extraction will be achieved using a suitable solvent in a multistage counter-current leaching
plant. The feed-rate to the leaching plant will be 800 kg h-1. It will contain 50 wt% oil. The
1 kg solvent
balance behaves as inert sludge-solids. Bench-scale studies have shown that 1 kg solids sludge
will leave each unit of the multi-stage plant.

Practical plant economics necessitate that 95 per cent of the oil will need to be recovered as
a liquid of 30 wt% of the oil in the solvent.

As the consulting chemical engineer you are tasked to estimate the

a. Solvent feed-rate [15 Marks]
b Flow-rate of oil, solvent and solids in the plant underflow [10 Marks]
c. Using a graphical method, provide an estimate of the number of ideal stages that will
be needed. [15 Marks]

QUESTION B2 40 MARKS
You are the professional chemical engineer responsible at an established distillation plant
north of Adelaide that usually separates grape-waste feedstocks in a column with a total
condenser and total reboiler.

During a seasonal downturn, your company decides to test a new binary (A in B) feedstock
in its column that is operated at 16 OC and 1.13 atm. The feed to the column is a half vapour
30:70 mol% mix.

The information you have is that

i. Equilibrium data as mole fraction at column conditions is approximated by
1.8𝑥𝐴
(1 − 𝑥𝐴 )
𝑦𝐴 =
1.8𝑥𝐴
(1 + )
(1 − 𝑥𝐴 )
ii. It is required that the concentration of product A in the distillate be 95 mol%, and that
only 0.03 of all B is in the bottoms
iii. You use a practical value of rD = 9 and a Murphree vapour efficiency = 90%.

a. Estimate the number of equilibrium stages required in the column [20 Marks]
b. How many stages are in the
Enriching section? [10 Marks]
Stripping section? [5 Marks]
c. What is the location of the optimum feed stage? [5 Marks]

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QUESTION B3 40 MARKS
In an existing process plant a tower is packed with Intalox® Ultra metal packing (1”). It is
planned the tower will be used to scrub methane (M), an unwanted greenhouse gas, from
air using available water supplies.

The inlet gas contains 4.5 v/v% M and will enter the packed tower at 0.69 kg s-1 per m2 of
bed cross-section. The water flow to the tower is 0.58 kg s-1 per m2. For a practical economic
performance, the scrubbed gas leaving the tower is to contain 0.1 v/v% M.

The plant chemist has provided a good estimate of equilibrium data (as mole fraction M
solubility in water under practical tower operating conditions) as
𝑦𝑀 = 1.117𝑀 + 4.027𝑀2

As the plant professional chemical engineer you are tasked to provide a good estimate of
the number of transfer units required for the tower duty based on the overall gas phase
resistance. In your answer you are asked to clearly state any assumptions you make.
[40 Marks]

END OF PAPER

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Colburn's Analytical Solutions as a Chart

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2018 Exam CHEM ENG 3033 & 7052

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2018 Exam CHEM ENG 3033 & 7052