UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE

2017 / 2018 Nov/Dec EXAMINATIONS

Faculty: ENGINEERING

Department: MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Paper code and Title: ME 307 Process Engineering

Duration: 3 HOURS

Examiner: Eng. C. S. Shonhiwa

Authorized Materials: Calculator

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Answer any four (4) questions

2. Start each question on separate sheet
3. This question paper comprises 7 printed pages

NB: DO NOT TURN OVER THE QUESTION PAPER OR COMMENCE WRITING

UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO DO SO.

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Question 1.

a) State the social and economic effects of setting up a processing plant in a given society. [10]

b) With the aid of a process flow diagram describe an industrial processing plant you visited
during the study period [10]

c) How has this plant improved the life style of the people in the community if at all? [5]

Question 2.

a) Below is a list of properties of industrial material. Give a brief description of each of them
from an engineering point of view:

Strength, Elasticity, Plasticity, Stiffness, Ductility, Brittleness, Toughness, Hardness,

Malleability. [9]

b) In an industrial processing plant a bucket elevator handles 131.6 t/h of abrasive material
weighing 800.5kg/m3 through a vertical distance of 22.9 m at a speed of 30.5m/min. What
power is required to drive the elevator. [8]

c) The bucket elevator discharges onto a horizontal conveyor which must transport the material
420.7 m . Choose the type of conveyor to use and determine the power required to drive it.

[8]

Question 3

a) Explain two different types of heat exchangers. [5]

b) A shell and tube heat exchanger with the following characteristics was used in a processing
plant :

Shell diameter(Ds) = 0.635m

Number of tubes = 532

Tube outside diameter(Do) = 0.019m

Tube inside diameter(Di) =0.016m

Tube length (L) = 4.88m

Tube spacing (s) =0.024m triangular

Baffle spacing (B) = 0.341m

There is one tube side pass and one shell side pass. The tube material is stainless steel with thermal
conductivity of 17W/m.K

Calculate the overall heat transfer coefficient for this heat exchanger [10]

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Given that on tube-side:

Wt= 226795kg/h, Cp= 2.1kJ/kg.K, µ=0.5cP, specific gravity= 0.8, k=0.13W/m.K

Shell Side.

Ws=96718kg/h, Cp=4.19kJ/kg.K, µ=0.83cP, specific gravity= 1, k=0.62W/m.K

The fouling heat transfer is 5670W/m2K

c) Calculate the heat transfer area and explain giving reasons why a double pipe heat exchanger
cannot be used in this case [5]

d) Determine the outlet temperature if the fluid in the tube enters at temperature of 293K and the
shell fluid enters at temperature of 533k for counter flow heat exchanger [5]

Question 4

a) In the grinding operation as shown in fig Q4. a ball mill is in closed circuit with a
hydrocyclone classifier. The mass flow rates of the classifier feed, oversize, and
undersize are denoted by the symbols A, O, and U, respectively. The fineness of
classifier feed a, of oversize o, and of undersize u, all expressed as percentages
passing a 200 mesh sieve, are 58.5, 48.2, and 96.0 percent, respectively. Undersize is
produced at a rate of 20.3 tons/h.

Fig Q4
i. What is the circulating load percentage? [6]
ii. What are the flow rates of classifier feed and oversize? [6]
b) A limestone ore is to be ground in a conventional ball mill to minus 200 mesh. The
Bond grindability of the ore for a mesh-of-grind of 200 mesh (75 μm) is determined
by laboratory test to be 2.73 g per revolution. The 80 percent passing size of the feed
to the test is 1970 μm; the 80 percent passing size of the product from it is 44 μm.
Calculate the work index Wi for the material at this mesh-of-grind. [6]

d) The Bond work index for a mesh-of-grind of 200 mesh for a rock consisting mainly of
quartz is 17.5 kWh/ton. How much power is needed to reduce the material in a ball
mill from an 80 percent passing size of 1100 μm to an 80 percent passing size of 80
μm? [7]
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Question 5
a) Give a step-by-step procedure for choosing the class, type, capacity, drive, and
materials for a pump that may be used in an industrial pumping system.
[10]
b) Food processing plant requires water for its processing. A horizontal pipe of 40mm diameter
and 750m length is used to carry the water at a flow rate of 66.7x10-6m3/s and the viscosity of
1.14x10-3Ns/m2

i. State the type of pump you would use for this task [3]

ii. Calculate the head loss due to friction [6]

iii. The power required to overcome this frictional loss [6]

Question 6
a) Explain the difference between High Calorific Value (HCV) and Low Calorific Value
(LCV) of fuel [5]
b) A fuel oil consists of 85% carbon, 12.5 % hydrogen, 2 % oxygen and 0.5% residual
matter by mass.
i. Calculate the stoichiometric air required for complete combustion of 1kg of
this oil. [6]
ii. Determine the HCV and LCV of this fuel taking the specific enthalpy of the
water vapor formed by combustion to be 2442Kj/kg at 250C and 1kg of carbon
burning to CO2liberates 35000kJ, and one kg of Hydrogen liberates 143000
kJ, when the products of combustion are cooled down to 250C. Air contains
23% Oxygen by mass. [14]

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Appendix : Data Sheet
Table 1. Characteristics of Elevators

Table 2. Characteristics of Conveyors

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 DG 0.023CpG Ws
Re  hi  Flow rate in shell G 
 Cp
2
3
DC 0.2 ac
( ) ( )
k 

6
 0.0273cG
h
Cp 3 DG 0.365
2

( ) ( )
k 
BDs ( s  Do )
ac 
s
B 16
ho  hF1 Fr  h0.8( )
Ds

2k
hw 
Do  Di

1 1 1 1 1
   
U ho D hw hs
hi i
Do

44.5
W  10Wi ( P 0.5  F 0.5 ) Wi 
10 10
P 0.23G 0.82 ( 0.5  0.5 )
P F