Mass and

Energy Balance
➢ Applying the Law of Conservation of Mass will lead to the
Mass or Material Balance
➢ If there are no chemical changes occurring in the
plant, the law of conservation of mass will apply
also to each component, so for component A:
Example
In a plant producing sugar, if the total quantity of sugar going
into the plant is not equaled by the total of the purified sugar
and the sugar in the waste liquors, then there is something wrong.
→sugar is either burned (chemically changed) or accumulating
in the plant or else it is going unnoticed down the drain
somewhere

where losses are the unidentified materials

Energy Conservation Equation
Steps in Conducting
a Material Balance
 1. Collect all known data on mass and composition
of all inlet and exit streams from the statement of
the problem
➢Look at the three basic categories: materials in,
materials out and materials stored
➢Then the materials in each category have to be
considered whether they are to be treated as a
whole, a gross mass balance, or whether various
constituents should be treated separately → what
constituents
Example
✓Taking dry solids vs total material → separating the 2
groups of constituents: non-water and water
✓Separating chemical types: minerals, or chemical
elements such as carbon
✓The choice and the detail depend on the reasons
for making the balance and on the information
required
 2. Draw a block diagram, indicating the
process, with inlet and exit streams properly
identified. Draw the system boundary.

➢Before formulating a material balance equation,

visualize the process and determine the boundary of
the system for which the material balance is to be
made
➢It is essential that everything about the process that
affects the distribution of components is known.
➢The problem statement should be adequate to
enable the reader to draw a flow diagram
➢In some cases, basic physical principles
associated with a process may affect the
distribution of components in the system but
may not be stated in the problem
Sample problem: Determine the amount of sugar
(water-free basis) that can be produced from 100
kg of sugar solution that contains 20% by weight of
sugar and 1% of a water-soluble uncrystalizable
impurity. The solution is concentrated to 75% sugar,
cooled to 20 ºC, centrifuged, and the crystals
dried.
Evaluation of this process flow diagram???

It does not give a complete picture of where

various streams separate and leave the system
 Process flow diagram for a crystallization problem showing input and exit
streams and boundaries enclosing subsystems for analyzing sections of the
process.
✓ To concentrate a 20% solution to 75% requires the removal of water →
water leaves at the evaporator
✓ The process of cooling does not alter the mass, therefore the same
process stream enters and leaves the crystallizer.
✓ Centrifugation separates most of the liquid phase from the solid phase,
and the crystals, the solid phase containing a small amount of retailed
solution enter the drier. A liquid phase leaves the system at the centrifuge.
Water leaves the system at the drier.
Three physical principles involved in the problem are
not stated:
1.Crystals will crystallize out of a solution when solute
concentration exceeds the saturation concentration.
✓The solute concentration in the liquid phase is forced
toward the saturation concentration as crystals are
formed. Given enough time to reach equilibrium, the
liquid phase that leaves the system at the centrifuge is
a saturated sugar solution.

2. The crystals consist of pure solute, and the only

impurities are those adhering to the crystals from the
solution.
3. It is not possible to completely eliminate the liquid from the
solid phase by centrifugation.
✓ The amount of impurities that will be retained with the sugar
crystals depends on how efficiently the centrifuge
separates the solid from the liquid phase
✓ This principle of solids purity being dependent on the
degree of separation of the solid from the liquid phase
applies not only in crystallization but also in solvent
extraction.

❖In order to solve this problem, the saturation concentration

of sugar in water at 20 ºC, and the water content of the
crystals fraction after centrifugation must be known.
 ❖ Draw the system boundary.
➢ The boundaries can be moved to facilitate solving the problem.
 ❖ Draw the system boundary.
➢ The boundary set at the evaporator.
Sample problem 1
➢ In an evaporator, dilute material enters and concentrated
material leaves the system. Water is evaporated during the
process. If I is the weight of the dilute material entering the system,
W is the weight of water vaporized, and C is the weight of the
concentrate, draw the block diagram of the problem and write
an equation that represents the total mass balance for the system.
Assume that a steady state exists.
➢Total Mass Balance is:
Inflow = Outflow + Accumulation
❖Accumulation = 0 (steady state system)

I=W+C
Sample problem 2
➢Construct a diagram and set up a total mass balance
for a dehydrator. Air enters at the rate of A lb/min, and
wet material enters at W lb/min. Dry material leaves the
system at D lb/min. Assume steady state.
Solution
✓ System: dehydrator
✓ Air and wet material enters and dry material leaves.
✓ Air and water must leave the system
✓ Characteristics of a dehydrator: water removed from the solids is
transferred to air and leaves the system with the air stream
 Total Mass Balance

✓Whole dehydrator
W + A = wet air + D

✓Air subsystem
A + water = wet air

✓Solid subsystem

W = water + D
3. Write all available data on the block diagram.

