Principles of

Chemical
Engineering

Course Description

Instructor: Dr. Saleh Rawadieh

1 Email: rawawdieh@ahu.edu.jo
Felder, R.M. & Rousseau, R.W.
Office hours: Mon & Wed (1 – 3) 2005. Elementary Principles of
Chemical Processes, 3rd
Edition, John Wiley.
Grading:
First Exam: 25% (Wed 28/10/2015)
Second Exam: 25% (Wed 9/12/2015)
Final Exam: 50%

Course Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction.
Chapter 2: Introduction to engineering calculation.
Chapter 3: Processes and process variables.
Chapter 4: Fundamental of material balances.
Chapter 5: Single phase systems (Optional).

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 Principles of Chemical
Engineering

Chapter

1 Introduction

3
Instructor: Dr. Mohammad Batiha
Email: mbatiha@ahu.edu.jo
Office hours: Mon & Wed (1 – 3)
What Do chemical engineers do for a living

Chemical Engineering focuses on designing processes to

transform raw materials into desired products. A typical
problem to be solved is:
 For a desired production target (or fixed amount of feed to
a process), determine the types and amounts of the raw
materials and energy required to meet this production
target. Then design the process.

You need to:

 Separate the good (product) from the bad (by-
products/waste)
 Minimize production of unwanted by-products
 Maximize profit, minimize energy consumption,
minimize impact on the environment 4
A typical example is:

$ In Energy Out

Recycled Reactants

Raw Products Products

Materials Reactor Reactants
Separators
By-products
By-Products
(Wastes)

Energy In $$ Out 5
Because Chemical Engineering students become very good at
analysing and solving problems they end up working in diverse
areas:

Traditional chemical engineering: oil and gas, pulp and

paper, refining, materials (polymers, controlled release
systems, etc.), environmental.

Non-traditional chemical engineering: microelectronics

(semiconductor manufacturing), biotechnology (biofuels,
pharmaceutical production, tissue engineering, etc.).

Other: medicine, law, business.

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What chemical engineers need to know (as a minimum)

(a) Material balances for chemically reacting systems.

(b) Energy balances for chemically reacting systems.
(c) Analysis of unit operations and their use in design of
process units.
(d) Design and control of chemical processes.
(e) Written and oral technical communications.
(f) Working in teams.

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Material and Energy Balances

 Material and energy balances are simply the application of

the laws of conservation of mass and energy, respectively,
which relate the inputs and outputs of manufacturing
systems, power plants, ecosystems and the human body.

 Law of Conservation of Mass states that matter can neither

be created or destroyed.

 Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy can neither

be created or destroyed (1st Law of Thermodynamics).

 A balance on mass or energy in a system may be written in

the following general way:

Accumulation = (In – Out) + (Generation 8–

Consumption)
Significance of Material and Energy Balances

Provide a means of analysis and accounting

quantitatively, taking apart a complex problem (e.g. design a
heavy oil plant) into its components, and keeping track of
mass/energy flows.

Assist in the synthesis (i.e. design) of chemical processes,

and evaluation of alternative designs.

Provide a basis for modeling complex systems for

optimization purposes, and controlling the process.

Provide a basis for estimating the economic costs and

benefits of a project against alternative processes, and in
competition for a company's assets. 9
Why material and energy balances are important?

 For a Given Basis (e.g. Feed Input or Product Output Rate):

 Knowing the holding time in a vessel will tell you the vessel size.
 Knowing the flow rate of a stream will allow you to size the pipe.
 Knowing the flow rate and pipe size will allow you to size a pump.
 Knowing the flow rate of a stream and its heat duty will allow you
to estimate heat requirements (in/out) and size the heat exchanger.

 All of these are determined from material and energy Balances:

 Knowing all of these sizes will allow you to cost raw materials,
equipment, and energy requirements.
 Knowing all of these costs will allow you to make decisions on go/no
go, where savings need to be made, how to redesign the process for
cost savings, and whether an alternative design is superior.
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UNITS AND DIMENSIONS
Units are important for effective communication
and standardization of measurements
A measured quantity has a numerical value (e.g. 2.47) and a unit
(whatever there are 2.47 of). It is necessary in engineering
calculations to report both the value and the unit. A value without its
unit is meaningless.

For example: 2 meters, 1/3 second, 2.29 kilograms, 5 gold rings.

A dimension is a property that can be measured, such as length,

mass or temperature, or calculated by multiplying or dividing other
dimensions such as:
length/time (= velocity)
length3 (= volume) 11
mass/length3 (= density)
Measurable units are specific values of dimensions that have
been defined by convention, such as grams for mass, seconds
for time and centimetres for length.

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Units can be treated like algebraic variables when quantities
are added, subtracted, multiplied or divided.

3 cm − 1 cm = 2 cm  3x − 1x = 2x

3 cm − 1 mm = ?  3x − 1y = ?

3 N 1 m = 3 N  m

5 km
= 2.5 km/h
2h

5 km
= 4 h = 10 km
2h
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2 m  6 m = 12 m 2
Derived units can be obtained by multiplying or dividing base
units (i.e. units for length, mass, time, etc.)

