Code No: RR310804 Set No.

1
III B.Tech I Semester Supplimentary Examinations, November 2007
MASS TRANSFER OPERATIONS-I
(Chemical Engineering)
Time: 3 hours Max Marks: 80
Answer any FIVE Questions
All Questions carry equal marks
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1. (a) Ammonia at 300 K and 1.5 std atm is diffusing steadily through a layer of
stagnant air film. Concentration of ammonia at the one side of the film = 50
mole % by volume. And concentration of ammonia on the other side of the
film is negligible. Calculate the rate of molar diffusion of ammonia through
the layer. If the cross section of stagnant air film is 4 m2 , estimate the quantity
of ammonia diffusing in a day. DN H3−Air = 19.8 × 10−6 m2 /sec at 273 K 1std
atm.
(b) Write the assumptiars involved in deriving the molar flux equation for gases.
[10+6]

2. (a) Write short note on ‘Film Theory’.

(b) Distinguish between molecular and eddy diffusion. [8+8]

3. (a) Write short note on “Two-resistance theory”.

(b) Write the basic concept of equilibrium between two phases. [8+8]

4. (a) Write short note on ‘Gas bubble diameter’ in sparged vessels.

(b) Write about power requirements during mixing of liquids. [8+8]

5. An acetone-air mixture containing 0.025-mole fraction acetone has its acetone re-
duced to 1% of this value by counter current absorption in a packed tower by pure
water. Gas flow rate of pure air is 1kg/m2 sec and water is1.6 kg/m2 s. For this sys-
tem the equilibrium diagram is given by Y=1.75X/(1-0.75X) where Y is kg moles
of acetone /kg mole of air in gas phase and X is kg moles of acetone per kg mole of
water in liquid phase. What is the tower height required if height of overall transfer
unit is HtoG =50 cm.(solve graphically). [16]

6. (a) 30000m3 of coal gas (measured at 289 K and 101.3kN/m2 saturated with water
vapor is compressed to 340kN/m2 pressure, cooled to 289k and the condensed
water is drained off. Subsequently the pressure is reduced to 170kN/m2 and
the gas is distributed at this pressure and 289K.What is the percentage hu-
midity after this treatment? Vapor pressure of water at 289 K is1.N/m2 .
(b) Distinguish between adiabatic saturation and wet bulb temperature and ex-
plain briefly both. [8+8]

7. A wet granular dry material is dried in a pan 0.5 x 0.5 m and 25.4 mm deep. All
the sides and the bottom of the pan are insulated. An air stream flowing parallel

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Code No: RR310804 Set No. 1
to the surface at a velocity of 7 m/s and it has 70o C as dry bulb temperature and
29o C as wet bulb temperature. Calculate the time required to dry a batch of this
material from moisture content of 0.35 kg of water per kg of dry solid to 0.2 kg of
water per kg of dry solid. The equilibrium moisture content is 0.01 kg of water per
kg of dry solid. The equilibrium moisture content is 0.01 kg of water per kg of dry
solid. The density of dry solid may be taken as 1300 kg/m3 . [16]

8. (a) Explain about hydrodynamic flow of gases.

(b) Explain the working of a tray drier with neat diagram.
(c) Describe and discuss non-adiabatic operations used for humidification. [5+5+6]

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Code No: RR310804 Set No. 2
III B.Tech I Semester Supplimentary Examinations, November 2007
MASS TRANSFER OPERATIONS-I
(Chemical Engineering)
Time: 3 hours Max Marks: 80
Answer any FIVE Questions
All Questions carry equal marks
⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

1. (a) Derive the expression for the rate of diffusion of A for the steady state diffusion
of A through nondiffusing B for molecular diffusion in liquids.
(b) Calculate the rate of diffusion of NaCl at 18o C through a stagnant film of water
1 mm thick when the concentrations are 20% and 10% respectively on either
side of the film. Data: Density of 20% NaCl at 18o C = 1.15 ×103 kg/m3 .
Density of 10% NaCl at 18o C = 1.07 × 103 kg/m3 . Diffusivity of NaCl in
solution at 18o C = 1.36 × 10−9 m2 /s. [8+8]

2. Explain in detail, with neat sketch mass transfer from a horizontal solid surface
into a flowing fluid. [16]

3. (a) Explain the counter current flow cascades with neat diagram.
(b) Equilibrium relation is y = mx. What is the relation between Kx , ky and kx ?
What will happen if the gas phase controlled? Explain. [8+8]

4. (a) Write about operating characteristics of sieve trays.

