By : Ts.

Kishan Gunesegeran
Inti International University Nilai

Material Balances
What is the Material Balance
Fundamental?
• Mass balance as an accounting process
Balance = Deposit – Withdrawal

• For an environmental process the equation becomes

Accumulation = Input – Output

*Where accumulation, Input and Output refer to mass quantities

accumulating in the system or flowing into or out of the system.
• *The `SYSTEM` maybe for example a pond, river or a pollution
control device
Mass Balance with a single Material
1. Conservation of Mass
• Mass is neither created nor destroyed

2. Mass Flow
• Therefore mass flowing into a box will equal the flow coming out of
a box

3. Black Box
• Schematic representation
Mass Balance with a single Material (cont.)
• Although there can be transformation
• We are assuming Steady- State Conditions

*in and out = No Change

Material Balance with a Splitting Single
Material
• One Feed Source Separated into Two or more
•[
Combining Single Material Flow
• A black box can receive numerous inputs and have one effluent
Complex Processes with a Single Material
• A True material balance consists of
[Accumulation] = [In] – [Out] + [Produced] –[Consumed]
• Placed in either terms of Mass or Volume or either can be simplified
to a rate
• Many systems do not change with time
• Therefore there is no accumulation
Complex Processes with a Single Material
(Cont…)
• The material balance is at steady-state under these conditions
0 = [In] – [Out] + [Produced] – [Consumed]
• In many problems conservation is assumed
• Material of concern is not consumed or produced and becomes
0 = [In] – [Out] + 0 - 0
General Rules for solving material Balance
Problems
1. Draw the system as a diagram
2. Add the available information
3. Draw a dotted line around the component being balanced
4. Decide material to be balanced
5. Write the basic material balance equation
6. If only one missing variable, solve
7. If more that one unknown, repeat the procedure
 Example 1!
A completely mixed lake receives two inflows: natural stream flow
0.1 m3/s, wastewater discharge 0.054 m3/s and has a constant
volume of 2 x 106 m3.
Given:
1) The wastewater has 20 mg/L NH3-N
2) Stream has 1 mg/L NH3-N

Wastewater + Stream Flow

Outflow
• bacteria in the lake convert NH3 to NO - by a process called
nitrification.
rN = k*CN
Where
1. k = a first-order rate constant = 0.03 day-1 and
2. CN= concentration of ammonia-nitrogen mg/L
FIND:
Lake and outflow NH3-N

Ammonia is very toxic to fish, 1 mg/L NH4-N.

Does the amount of natural nitrification in the lake allow wastewater

discharge of 20 mg/L ammonia-N?

steady-state, non-conservative mass balance

QW*CNW + QN*CNN - QTCN - V*k*CN = 0
0 = [In] – [Out] + [Produced] – [Consumed]
Where :
QW = wastewater flow, = 0.054 m3/s
CNW = wastewater ammonia-N = 20 mg/L
QN = stream flow = 0.1 m3/s
CNN =stream ammonia-N = 1 mg/L
QT = lake outflow = QW +QN = 0.154 m3/s
CN = lake and outflow ammonia-N = ?
V = lake volume = 2 x 106 m3
t = 150 days
Find CN: by rearranging mass balance;
• QTCN + V*k*CN = QW*CNW + QN*CNN
• CN (QT + V*k) = QW*CNW + QN*CNN

Divide everything by QT;

1. CN (1 + V/ QT *k) = (QW*CNW + QN*CNN)/ QT
2. CN =[ 1 / (1+ (V/QT)*k)]*[(QWCNW + QN*CNN)/QT]
3. CN = [ 1/(1+ (t)*k)]*[(QW*CNW + QN*CNN)/QT]
4. CN = [1 /(l +(150d * 0.03d-1))]*[(0.054m3/s*20 mg/L + 0.1 m3/s*1
mg/l)/0.154m3/s]
Answer??
CN = 1.4 mg/L ammonia-nitrogen
1.4 mg/L ammonia-N > 1 mg/L standard.
Materials Balances with Multiple Materials
Only one equation can be written for each black box unless there is
more than one material in the flow

Example
• The Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers join in Pittsburgh to form
the Ohio River. The Allegheny has an average flow of 340 cfs and a
silt load of 250 mg/L. The Monongahela has a flow of 460 cfs and a
silt load of 1500 mg/L:
Question!
A. What is the average flow of the Ohio River at Pittsburgh?

B. What is the silt concentration in the Ohio River?

Draw a diagram of the system
• Add all available information Including the unknown variables
Draw the black box representation

Mass Balance for Water

Our book calls this a volume balance
• Rate Water Accumulated = Rate of Water in ­- Rate of Water out ±
Rate of Water Generation
Mass Balance for Silt

* In this example, there was only 1 known, which make this trivial
problem.
*Usually, this is not the case and it is a little harder to get the answer
Example 2
• Consider a sewer system where flows A and B enter manhole 1 and
leave after they are combined into flow C. Flow C then enters
manhole C.
• Sampling has told us that QB = 100 L/min and the dissolved solids
Concentration in flows A, B, and C are 50 mg/L, 20%, and 1000
mg/L,
• Respectively. What is the flow coming into manhole 1 (QA)?
Draw a picture and the black box

kg/
Mass Balance on Solids
Rate of solids accumulated = Rate of solids in – Rate of solids out ±
Rate of solids generation

(1000 )]

Two (2) unknowns, so we need to do balance

Mass Balance on Water
Rate of water Accumulated = Rate of water in – Rate of water out ±
Rate of water generation

Therefore : , Substitute into the equation above

Now can solve?

So
Air Pollution – “Box or Bubble” Model
• Estimate the concentration of in the urban air above the city of St.
Louis if the mixing zone is 1210 m deep, and the city is 100,000 m
wide in a direction per pendicular to the wind direction. The
average wind speed is 15,400 m/hr, and the amount of discharged
within the city limits is 1375 x 106 Lbs/yr.

1375 x 106 Lbs/yr = 7.126 x 1013 g/hr

• The volume of air moving into the box is equal to the wind velocity
times the cross sectional area through which it flows (Q = AV)

Qair = (1210 x 100,000) x 15,400

= 1.86 x 1012 m3/hr
Obviously:
Qair in = Qair out = 1.86 x 1012 m3/hr (volumetric flow)
and,
QSO2 in = QSO2 out = 7.126 x 1013 g/hr (mass flow)
• Rate of accumulated = Rate of in – Rate of out ± Rate of
generation