Chemical Engineering Department /Graduate Student Program

Final Exam Advanced Mass Transfer Che630 - Fall 2023

Take Home Exam April 17th 2024 Exam Model (D)

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Question No.2

In gas treatment plant, a tray tower is used to remove 99% of ammonia (NH 3 MW-17
kg/kg mol) in the air (MW=28.97 kg/kg mol) stream which is coming from reactor outlet.
The air stream contains 6 mol% ammonia at 30 °C and 101.325 Kpa, which enter the
tower at a flowrate of 128 kg/h-m2). The flowrate of pure water (MW=18 kg/kg mol)
entering the tray is 188 kg/(h-m2), The equilibrium of the dilute stream is represented by:

y=0.76 x

Where: y is the mole fraction of NH3 in the gas phase

And, x is the mole fraction of NH3 in the liquid phase

By assuming that the ammonia concentration is sufficiently dilute through the tower that
both operating and equilibrium curves are linear.

a) Draw a sketch of the tray tower showing the amounts of inlet and outlet streams
including the mole fractions and mole ratio of each stream.
b) Determine the number of theoretical trays (N) graphically.
c) Determine the number of theoretical trays (N) analytically using the Kremser
Brown Souders (KBS) equation.

𝒚𝑵+𝟏 − 𝒎𝒙𝒐 𝟏 𝟏
𝐥𝐧 [ 𝒚 − 𝒎𝒙 (𝟏 − 𝑨) + 𝑨]
𝟏 𝒐
𝑵=
𝐥𝐧 𝑨

𝑳𝒐 𝑳𝑵
𝑨𝟏 = 𝑨𝑵 = 𝑨𝟏 ≠ 𝑨𝑵 𝑨 = √𝑨𝟏 𝑨𝑵
𝒎 𝑽𝟏 𝒎 𝑽𝑵+𝟏

𝑳𝒐 𝑳𝟐
𝑶𝑹 𝑨𝟏 = 𝑨𝑵 = 𝑨 = √𝑨𝟏 𝑨𝟐
𝒎 𝑽𝟏 𝒎 𝑽𝟐

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Question No.3

A. A sphere of naphthalene 2 inch in diameter is placed in air at 115° F

flowing with a velocity of 1.1 ft/sec. The vapor pressure of solid
naphthalene is 0.565 mmHg and the diffusivity of naphthalene in air and
at 115° F is 7.5x10-5 ft2/sec. Determine the mass transfer coefficient (kG)
in lbmol/(ft2-hr-atm) and the mass transfer flux of naphthalene to air (NA)
and the total mass evaporated (WA) in lbmol/hr in this stagnant air at
115 °F and 1 atm.

Data: Properties of air at 1 atm and 115 °F are:

Density (ρ)=0.0692 lb/ft3
Viscosity (µ)= 0.0469 lb/(ft-hr)
R=0.73 (atm-ft3)/(lbmol-°R), kG= kC/RT ,
NA=KG(PA1-PA2)

B. Pyrex glass is almost impermeable to all gases but helium. For example, the
diffusivity of He through Pyrex (Dhp)is about 25 times the diffusivity of H2 through
Pyrex, hydrogen being the closest “competitor” in the diffusion process. This fact
suggests that a method for separating helium from natural gas could be based on
the relative diffusion rates through Pyrex. Suppose a natural gas mixture is
contained in a Pyrex tube with length L, inner radius Ri , and outer radius Ro.

a. Derive the equation governing the concentration profile in the wall of the
tube.

b) Solve for the concentration profile in the tube. The interfacial

concentrations of the helium are Che(Ri) = Ci and Che(Ro) = Co.

c) Obtain an expression for the rate at which helium will “leak” out of the tube, in
terms of the diffusivity of helium through the Pyrex, the interfacial concentrations
of the helium in the Pyrex, and the dimensions of the tube