(b) Write about mechanical agitation of single phase liquids, considering vortex
formation. [8+8]

5. A air NH3 mixture containing 8 mol % NH3 is being scrubbed with water in a
counter current packed tower to remove 90% NH3 . The tower is packed with 25
mm Raschig rings and its temperature and pressure are 250 c and 1 atm. The tower
operates at 1.5 times the minimum liquid rate. Estimate the number of transfer
units required and hence the packed height of the tower. Ye =0.987X (Ye and X
are expressed in mole ratios) KG a=65 kg-mole/hr m3 atm. [16]

6. (a) Briefly explain wet bulb depression, wet bulb approach and dehumidification.
(b) Derive the following equation for wet bulb temperature. Y′w -Y′g =hg (tg -tw )/ky λw
[8+8]

7. (a) 1400 kg (bone dry) of granular solid is to be dried under constant drying
conditions from a moisture content of 0.2 kg/kg of dry solid to a final moisture
content of 0.02 kg/kg dry solid .The material has an effective area of 0.0615
m2 /kg of solid. Under the same condition the following rates were previously
known (data given below). Calculate the time required for drying.
Where X is kg/kg of dry solid and N is in kg/ m2
(b) Define free moisture and equlibrium moisture. [12+4]

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Code No: RR310804 Set No. 2
X: 0.300 0.200 0.140 0.096 0.056 0.046 0.026 0.016
N: 1.710 1.710 1.710 1.460 1.290 0.880 0.540 0.376

8. (a) Explain the principle of humidification in cooling tower.

(b) Discuss briefly break through curve in fixed bed drier.
(c) Write short note on hydrodynamic flow of gases. [6+5+5]

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Code No: RR310804 Set No. 3
III B.Tech I Semester Supplimentary Examinations, November 2007
MASS TRANSFER OPERATIONS-I
(Chemical Engineering)
Time: 3 hours Max Marks: 80
Answer any FIVE Questions
All Questions carry equal marks
⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

1. An open vessel of 3 m dia holds some water at 353 K evaporating steadily into the
atmosphere. The air currents flowing over the mouth of the vessel readily remove
water vapor just as it forms. What will be the rate of cooling due to evaporation if
the whole resistance to mass transfer in air is equivalent to the resistance to mass
transfer through a 1 mm stagnant air film?
DH2O−Air = 26 × 10−6 m2 /sec at 298 K and 1 std atm. Latent heat of vaporization
is 2200 J/g. [16]

2. Derive the relation ship for the estimation of mass transfer coefficient, where mass
transfer from a gas to falling liquid. [16]

3. (a) Write short note on “Two-resistance theory”.

(b) Write the basic concept of equilibrium between two phases. [8+8]

4. (a) Write about mechanical agitation of single phase liquids, considering vortex
formation.
(b) Explain the phenomena of channeling in packed tower. Also write short note
on how to avoid channeling problem. [8+8]

5. Ammonia is to be removed from air-NH3 mixture containing 20% of volume ammo-

nia in counter current absorber using water at 1 std atm and 200 C. The absorber
is to be designed to remove 99.5% by volume of ammonia in the entering gas. Cal-
culate the minimum water rate and the number of theoretical plates necessary for
absorption, if 1.2 times the minimum water rate is used for a gas rate of 1kg/s.
Equilibrium data: [16]

Partial pressure of ammonia, mm Hg 12 18 32 50 70 166

gm.NH3 /100 gm water 2 3 5 7.5 10 20

6. Air at 38o C, 70% saturated with water vapor is heated to 82.4o C and passed through
a dryer where it gets adiabatically cooled to 54.4o C and humidified to 40% satu-
ration. The air leaving the dryer is cooled in a cooler to 26.6o C and reheated to
38o C. Determine:

(a) Molar humidity of air entering the first heater,

(b) Molar humidity and % saturation of air leaving the first heater,
(c) Molar humidity of air leaving the dryer,

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Code No: RR310804 Set No. 3
(d) Water evaporated in the dryer per kg mole of air entering.

