SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY

School of Engineering and Architecture

Department of Chemical Engineering

MOCK BOARDS | DAY 2

Chemical Engineering Principles

Instruction. Show complete solution to the following. No solution, No points.

You are given until May 15 to submit your work. Failure to do so, you can still submit however you will incur No
Grade for a while until you submit your work. Good Luck and God Bless!!!

1. A watertight bulkhead 22 ft high forms a temporary dam for some construction work. The
top 12ft behind the bulkhead consists of sea water with a density of 2 slugs/ft 3, but the
bottom 10ft begin a mixture of mud and water can be considered a fluid of density 4 slugs/ft 3.
Calculate the total horizontal load per unit width and the location of the center of pressure
measured from the bottom.
a. 12.67 ft b. 15.35 ft c. 17.89 ft d. 21.90 ft
2. Liquid water is vaporized at 100OC and 1.013 bar. The heat vaporization is 40.69 kJ/mol.
Calculate the work.
a. -3.10 kJ/mol b. 40.69 kJ/mol c. -37.56 kH/mol d. 48.96 kJ/mol
3. A belt conveyor is required to deliver crushed limestone having a bulk of 75 lb/ft3 at the rate
of 200 tons/h. The conveyor is to be 200 ft between centers of pulleys with a rise of 25 ft.
The largest lumps are in 4 inch and constitute 15% of the total. The conveyor will discharge
over the end. For the speed of 200 fpm, the horsepower for the drive power is.
a. 8 hP b. 11 hP c. 20 hP d. 25 hP
4. Steam at 200 psia and 6000F enters a turbine through 3 inch pipeline with a velocity of 10
ft/s. The exhaust from the turbine is carried through a standard 10 inch pipeline and is at 4
psia and 1600F. Data: H1=1321.4 BTU/lb, vS1 =3.059 ft3/lb, H2=1129.3 BTU/lb, vs2 =92.15
ft3/lb. What is the horsepower output of the turbine, assuming no heat losses.
a. 78 b. 57 c. 43 d. 35
5. 250 pounds per hour of 98% H 2SO4 enters an absorption tower of a contact sulfuric acid
plant. If 20% oleum is produced per hour, how many pounds of SO 3 are absorbed?
a. 70 lb/hr b. 80 lb/hr c. 90 lb/hr d. 100 lb/hr
6. The thermometer follows first order dynamics with a time constant of 0.2 min. It is placed in
a temperature bath at 100C and is allowed to reach steady state, it is suddenly transferred
to another bath at 150C at time t=0 and is left there for 0.2 min, it is immediately returned
to the original bath at 100C. What will be is reading at t=0.1 min.
a. y(t) = 100(1-e- b. y(t) = 50(1-e-0.1/0.2) c. y(t) = 75(1-e- d. y(t) = 50(1-e-
0.1/0.2
) 0.1/0.2
) 0.2/0.1
)
7. A Carnot heat engine receives heat from a reservoir at 1700°F at a rate of 700 Btu/min and
rejects the waste heat to the ambient air at 80°F. The entire work output of the heat engine
is used to drive a refrigerator that removes heat from the refrigerated space at 20°F and
transfers it to the same ambient air at 80°F. Determine the total rate of heat rejection to the
ambient air.
a. 4000 BTU/min b. 4900 BTU/min c. 5200 BTU/min d. 5900 BTU/min
8. An air stream at 32.2 oC is to be used in a dryer and is first preheated in a stream heater,
where it is heated to 65.5oC. The air flow is 1000 kmol/hr. The steam enters the heater
saturated at 148.9oC, is condensed and cooled, and leaves as a liquid at 137.8 oC. Calculate
the amount of steam used in kg/hr.
a. 340 kg/h b. 750 kg/h c. 400 kg/h d. 450 kg/h
 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
School of Engineering and Architecture
Department of Chemical Engineering

