B. Tech.

Part II Chemical Engineering End Semester Examination, 2020-21

CHE 204: Mass Transfer Operations-I

(Assignment based Examination)

25 marks

Question 1. A rotary counter current dryer is fed with ammonium nitrate containing
0.035 kg total moisture/kg dry nitrate at the rate of 425.6 kg dry nitrate/h and
discharges the nitrate with 0.0017 kg total moisture/kg dry nitrate. The nitrate enters
at 25 ºC and leaves at 60 ºC. The air enters at 84.2 ºC and leaves at 32.8 ºC. The
humidity of entering air is 0.0175 kg H2O vapour/kg dry air. Calculate the air flowrate
and the humidity of air leaving the dryer assuming the heat losses from the dryer to
be 9300 kJ/h.

The heat capacity of dry nitrate = 1.456 kJ/kg. ºC

Heat capacity of water = 4.187 kJ/kg. ºC

Latent heat of water at 0 ºC = 2501 kJ/kg. (05)

Question 2. A feed solution containing 2000 kg of MgSO4 and water at 330 K and
with a concentration of 30 wt% MgSO4 is cooled to 293 K and crystals of MgSO4.7H2O
are precipitated. At 293 K the solubility is 35.5 kg MgSO4/100 kg of total water. The
average heat capacity of feed solution is 2.93 kJ/kg.K. The heat of solution at 293 K is
-13310 kJ/kmol MgSO4.7H2O. Assume that no water is vaporized. Calculate:

i. Yield of crystals.
ii. Heat absorbed during crystallization. (05)

Question 3. Vinyl chloride is a bulk organic chemical required for the production of
poly vinyl chloride (PVC), a widely used polymer. Since it is a toxic and carcinogenic
volatie organic compound (VOC), it must be removed from any waste gas stream.
The waste stream of PVC vapor in air from a process was adsorbed by activated
carbon particles in a packed bed having a diameter of 4 cm and length of 14 cm
containing 79.2 g of carbon. The inlet gas stream having a concentration of 600 ppm
and a density of 0.00115 g/cm3 entered the bed at a flow rate of 754 cm3/s. The
breakpoint concentration is set at c/c0=0.01. Determine:

(i) The break point time.

(ii) Length of the unused bed.
(iii) If the same i.e. 600 ppm is to be treated with same adsorbent at a rate of 20
m3/min to reduce its concentration by 98%, find the diameter and height of the new
column for the adsorption period of 10 h. The superficial gas velocity used is twice of
the previous column.
Data for the break through curve are as follows:

Time, 0 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6.0 6.2 6.5 6.8

h
c/c0 0 0 0.002 0.03 0.155 0.396 0.658 0.903 0.933 0.975 0.993

(15)