✓ It is helpful to include the known quantities of process

streams and concentrations of components in the
process diagram in order that all streams where a
component may be present can be easily accounted
for.
 Sample problem:
Orange juice concentrate is made by concentrating single-
strength juice to 65% solids followed by dilution of the
concentrate to 45% solids using single-strength juice. Draw a
diagram for the system and set up mass balances for the whole
system and for as many subsystems as possible.

❖ Single-strength juice, also known as 100% juice, is either NFC juice, or juice reconstituted
from a concentrate by dilution with water.
❖ NFC (not from concentrate) or direct juices are products that are obtained by pressing
fruit, separating from pulp and debris to the required level then pasteurizing and
packaging into containers for consumer use.
❖ Full-strength fruit or vegetable juice is an undiluted product obtained by extraction from
sound fruit.
Assumptions:
✓ Consider a hypothetical proportionator that separates the original
juice (S) to that which is fed to the evaporator (F) and that (A)
which is used to dilute the 65% concentrate.
✓ Introduce a blender to indicate that part of the process where the
65% concentrate (C65) and the single-strength juice are mixed to
produce the 45% concentrate (C45)
 The material balance equations for the whole system
and the various subsystems:

Seatwork 1: Draw the block diagram of the 3 subsystems and

make the material balance equation for the whole system
and the 3 subsystems.
 Component Mass Balance
✓ Same principle but components are considered
individually.
✓ If there are n components:
n – independent equations
1 equation for total mass balance
n-1 component balance eq’ns
✓ In a material balance, use mass units and
concentration in mass fraction or mass percentage.
✓ If the quantities are expressed in volume units, convert
to mass units using density
✓ A form of a component balance equation that is
particularly useful in problems involving concentration
or dilution is the expression for the mass fraction or
weight percentage.
 Sample problem

✓ Draw a diagram and set up equations representing

total mass balance and component mass balance for
a system involving the mixing of pork (15% protein, 20%
fat, and 63% water and back fat (15% water, 80% fat
and 3% protein) to make 100 kg of mixture containing
25% fat.

Check video for the problem

solving part.
 4. Select a suitable basis (such as mass or time) for
calculations. The selection of basis depends on the
convenience of computations.

“tie material” → component used to relate the

quantity of one process stream to another
→ usually the component that does not
change during a process
Exs.
✓ solids in dehydration or evaporation processes
✓nitrogen in combustion processes
Sample problem:
How many kilograms of a solution containing 10% NaCl
can be obtained by diluting 15 kg of a 20% solution
with water?

✓This problem is solved readily using a component

mass balance in the solid (tie material in the system)
compared to when the mass balance was made
on water.
✓In a number of cases, the tie material doesn’t need
to be identified (Blending of Food Ingredients).
✓ A “basis” is useful in problems where no initial quantities
are given and the answer required is a ratio or a
percentage.
✓ Also useful in continuous flow systems → assume as a
basis a fixed time of operation
✓ A material balance problem can be solved on any
assumed basis.
✓ After all the quantities of process streams are identified,
the specific quantity asked in the problem can be
solved using ratio and proportion.
✓ It is possible to change basis when considering each
subsystem within a defined boundary inside the total
system
✓ After deciding which constituents will be considered.
✓ The basis for the calculations has to be decided i.e. mass of raw
material entering the process in a batch system, or some mass per
hour in a continuous process
a. It could be some mass of a particular predominant constituent i.e.
mass balances in a bakery might be all related to 100 kg of flour
entering
b. Mass of unchanging constituent such as in combustion calculations
with air →it is helpful to relate everything to the inert nitrogen
component;
c. Carbon added in the nutrients in a fermentation system→ bec. the
essential energy relationships of the growing microorganisms are
related to the combined carbon in the feed
d. Essentially inert non-oil constituents of the oilseeds in an oil-
extraction process
✓For cases where basis is unimportant: a convenient
quantity such as the total raw materials into one batch
or passed in per hour to a continuous process are often
selected
✓Having selected the basis, then the units may be
chosen such as mass, or concentrations which can be
by weight or can be molar if reactions are important
✓Material balances can be based on total mass, mass
of dry solids, or mass of particular components
 Ex. Constituent balance of milk