9. A cyclone separator, 0.30 m in diameter and 1.2 m long, has a circular inlet 75mm in
diameter and an outlet of the same size. If the gas enters at a velocity of 1.5 m/s, at what
particle size will the theoretical cut occur? The viscosity of air is 0.018 mN.s/m 2, the density
of air is 1.3 kg/m3 and the density of the particles is 2700 kg/m 3.
a. 2.17 µm b. 2.89 µm c. 3.19 µm d. 3.89 µm
10. A 6-in Sch 80 steel pipe is carrying glycerin at an average temperature of 100 deg F. The
pipe is uninsulated, and the outside temperature is 30 deg F. The inside film conductance is
1000 Btu/h-ft-degF while the outside film conductance is 3.0 Btu/h-sq.ft.-degF. Determine
the heat lost [Btu] per minute from a 75-ft length of the pipe. Glycerine is flowing at 800
gpm.
a. 475.1 b. 578.0 c. 451.7 d. 580.7
11. Two parallel gray planes which are very large have emissivities of ε1 = 0.8 and ε2 = 0.7 and
surface 1 is at 593.5OC and surface 2 at 315.8OC. What is the net radiation from 1 to 2?
a. 7.34 kW/m2 b. 14.98 kW/m2 c. 25.15 kW/m2 d. 50.12 kW/m2
12. The transfer function of a process, a measuring element and a control valve is given
respectively:
2 1.5 1
Gp  ; Gv  ; Gm 
2s  1 3s  1 5s  1

A proportional controller with gain of kc = 1.

What is the steady state error in the output for a unit step in the set point?
a. 15% b. 20% c. 25% d. 30%
13. A building wall consists of a 6-in of concrete (kc= 0.7 Btu/hr-ft-degF), 2 in of fiber insulating
board, and 3/8 in of gypsum board (kg=0.03 Btu/hr-ft-degF). The inside and outside heat
transfer coefficients are 2 and 7 Btu/hr-sqft-degF, respectively. The inside temperature is 72
degF and the outside temperature is 20 degF. Determine the overall heat transfer coefficient
for this wall [Btu/hr-sqft-degF].
a. 0.119 b. 0.715 c. 0.078 d. 0.213
14. In designing a cylindrical pressure tank 3 feet in diameter, a factor of safety of 2.5 is used.
The cylinder is made of steel (yield stress = 30,000 psi) and will contain pressure up to 1,000
psi. What is the required wall thickness based on circumferential stress condition?
a. 0.75” b. 1.5” c. 3.0” d. 4.5”
15. Two tubes are mounted to the roof of a car. One tube points to the front of the car while the
other points to the rear. The tubes are connected to a manometer filled with a fluid of specific
gravity 0.62. When the height difference is 3 inches, what is the car’s speed?
a. 10.9 mph b. 43.8 mph c. 60.0 mph d. 89.1 mph
16. A solution containing a reactive component (initial concentration = 0.5 lbmole/ft 3) is to be
treated in different types of reactors. The feed rate for continuous flow operation is to be 25
ft3/h. The reaction rate data for the decomposition of A are as follows:
CA -rA -1/rA
(lbmole/ft3) (lbmole/h-
ft3)
0.5 0.85 1.1765
0.4 0.53 1.8868
0.3 0.31 3.2258
0.2 0.18 5.5556
0.1 0.081 12.3457
 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
School of Engineering and Architecture
Department of Chemical Engineering

