Problems in Material Balance

Problem 1
Extent of reaction:
The reactions
C2 H6  C2 H 4  H 2
C 2 H 6  H 2  2CH 4

take place in a continuous reactor at steady state. The feed

contains 85mol% ethane (C2H6) and the balance is inerts (I). The
fractional conversion of ethane is 0.501, and the fractional yield
of ethylene is 0.471. What is the molar composition of the
product gas?
Problem 2: No Chemical Reaction
1000 kg/hr of a mixture of Benzene and Toluene containing 50%
benzene by mass is separated by distillation. The mass flow rate
of benzene in the top stream is 450 kg/h and that of toluene in
the bottom stream is 475 kg/h. The operation is steady state.
Calculate the unknown component flow rates in the output
streams.
Problem 3: No Chemical Reaction
1000 kg of 8% nitrocellulose sol’n (aqueous) is
produced by mixing a feed of 5% nitrocellulose and
pure nitrocellulose. How much of the 5% and pure
nitrocellulose is needed?

B 100% nitrocellulose
Basis: 1000kg product

A mixer P
5% nitrocellulose 8% nitrocellulose
95% water 92% water
Problem 4: No Chemical Reaction
In a membrane separation process for separating
nitrogen and oxygen from air as shown below, what is
the composition of the waste stream if the stream
amounts to 80% of the inlet?
Problem 5: No Chemical Reaction
A novice manufacturer of alcohol for gasohol is having
a bit of difficulty with a distillation column. The
technicians think too much alcohol is lost in the
bottom. Calculate the composition of the bottoms and
the mass of the alcohol lost in the bottoms.
Problem 6: No Chemical Reaction
Dilute sulfuric acid has to be added to dry charged batteries at
service stations to activate a battery. You are asked to prepare a
batch of acid. A tank of old weak battery acid (H2SO4) solution
contains 12.43% H2SO4. If 200 kg of 77.7% H2SO4 is added to the
tank, the final solution is to be 18.63% H2SO4, how many
kilograms of battery acid have been made?
Problem 7: No Chemical Reaction
A tank holds 10,000 kg of saturated solution of
Na2CO3 at 30⁰C. You want to crystallize from this
solution 3,000 kg of Na2CO3.10H2O w/o any
accompanying water. To what temperature
must the solution be cooled?
Problem 8: No Chemical Reaction
An aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide contains
20.0% NaOH by mass. It is desired to produce an 8.0%
NaOH solution by diluting the 20% solution stream
with pure water. How much volume of water is
needed? How many kg of product solution is produced
per kg of feed solution?
 Quiz 2: No Chemical Reaction
A batch mixing process was being studied on a laboratory. Two
methanol-water mixtures are contained in separate flasks.
Mixtures A and B contains 40.0% and 70% MetOH respectively.
If 200 g of mixture A is used to produce a mixture containing
82% MetOH,

a.) how much mixture B is used and final mixture P is

produced?

b.) You want to design a continuous mixing process producing

2,000kg solution/hr based on the previous process (the same
compositions). What are the inlet mass flowrates required?
Problem 9: Combustion
Suppose that in a test 20 kg of propane C3H8 is
burned w/ 400 kg of air to produce 44 kg of CO2
and 12 kg of CO. What is the percent excess air?
Problem 10: Combustion
A gas being burned in an engine contains 80%
C2H6 and 20% O2 with 200% excess air. 80% of
the ethane burns to CO2, 10% to CO, and 10%
remained unburned. What is the amount of O2
entering per 100 mol of gas?
Problem 11: With Chemical Reaction
Corrosion of pipes in boilers by oxygen can be
alleviated through the use of sodium sulfite.
Sodium sulfite removes oxygen from boiler feed
water by the following reaction:
2 Na 2SO 3  O 2  2 Na 2SO 4

