4 Material Balances for Chemical Reacting Systems

1.3  REPRESENTATION OF CHEMICAL PROCESSES

Chemical processes are inherently complex. In a continuous chemical plant†, as we have illustrated in Figure 1.5, raw
materials are prepared, heated or cooled, and reacted with other raw materials.

FIGURE 1.5  Simplified flowsheet for the manufacture of ethyl alcohol from ethylene.

The products are heated or cooled and separated according to specifications. A chemical plant, including its utili-
ties, has many components such as chemical reactors, distillation towers, heat exchangers, compressors, and pumps.
These components are connected to each other by pipelines or other means of transportation for carrying gases, liq-
uids, and solids. To describe these complex systems, chemical engineers use two fundamental elements:

a. Structure: This is the manner in which the components of a plant are connected to each other with pipe-
lines or other means of transportation. The structure is unique to a plant. Two components connected
in different sequences can completely alter the nature of the products. Structure is represented using
flowsheets. A complete version of a flowsheet, including all utilities, control, and safety devices is known
as the Piping and Instrumentation Diagram (P+ID). Figure 1.5 is a pictorial representation of a simple
flowsheet.
b. Performance: This is the duty or basic operating specifications of the individual units. The duty is described
using specification sheets for all units of the process and by listing the properties of the streams connecting
the units. The properties of the streams include flow rates, compositions, pressures, and temperatures. In rela-
tively simple systems, a single document includes the flowsheet and the properties of the streams. To describe
complex systems, one needs several flowsheets as well as a collection of specification sheets.

To perform material balances for complex systems, one uses information about the structure of the flowsheet and
the performance of the units to determine the properties of the connecting streams. The processes illustrated in
Figures 1.1–1.5 appear to be dramatically different; however, the fundamental concepts used to analyze these systems
are the same. Hidden behind the complexity of these processes is a simplicity that we will describe in subsequent
chapters. To make this point very clear, we consider the complex system illustrated in Figure 1.5, and we identify
the scrubber as the object of a separate analysis as illustrated in Figure 1.6. In this text, most of our efforts will be
directed toward the analysis of single units such as scrubbers, distillation columns, chemical, and biological reactors,
in addition to systems such as Mono Lake. After establishing the framework for the analysis of single units, we will
move on to a study of more complex systems in Chapter 7. Transient processes are examined briefly in Chapter 8, and
an introduction to reaction kinetics is provided in Chapter 9.

† Shreve’s Chemical Process Industries, 1998, 5th Edition, edited by J. Saeleczky and R. Margolies, McGraw-Hill Professional, New York.