0.05 0.04 25.00

If the filling and draining time per batch is negligible, the number of batches that can be
processed per day in a batch reactor is
a. 10 b. 12 c. 15 d. 20
17. The total capital investment for a chemical plant is USD1.5 million. Working capital is USD
180,000. The plant can produce 28205 lb of a product per day during a 360 days/yr operating
time. The selling price ($/ton) of the product requiredto give a turn over ratio of 1 is
a. 245 b. 260 c. 275 d. 300
18. Electrically-heated carbide elements, 10 mm in diameter and 0.5 m long, radiating essentially
as black bodies,are to be used in the construction of a heater in which thermal radiation from
the surroundings is negligible. If the surface temperature of the carbide is limited to 1750 K,
how many elements are required to provide a radiated thermal output of 500 kW?
a. 40 b. 50 c. 60 d. 70
19. The required NPSH of a pump is specified to be 8 ft. Determine the vertical distance above
or below the pump axis from a vented surface of water (25 0C) in a supply tank if suction side
friction losses are equivalent to 3.8 ft.
a. 16 ft b. 18 ft c. 21 ft d. 24 ft
20. The performance of a solids mixer was assessed by calculating the variance occurring in the
mass fraction of a component amongst a selection of samples withdrawn from the mixture.
The quality was tested at intervals of 30 s and the data obtained are:
Sample 0.025 0.006 0.015 0.018 0.019
variance
Mixing time (s) 30 60 90 120 150
If the component analysed represents 20 percent of the mixture by mass and each of the
samples removed contains approximately 100 particles, at what time does the degree of
mixing be at maximum?
a. 30 s b. 60 s c. 75 s d. 90 s
21. A flow of 50 m /s methane, measured at 288 K and 101.3 kN/m , has to be delivered along
3 2

a 0.6 m diameter line, 3.0 km long with a relative roughness of 0.0001, linking a compressor
and a processing unit. The methane is to be discharged at the plant at 288 K and 170 kN/m 2
and it leaves the compressor at 297 K. What pressure must be developed at the compressor
in order to achieve this flowrate?
a. 4.05 x 105 N/m2 b. 1.5 x 105 N/m2 c. 1.431 x 105 N/m2 d. 2.140 x 105 N/m2
22. A rotameter tube is 0.3 m long with an ID of 25 mm at the top and 20mm at the bottom.
The diameter of the float is 20 mm, its density is 4800 kg/m 3 and its volume is 6.0 cm3. If
the coefficient of discharge is 0.7, what is the flowrate of water when the float is halfway up
the tube?
a. 0.089 kg/s b. 0.072 kg/s c. 0.955 kg/s d. 0.015 kg/s
23. One hundred moles per hour of solution containing 80 moles of A, the rest B is subjected to
a simple continuous distillation. D moles of distillate containing 72 moles A is obtained. If
A is five times more volatile than B, the concentration of A in the distillate is
a. 0.55 b. 0.75 c. 0.85 d. 0.95
24. Water in a tank flow through an outlet 25 m below the water level into a 0.15 m diameter
horizontal pipe 30 m long, with a 90o elbow at the end leading to a vertical pipe of the same
diameter 15 m long. This is connected to a second 90 o elbow which leads to a horizontal pipe
of the same diameter, 60 m long, containing a fully open globe valve and discharging to
atmosphere 10m below the level of the water in the tank. Taking e/d = 0.01 and the viscosity
of water as 1 mN-s/m2, what is the initial rate of discharge?
 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
School of Engineering and Architecture
Department of Chemical Engineering