 Given:  Required:
Skim milk with the ff constituents: Calculate the composition of the
water = 90.5% original milk.
Protein = 3.5% ✓ Assumption: fat only was removed to
make the skim milk and No losses in
Carbohydrate = 5.1%
processing.
Fat = 0.1%
Ash = 0.8%
Original milk: 4.5% fat
Solution  Basis: 100 kg of skim milk
fat = 0.1 kg
Let x = fat removed in kg

Total original fat = ( x + 0.1) kg

Total original mass = (100 + x) kg

The original fat content = 4.5% , so

Solution
 Concentrations
✓ Can be expressed as:
a. Weight/ weight (w/w) → weight of the solute divided by the total weight
of the solution
→this is the fractional form of the percentage composition by weight

b. weight/volume (w/v) → weight of solute in the total volume of the

solution

c. molar concentration (M) → number of moles (molecular weights) of the

solute in a volume of the solution ( kg mole in 1 cu. m of the solution)

d. mole fraction → ratio of the number of moles of the solute to the total
number of moles of all species present in the solution
✓In process engineering, it is usual to consider kg moles.
✓As used in the book ( Unitops Ch2) , mole means a
mass of the material equal to its molecular weight in
kilograms; percentage ( percentage by weight, w/w,
unless otherwise specified.
 Ex. Concentrations

 Given:  Required:
✓ Solution of common salt in Calculate the concentration of salt
water: 20 kg of salt + 100 kg of in the solution:
water a. weight fraction
✓ Liquid density: 1323 kg/cu. m b. weight/volume fraction
c. mole fraction
d. molal concentration
Solution
a. weight fraction
Solution
b. weight/volume
❖ A density of 1323 kg/ cu.m : 1 cu.m of solution weighs 1323
kg, but 1323 kg of salt solution contains:
 Type of Process Situations: Continuous processes

✓ Time also enters into consideration and the balances are

related to unit time.
✓ Consider a continuous centrifuge separating whole milk
into skim milk and cream. If the material hold-up in the
centrifuge is constant both in mass and in composition,
then the quantities of the components entering and
leaving in the different streams in unit time are constant
and a material balance can be written on this basis. Such
an analysis assumes that the process is in a steady state,
that is flows and quantities held up in vessels do not
change with time.
Ex. Materials balance in continuous centrifuging of milk.
If 35,000 kg of whole milk containing 4% fat is to be
separated in a 6 hour period into skim milk with 0.45% fat
and cream with 45% fat, what are the flow rates of the two
output streams from a continuous centrifuge which
accomplishes this separation?
✓ Basis: 1 hour’s flow of whole milk
✓ The time unit has to be considered carefully in continuous
processes as normally such processes operate continuously for
only part of the total factory time.
✓ Usual 3 periods: start up, continuous processing ( steady state)
and close down
✓ It is important to decide what material balance is being studied
and the time interval over which any measurements are taken
must be long enough to allow for any slight periodic or chance
variation
✓ In some instances, a reaction takes place and the material
balances have to be adjusted accordingly i.e. bacteria may
be destroyed during heat processing, sugars may combine with
amino acids -→ the total mass of the system will remain the
same but the constituent parts may change.
 Continuous Vs Batch

✓ Material balance calculations are the same regardless

whether a batch or continuous process is being evaluated.
✓ Batch system: the total mass considered includes what
entered or left the system at one time
✓ Continuous system: a basis of a unit time operation may be
used, and the material balance will be made on what
entered or left the system during that period of time.
✓ If the process is continuous, the quantities given will all be
mass/time i.e. kg/h.
✓ If the basis used is 1 hour of operation, the problem is reduced
to the same form as a batch process.
5. Using eq’n

➢Write material balances in terms of the selected

basis for calculating unknowns. For each unknown,
an independent material balance is required.
6. Solve material balances to determine the
unknowns.
Additional Sample Problems
solved will be uploaded in FB
group.
Questions? Comments?