Cairo University Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics

Faculty of Engineering CHEM603 - Spring 2010

Chemical Engineering Department Makeup - Time: 1.5 hour

Open Book
If required data are missing, use data from the textbook. Maximum grade is 30.

Section I. True or False (6 marks)

101. The compressibility factor is the ratio between the volume of a system and its volume if it was ideal gas.
102. The Carnahan-Starling equation of state does not contain an attractive term.
103. When the electrostatic work is important in a process, the difference in the electric field causes the transfer of
charge across the system boundary.
104. PVT relations relate the behavior of pressure, volume and temperature for a fluid and cannot be used to calculate
energetic properties such as the heat of vaporization.
105. The curve the marks the incipient of mechanical instability for a fluid mixture must pass through the mixture’s
critical point.
106. In a metastable state, all intensive macroscopic properties, including temperature, have stationary values, yet
kinetic energies of bond vibration and rotation remain much higher than the translational kinetic energy.

Section II (24 marks)

201. At 30 C, binary liquid mixtures of methanol and heptane roughly obey Porter’s equation. The infinite dilution
chemical potential of methanol in heptane is 11. Determine whether, at 30 C, these mixtures exhibit liquid-liquid
phase splits over some range of compositions. If they do, what are the compositions of the two phases at equilibrium.
(3 marks)

202. For pure substance 1, which appears in Figure 9.18, draw a semiquantitative plot of the molar Gibbs energy as a
function of temperature from 0 to 100 C. (3 marks)

203. Steam and methane can react to form hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide. (a) Obtain the
stoichiometric coefficients and a set of independent reactions for this system. (b) If a reactor initially contains 4 moles
of steam and 2 moles of methane, find the composition of the mixture when 2 moles of steam and 0.1 mole of
methane remain. (8 marks)

204. A vessel formed from rigid, thermally conducting walls is immersed in a heat bath at 25 C. The vessel has total
volume V and is divided into two compartments,  and , by a rigid, movable, thermally conducting partition. The
partition can slide laterally with little friction; initially the partition is positioned so that one compartment has a
volume V=V/5. The partition is initially held in place by stops. Each compartment is loaded with ten moles of pure
nitrogen. A process is initiated by removing the stops, allowing the partition to irreversibly slide to a new equilibrium
position. Estimate the amount of entropy generated. (3 marks)

205. Tabitha the Untutored claims that a simple quadratic form such as

P RT  A  B v  C v 2

should be sufficient to reproduce vapor-liquid equilibrium data for pure fluids. Here A, B, and C are empirical
parameters that depend only on temperature and can be positive or negative. Tabitha points out that at fixed P and
fixed T < Tc, such an equation could yield two roots for the volume: one could be that for saturated liquid, while the
other could be for saturated vapor. Do you agree with the claim that such a form is sufficient? Justify your position. (4
marks)

206. Sketch an isothermal-isobaric plot of the change of Gibbs energy on mixing gm vs. mole fraction x1 for a binary
mixture in three-phase vapor-liquid-liquid equilibrium. Include the tie lines on your plot and indicate the composition
of the three phases. (3 marks)