a. 45 kg/s b. 55 kg/s c. 68 kg/s d. 78 kg/s

25. A central heating radiator system has a surface temperature of 70 OC and heats a room
maintained at 20OC. Calculate the contribution of convection and radiation to heat transfer
from the radiator. Use the following correlation for the determination of convection coefficient
in W/m2: NuL = 0.118 (GrPr)1/3. The mean film properties are: ρ= 1.2 kg/m3, μ = 1.8 x10-5
Pa.s, k = 0.026 W/m.K Pr = 0.71
a. 634 b. 785 c. 845 d. 1023
26. A thermometer with a time constant of 0.2 min is placed in a temperature bath, and after
the thermometer comes to equilibrium with the bath, the temperature of the bath increased
linearly with time at a rate of 1°/min. The difference between the indicated temperature and
the bath temperature after 1.0 min is
a. 0.075o b. 0.10o c. 0.20o d. 0.50o
27. A mercury thermometer having a time constant of 0.1 min is placed in a temperature bath
at 100F and allowed to come to equilibrium with the bath. At time t=0, the temperature of
the bath begins to vary sinusoidal about its average temperature 100F with an amplitude of
20F. If the frequency of oscillation is 10/ cycles/min, plot the ultimate response of
thermometer reading as a function of time, what is the phase lag?
a. 57.4o b. 63.5o c. 67.9o d. 71.0o
28. The purchase of a motor for $6000 and a generator for $4000 will allow a company to produce
its own energy. The configuration can be assembled for $500. The service will operate for
1600 hours per year for 10 years. The maintenance cost is $300 per year and the cost to
operate is $0.85 per hour for fuel and related costs. Using straight line depreciation, what
is the annual cost for the operation? There is $400 in salvage value for the system at the
end of 10 years.
a. $2670 b. $2710 c. $2890 d. $2900
29. A liquid phase reaction between cyclopentadiene (A) and benzoquinone (B) is conducted in
an isothermal batch reactor, producing a product C. The reaction is 1 st order with respect to
each reactant, with kA = 9.92 x 10-3 L/mol-s. Determine the reactor volume (in liters)
required to produce 175 mol/h of C, if the fractional conversion is 0.90. CA0 = CB0 = 0.15
mol/L. Downtime tD between batches is 30 minutes. The reaction is A + B  C.
a. 2830 b. 2670 c. 2510 d. 2210
30. A real vapour-compression refrigeration cycle operates with a suction pressure of 0.2 MPa
and a compression ratio of 5. The refrigerant enters the compressor close to saturation and
exits at 50 oC. At the start of the expansion process it is essentially saturated at 36 oC.
Calculate the isentropic efficiency of the compression process.
a. 75% b. 86% c. 90% d. 98%
31. A tunnel dryer is being designed for drying apple halves from an initial moisture content of
70% (wb) to a final moisture content of 5% (wb). An experimental drying curve for the
product indicates that the critical moisture content is 25% (wb) and the time for constant
rate drying is 5 minutes. Based on information provided, estimate the total drying time for
the product. Assume 1 kg of product is the basis.
a. 6.54 min b. 14.3 min c. 1.53 min d. 11.9 min
Linkage Problem for Nos. 32 – 33:
A counterflow induced-draft cooling tower operates with inlet and exit water temperatures of
105 and 85oF when the air has dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures, respectively, of 90 and 76
 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
School of Engineering and Architecture
Department of Chemical Engineering

o
F. The tower has 4ft of stacked plastic fill, and the flowrates are G y = 2,000 lb/hr-ft2 and Gx =
2,200 lb/hr-ft2.
32. Determine the temperature approach in the process.
a. 85 oF b. 20 oF c. 9 oF d. 26 oF
33. If the cooling load remains the same but the air temperature drops to 70 oF with a wet-bulb
temperature of 600F, predict its temperature approach.
a. 15 oF b. 10 oF c. 9 oF d. 0 oF
Linkage Problem for Nos. 34 – 36:
Four hundred and fifty lbmol/h of a mixture of 60mol% benzene and 40mol% toluene is to be
separated into a liquid distillate and a liquid bottoms product of 95mol% and 5mol% benzene,
respectively. The feed enters the column with a molar percent vaporization equal to the
distillate-to-feed ratio.
34. Determine Nmin
a. 6.7 b. 4.5 c. 3.9 d. 1.8
35. Find Rmin
a. 7.14 b. 1.89 c. 1.22 d. 2.11
36. Determine the number of equilibrium stages for R/R min = 1.3, and the optimal feed-stage
location
a. N = 13.2 equilibrium stages; feed going into stage 7 from the bottom
b. N = 12.2 equilibrium stages; feed going into stage 7 from the bottom
c. N = 13.2 equilibrium stages; feed going into stage 7 from the top
d. N = 12.2 equilibrium stages; feed going into stage 7 from the top
Linkage Problem for Nos. 37 – 39:
An open beaker, 6cm high, is filled with liquid benzene (A) at 25 oC to
within 0.5 cm of the top. Dry air (B) at 25 oC and 1 atm is blown across
the mouth of the beaker so that evaporated benzene is carried away by
convection after it transfers through a stagnant air layer in the beaker.
The vapor pressure of benzene at 25oC is 0.131 atm. Thus, as shown, the
mole fraction of benzene in the air at the top of the beaker is zero and is
determined by Raoult’s law at the gas-liquid interface. The diffusion
coefficient for benzene in air at 25oC and 1 atm is 0.0905 cm2/s.
37. Compute the initial rate of evaporation of benzene as a molar flux in mol/cm 2-s
a. 1.09 x 10-4 b. 1.04 x 10-6 c. 1.07 x 10-5 d. 1.11 x 10-3
38. Determine the expression in calculating the initial mole-fraction profiles in the stagnant air
layer
a. 𝑥𝐴 = 1 − 0.869𝑒 0.281𝑧 b. 𝑥𝐴 = 1 − 0.0905𝑒 0.281𝑧 c. 𝑥𝐴 = 1 − 0.869𝑒 0.409𝑧 d. 𝑥𝐴 = 1 −
0.0905𝑒 0.409𝑧
39. What would be the time for the benzene level in the beaker to drop 2cm if the specific gravity
of benzene is 0.874?
a. 21.53 h b. 64.59 h c. 53.40 h d. 17.94 h
Linkage Problem for Nos. 40 – 41:
𝑘1 𝑘2
For the consecutive reactions 𝐴 → 𝐵 → 𝐶, k1=0.35/h, k2=0.13/h, CA0=4 lbmol/ft3 and CB0=0,
CC0=0
40. Find the time when the concentration of B is maximum.
a. 2.7 hrs b. 3.3 hrs c. 4.6 hrs d. 5.4 hrs
41. What is the maximum concentration of B in lbmols/ft 3 if the reactor used is a single CSTR?
a. 1.23 b. 1.54 c. 1.85 d. 1.90
Linkage Problem for Nos. 42 – 43:
 SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
School of Engineering and Architecture
Department of Chemical Engineering