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SYSTEM OF UNITS

1. The International System (SI).

2. Centimeter-Gram-Second (CGS) System.
3. American (English) Engineering Units System.
Every system of units has:

✓ A set of "basic units" for the dimensions of mass, length, time,

absolute temperature, electric current, luminous intensity, and
amount of substance.
✓ Derived units, which are special combinations of units or units
used to describe combination dimensions (energy, force,
volume, etc.).
✓ Unit multiples, which are multiples or fractions of the basic
units used for convenience (years instead of seconds,
kilometers instead of meters, etc.). Often these are not
"official" parts of the unit system (liters). 15
SI System

Common derived units include:

Force: Newton (N) = 1 kg m/s2

Pressure: Pascal (Pa) = 1 N/m2 16
Energy: Joule (J) = Nm
Power: Watt (W) = J/s
Centimeter-Gram-Second (CGS) System

Mass: gram (g).

Length: centimeter (cm).

Other basic units and the multiple prefixes are the same as
used in SI. Most of the derived units are the same, although

Force: dyne = 1 g*cm/s2.

Energy: erg = 1 dyne*cm.

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American (English) Engineering Units

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19
Temperature: (degree) Rankine (R) 20
Time: second (s)
with most others the same as SI.
Conversion of units

A measured quantity can be expressed in terms of units having

the appropriate dimension. For example, velocity may be
expressed in terms of ft/s, miles/h, cm/yr or any other ratio of
length/time. The numerical value of velocity depends on the
units chosen.

To convert a quantity expressed in terms of one unit to its

equivalent in terms of another unit, multiply the given
quantity by the conversion factor (new unit/old unit).

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Btu – British thermal unit
hp – horsepower
lbm – pound mass
lbf – pound force
psi – pound per square inch
cal – calorie

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23
Examples on unit conversion:

20 m/s = (20 m/s) × (3.28 ft/m) = 65.6 ft/s

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Example 1: Consider the following equation of motion:
D(ft) = 3 t(s) – 4
Derive an equivalent equation for distance in
meters and time in minutes.
Solution:

Step 1: Define new variables D’(m) and t’(min).

Step 2: Define the old variables in terms of the new variable.

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Step 3: Substitute these equivalence relations into the
original equation.

Simplifying,

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Example 2: Convert the following:

(a) Convert: 3 weeks to milliseconds

(b) Convert: 38.1 ft/s to miles/hr

(c) Convert 760 mi/h to m/s

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Example 3: What is the conversion factor between Btu/h and
W?

Btu
1 = xW
h

Btu W s h
1  −4
 = 0.2928 W
h 9.486 10 Btu 3600 s

W
Factor = 0.2928
Btu/h

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The numerical value of two or more quantities can be
added/subtracted only if the units of the quantities are the
same.

5 kilograms + 3 meters = no physical meaning

10 feet + 3 meters = has physical meaning
10 feet + 9.84 feet = 19.94 feet

Multiplication and division can be done on quantities with

unlike units but the units can only be cancelled or merged if
they are identical.
5 kilograms x 3 meters = 15 kg-m
3 m2/60 cm = 0.05 m2/cm
3 m2/0.6 m = 5 m2/m = 5 m
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Dimensional Homogeneity

Every equation must be dimensionally homogeneous (or

dimensionally consistent), that is, every term on both sides of
the equation must have the same units.

For example, in a problem you may be given information about:

Stream A flowing at 266 kg/h,
Stream B at 90 moles/s, and
Stream C at 0.885 m3/day.

You cannot do the mass balance unless you choose a Basis (e.g.
kg/h) and convert all streams to the same units. This is usually
your choice, but you may be asked to report your answer using
some specified units.

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Dimensionless groups

Dimensionless groups are used extensively in chemical

engineering to determine relationships between quantities
(such as length), physical properties (such as density), and what
the system is doing (e.g. if flowing, then fluid velocity).

Reynolds number, for example, is a ratio of inertial and viscous

effects and is a function of fluid properties (viscosity and
density), flow conditions (velocity) and geometry (relevant
length scale). Reynolds number is the key parameter for
determining whether fluid flow is Laminar or Turbulent.

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Homework:

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Example 4: The density of a fluid is given by the empirical
equation
ρ = 70.5 exp(8.27 x 10-7 P)

where ρ = density in (lbm/ft3) and

P = pressure (lbf/in2).

(a) What are the units of 70.5 and 8.27x10-7?

(b) Derive a formula for ρ (g/cm3) and P (N/m2)

Solution:
1. Since the exponential part is dimensionless, then 70.5 must
have the same unit as ρ which is (lbm/ft3).

2. Since the argument of the exponential function must be

dimensionless, then 8.27 x 10-7 must have a unit of (in2/lbf)
which is a reciprocal to the unit of P.
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1. Define new variables ρ’ (g/cm3) and P’ (N/m2).
2. Express the old variables in terms of the new variables.

3. Substitute the equivalence relations into the original

equation.

Simplifying,
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