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Question No.4

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Question No. 5

A. A large volume of pure water at 26.1°C is flowing parallel to a flat plate of solid benzoic
acid, where L = 0.244 m in the direction of flow. The water velocity is 0.061 m/s. The
solubility of benzoic acid in water is 0.02948 kg mol/m3. The diffusivity of benzoic acid
is 1.245 x 10-9 m2/s. Calculate the mass-transfer coefficient (KL) and the molar flux
(N ) in Kgmol/m2-s (Assume: solution is very dilute, x ~ 1).
A BM

B. Calculate the value of mass transfer coefficient, (k’G) in kg mol/s.m2 -Pa and the flux
(NA) for mass transfer from a sphere of naphthalene to air at 45 °C and 1 atm abs
flowing at a velocity of 0.305 m/s. The diameter of the sphere is 25.4 mm. The
diffusivity of naphthalene in air at 45 °C is 6.92 x 10-6 m2/s and the vapor pressure of
solid naphthalene is 0.555 mm Hg.
C. Estimate the value of the mass transfer coefficient in a stream of air flowing parallel to
a flat plate 0.152 m in length made of solid naphthalene at 325.6 K. The velocity of the
air is 1.524 m/s 325.6 K and 101.3 kPa. The DAB of naphthalene in air is 5.16 x 10-6
m2/s.

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Question No. 6

100 Kgmol/h of a bubble point liquid mixture of 75 mole% water (Mwt =18) and 25 mole % acetic
acid (Mwt =60.5) is distilled continuously in a distillation tower at a pressure of 1 atm.
Distillate contains 95 mol % of light component and bottom 95 mole % of heavy component.
The reflux ratio is 2 times of minimum reflux ratio (R =2 Rmin).
a) Determine the amounts of distillate (D) and bottom product (B) in kgmol/hr.
b) Determine the number of theoretical stages and optimum feed stage location.
c) Determine the minimum number of stages graphically and using Fenske equation.
d) Calculate the amount of steam required for heating the re-boiler if the steam pressure is 0.4
Mpa ( ∆H steam = 2133.9 kJ/kg).
e) Calculate the amount of cooling water required for the total condenser, the cooling water is
preheated by 20 °C (CP cooling-water = 4.184 kJ/kg – K).

Equilibrium data water acetic acid at 1 atm (mole fractions)

x 0 0.0055 0.053 0.125 0.206 0.297 0.510 0.649 0.803 0.959 1.00
y 0 0.0112 0.133 0.240 0.338 0.437 0.630 0.751 0.866 0.972 1.00
Heat of evaporation at Tw for water (∆hwater)= 2214 kJ/kg
Heat of evaporation at Tw for acetic acid (∆hacetic acid)= 390 kJ/kg

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 Vapor Liquid Equilibria water (A) - Acetic acid (B) system
XF= 0.75 , XD=0.95 XW=0.05
1

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6
Ya

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
XA

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Question No. 7

1000 kg/hr of a mixture containing 42 mole percent heptane (Mw=100) and 58 mole
percent ethyl benzene (Mw= 106) is to be fractionated to a distillate containing 97 mole
percent heptane and a residue containing 99 mole percent ethyl benzene using a total
condenser and feed at its saturated liquid condition. The enthalpy-concentration data for
the heptane-ethyl benzene at 1 atm pressure are as follows:

xheptane yheptane HL (kJ/kmol) x 10-3 HV (kJ/kmol) x 10-3

0.00 0.00 24.30 61.20
0.08 0.28 24.10 59.60
0.18 0.43 23.20 58.50
0.25 0.51 22.80 58.10
0.49 0.73 22.05 56.50
0.65 0.83 21.75 55.20
0.79 0.90 21.70 54.40
0.91 0.96 21.60 53.80
1.00 1.00 21.40 53.30

Using the Ponchon Savarit method calculate the following:

a. Minimum reflux ratio.

b. Minimum number of stages (Nmin) at total reflux.
c. Number of stages at reflux ratio of 2.5
d. Condenser duty (QC) in kJ/hr.
e. Reboiler duty (QR) in kJ/hr.

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