A material is crushed in a Blake jaw crusher such that the average size of particle is reduced
from 50mm to 10mm with the consumption of energy of 13.0 kW. What would be the
consumption of energy needed to crush the same material of average size 75mm to an average
size of 25mm.
42. Assuming Rittinger’s Law applies?
a. 162.5 kJ/kg b. 4.33 kJ/kg c. 37.0 kJ/kg d. 1.78 kJ/kg
43. Assuming Kick’s Law applies?
a. 8.88 kJ/kg b. 9.01 kJ/kg c. 9.83 kJ/kg d. 10.08 kJ/kg
Linkage Problem for Nos. 44 – 47:
A steam power plant operates on a Rankine cycle between 7000 kPa and 20 kPa. Steam enters
the turbine and is condensed in the condenser at 20 kPa.
44. If the steam enters the turbine at 7000 kPa and 550oC, determine the quality of the steam
at the turbine exit.
a. 0.97 b. 0.87 c. 0.77 d. 0.67
45. If the turbine has an efficiency of 75% and the power delivered is 100000 kW, calculate the
steam mass flow rate
a. 500 kg/s b. 250 kg/s c. 100 kg/s d. 89 kg/s
46. Calculate the amount of heat transfer in the boiler. The pump is 75% efficient.
a. 140000 kJ/s b. 340000 kJ/s c. 420000 kJ/s d. 230000 kJ/s
47. Determine the thermal efficiency of the plant.
a. 20% b. 25% c. 30% d. 75%
Linkage Problem for Nos. 48 – 50:
A thermometer having a time constant of 0.2 min is placed in a temperature bath, and after
the thermometer comes to equilibrium with the bath, the temperature of the bath is
increased, linearly with time at a rate of i/min. What is the difference between the indicated
temperature and the bath temperature?
48. 0.1 min
a. -0.0787 oC b. -.0899 oC c. -0.0878 oC d. -0.0912 oC
49. 1.0 min after the change in temperature begins
a. -0.0999 oC b. -0.1098 oC c. -0.1986 oC d. -0.2100 oC
50. What is the maximum deviation between indicated temperature and bath temperature and
when does it occur?
a. 0 b. ∞ c. 100 d. 1000