How many pounds of Na2SO3 are theoretically

required to remove oxygen from 8,330,000 lb of
water containing 10 ppm of dissolved oxygen,
maintaining 35% excess?
Problem 12: Combustion
16 kg of pure methane is combusted w/ 300kg
of air. Determine the amount (kmol) and
composition of the flue gas.
Problem 13: Combustion
Pure carbon is burned using air. The flue gas
analysis in nitrogen-free basis is 75% CO2, 14%
CO, 11% O2. What was the percent excess
oxygen used? What is the total amount of flue
gas and its composition?
Problem 14: Combustion with
Nonprecise Data
In a test run, a liquid that is proposed for use as
a fual and has the composition of 86% C and
12% H2 is vaporized and burned with dry air to a
flue gas of the following dry-basis composition:

Determine how many kmol of dry flue gas are

produced per 100 kg of liquid feed. What
percentage of excess air is used?
Problem 15: Multiple Subsystems
You are asked to design an acetone recovery system
having a flow sheet given below. All concentrations
both gasses and liquids are in weight percent.
Calculate A, F, W, B, D.
Problem 16: Multiple Subsystems
A plant operates with two furnaces for power
using natural gas and oil as shown in the
diagram. If only 560 bbl of oil is in reserve, how
long before it is depleted if 6205 lbmol/h stack
gas is required for heating? How much natural
gas is being used? MW=7.91 lb/mol; ρ = 7.578
lb/gal?
Problem 16: Multiple Subsystems
Problem 17: Multiple Subsystems
A two-stage separation unit shown below has a
feed of 1000 lb/h. Calculate F2 and its
composition.
Problem 18: Multiple Subsystems
SO3 is produced from combustion of sulfur and air to
SO2 followed by further conversion. 90% combustion is
achieved in the burner and 95% conversion in the
converter. Calculate the air required for 100 lb of sulfur
and mol fr of components in the exit gas from the
burner and converter.
Problem 19: Recycle
A distillation column separates 10,000 kg’hr of a
50%Benzene-50%Toluene mixture. The product D,
recovered from the condenser at the top of the
column contains 96%T. The vapor stream V entering
the condenser from the top of the column is 8000
kg/hr. A portion of the product from the condenser is
returned to the column as reflux, and the rest
withdrawn. Assume the compositions of the streams at
the top V, product D, and reflux R, are identical. Find
the ratio of the amount refluxed R to the product
withdrawn D.
Problem 20: Recycle
Given the diagram below for the production of a
vitamins product, find the recycle stream R.
Problem 21: Recycle
Fresh air containing 4% moisture is to be cooled and
dehumidified to a water content of 1.7% moisture. A
stream of fresh air is combined w/ a recycle stream of
the previously dehumidified air and passed through
the cooler. The blended stream entering the unit
contains 2.3% moisture. In the air conditioner, some of
the water in the feed stream is condensed and
removed. A fraction of the dehumidified air leaving the
cooler is recycled and the remainder is delivered to a
room. For every 100 mol deumidified air, calculate the
moles of fresh feed, water recovered, and mole of
dehumidified air recycled.
Problem 22: Recycle with chemical
reaction
Immobilized glucose isomerase is used is a catalyst in
producing fructose from glucose in a fixed-bed reactor
(water is the solvent). Fresh feed of 40% glucose is
mixed with a recycle stream to produce a 4% feed to
the reactor. If the product stream to the recycle stream
ratio is 8.33, what percent conversion of glucose
results on a one pass through the reactor?
Problem 23: Recycle with chemical
reaction
Refined sugar (sucrose) can be converted to glucose
and fructose by the inversion process. A fresh feed
with 30% sucrose is mixed with the recycle stream to
produce a 5% inverted sugar feed to the reactor. If 90%
conversion of sucrose occurs on one pass through the
reactor, what would be the recycle stream flow per
100 lb fresh feed? What is the concentration of
inverted sugar in the recycle and product stream? The
concentration of the recycle and product stream are
the same.
Problem 24: Bypass
Consider the separation process in the diagram, what
fraction of feed is passed trhough the isopentane
tower?
Problem 25: Bypass
Consider the reaction process for producing methanol
from CO and H2. A purge stream is used to maintain
the CH4 concentration at 3.2 mol%. The once through
conversion of CO in the reactor is 18%. Calculate the
moles of Recycle, methanol, and purge per mole of
feed and the purge gas composition.