CAGAMPANG, Julius D.

CHE 15 A1 Assignment 5A
A catalyzed chemical reaction in which synthesis gas (SYNGAS), a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is
converted into liquid hydrocarbons of various forms is shown below. In this process the overall CO conversion is 80%,
but the per‐pass conversion is only 25%. The carbon yield of each of the C1‐C5 hydrocarbon products follows the ratio
15:25:30:20:10. Determine (1) the composition of the product streams and (2) the recycle ratio.

1. Label all knowns and unknowns

n7, CO mol CO
n6, CO mol CO n5 (mol)
n7, H2 mol H2
n6, H2 mol H2

n3 (mol)
R S
0.25 mol CO/mol n1 (mol CO)
0.75 mol H2/mol n2 (mol H2)
n4,H20 mol H20
n4,CH4 mol CH4
n4,C2H6 mol C2H6
n4,C3H8 mol C3H8
n4,C4H10 mol C4H10
n4,C5H12 mol C5H12

Note: Stream 3 is going to be the combination of streams 4 and 5. Stream 5 is going to be the combination of
streams 6 and 7.

2. Reactions are not important here because we can do atomic balances.

3. Choose a basis of 100 moles for the feed.

Fill the tables with knowns (overall system)

IN (mol/h) OUT
CO 25 n7,CO
H2 75 n7,H2O
H2O 0 n4, H2O Carbon Yields
CH4 0 n4, CH4 15%
C2H6 0 n4, C2H6 25%
C3H8 0 n4, C3H8 30%
C4H10 0 n4, C4H10 20%
C5H12 0 n4, C5H12 10%

4. Overall DOF Analysis:

# of unknowns = 8
# of balances = 3
# extra info = 5 composition ratios
0 DOF
5. Write overall system material balances.
𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐶
C: (𝟏𝟎𝟎 𝑚𝑜𝑙) (0.25 ) = 𝑛7,𝐶𝑂 + 𝒏𝟒,𝑪𝑯𝟒 + 2𝑛4,𝐶2𝐻6 + 𝟑𝑛4,𝐶3𝐻8 + 4𝑛4,𝐶4 𝐻10 + 5𝒏𝟒,𝑪𝟓𝑯𝟏𝟐
𝑚𝑜𝑙

𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐻2
H: (100 𝑚𝑜𝑙 ) (𝟎. 𝟕𝟓 ) (𝟐) = 𝟐𝑛7,𝐻2 + 2𝒏𝟒,𝑯𝟐𝑶 + 4𝑛4,𝐶𝐻4 + 6𝑛4,𝐶2 𝐻6 + 𝟖𝑛4,𝐶3 𝐻8 + 𝟏𝟎𝑛4,𝐶4 𝐻10 + 12𝑛4,𝐶5𝐻12
𝑚𝑜𝑙

𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑂
O: (100 𝑚𝑜𝑙 ) (𝟎. 𝟐𝟓 ) = 𝒏𝟕,𝑪𝑶 + 𝑛4,𝐻2 𝑂
𝑚𝑜𝑙

𝑚𝑜𝑙
(25 ℎ −𝒏𝟕,𝑪𝑶 )
Overall conversion of CO: 80% or 0.8 0.8 = 𝑛7,𝐶𝑂 = 𝟓 𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝑪𝑶/𝒉
25 𝑚𝑜𝑙/ℎ

Using O balance  𝑛4,𝐻2𝑂=𝟐𝟎 𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝑯𝟐 𝑶

(𝑛4,𝐶𝐻4 +2𝒏𝟒,𝑪𝟐𝑯𝟔 + 3𝑛4,𝐶3𝐻8 + 𝟒𝑛4,𝐶4𝐻10 +5𝑛4,𝐶5𝐻12 ) 3+2(2.5)+3(2)+4(1)+5(0.4)
C balance reduces to: = =𝟏
𝟐𝟎 20
𝑛4,𝐶𝐻4 3
Ratio for CH4 : = = 𝟎. 𝟏𝟓
20 20

Use ratios for hydrocarbon mix:

CH4 0.15 n4, CH4/20 CH4 n4, CH4 3.0 mol/h

C2H6 0.25 2n4, C2H6/20 C2H6 n4, C2H6 2.5 mol/h
C3H8 0.30 3n4, C3H8/20 C3H8 n4, C3H8 2.0 mol/h
C4H10 0.20 4n4, C4H10/20 C4H10 n4, C4H10 1.0 mol/h
C5H12 0.10 5n4, C5H12/20 C5H12 n4, C5H12 0.4 mol/h

𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝑚𝑜𝑙

H: 150 = 2𝑛7,𝐻2 + 2 (20 )+ 4 (3 ) + 6 (2.5 )+ 8 (2 )+ 10 (1 ) + 12(0.4 )
ℎ ℎ ℎ ℎ ℎ ℎ ℎ

𝒎𝒐𝒍 𝑯𝟐
𝑛7,𝐻2 = 𝟐𝟔. 𝟏
𝒉

Follow CO around process:

𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑛1 = 25 + 𝒏𝟔,𝑪𝑶
ℎ
(1 − 𝑥)
𝑛3,𝐶𝑂 = = 𝟎. 𝟕𝟓𝒏𝟏
𝑛1

𝒎𝒐𝒍
𝑛5,𝐶𝑂 = 𝟔𝟎
𝒉
𝑛6,𝐶𝑂 = 𝑛5,𝐶𝑂 − 𝑛7,𝐶𝑂

𝒎𝒐𝒍
𝑛1 = 25 + 0.1608(342.1) = 𝟖𝟎
𝒉
𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝑛3,𝐶𝑂 = 60
ℎ
𝒎𝒐𝒍
𝑛6,𝐶𝑂 = 𝟓𝟓
𝒉
𝑛6,𝐶𝑂 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑒 55
Recycle ratio: = = 𝟐. 𝟐
𝑚𝑜𝑙 𝐶𝑂 𝑖𝑛 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑑 25