The vapor pressure of water is as follows:

Temperature o C 26.6 38 54.4 82.4
Vapor pressure, mmHg 26.2 49 115 388.4
[4x4]

7. (a) A wet cake with a weight of 5 kg originally contains 50% moisture content
on wet basis. The slab is 0.6mx1mx7.5cm thick. The equilibrium moisture
content is 5%. When in contact with air of 400 C and 20% humidity, the drying
rate is given in the table below. For contact with air of the above quality and
same velocity, how long will it take to dry the slab to 15% moisture content
on wet basis? Drying is from one face.

Wet slab weight, kg: 5 4 3.6 3.5 3.4 3.06 2.85

Drying rate, kg/m2 hr: 5 5 4.5 4.0 3.5 2.0 1.04

(b) Write short note on aplications drying operation. [10+6]

8. (a) Carbon dioxide is diffusing through a membrane (1.25 mm thick) at 298 K

. the partial pressure of CO2 on one side of the membrane is 5 cm Hg and
the other side is zero. The solubility coefficient for CO2 at 298 K = 0.9 m3
gas(NTP)/(m3 rubber).atm. take diffusivity of CO2 in the rubber = 1.1 ×
10−10 m2 /sec. determine the permeability of the membrane for CO2 at 298 K
and the rate of diffusion of CO2 through the membrane.
(b) Describe spray chamber with neat sketch. [8+8]

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Code No: RR310804 Set No. 4
III B.Tech I Semester Supplimentary Examinations, November 2007
MASS TRANSFER OPERATIONS-I
(Chemical Engineering)
Time: 3 hours Max Marks: 80
Answer any FIVE Questions
All Questions carry equal marks
⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆

1. Estimate the diffusivity of n-Butanol vapor (A) (C2 H5 CH2 CH2 OH) through air
at 1 atm pressure and 590 C. Data: Molecular weight n-Butanol = 74 Molecular
weight of air = 29 For air ǫB /k = 97, rB = 0.3617 nm Group contribution of atomic
volume (m3 /K. atom) C = 0.0148 O = 0.0074 H = 0.0037 rA = 1.18 υ 1/3 Normal
boiling point of n-Butanol = 1170 C. Collision function data: [16]

KT/ǫ f(KT/ ǫ)
1 0.72
1.5 0.6
2 0.54

2. (a) Define Sherwood number, Stanton Number of mass transfer and explain their
physical significance.
(b) Describe about Mass tranfer data for simple situations. [8+8]

3. A gas mixture A-air is fed into an absorption tower where absorption of the com-
ponent A in water is taking place at 288 K and 3 std atm. Given that kL = 0.152
k mol A / (hr.m2 )(mol A/m3 ). kG = 1.22 k mol A / hr.m2 .atm the equilibrium
partial pressure of gas A over dilute solution of A in the water is given pA,i = 0.25
(cA,i ), where pA,i is in atm while cA,i is expressed in terms of mol A/m3 . Determine
the values of the following mass transfer coefficients.

(a) ky
(b) kc for gas film
(c) KG
(d) KL [16]

4. (a) Compare and contrast between packed columns and plate columns.
(b) Explain the phenomena of liquid distribution and redistribution in packed
towers. [10+6]

5. (a) Define absorption factor and discuss its importance for the design of tray
absorber.
(b) It is desired to eliminate traces of H2 S from effluent gases of a toppling still,
so that they can be conveniently used as a fuel. The original concentration
of 2.5% by volume of H2 S is to be reduced to 0.2% by volume, by scrubbing

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Code No: RR310804 Set No. 4
the gas mixture with hot nonvolatile hydrocarbon oil in multistage continuous
counter current equipment. Determine the number of ideal stages required if
the plant is operated using 1.5 times the minimum liquid rate. Henry’s law
is applicable for this system and the constant is 0.25 atmospheres per mole
fraction can be taken. [6+10]

6. Hydrogen gas is saturated with CCl4 vapour at 1 atm and 48.8o C. This gas is cooled
in a cooler at 4.5o C. Finally, it is heated to 26.7o C, Calculate:

(a) Weight of CCl4 condensed in the cooler/kg H2

(b) Percentage of humidity at the final condition
(c) Absolute humidity at the final condition
(d) Dew point of the gas at final condition

The vapor pressure data can be obtained from Antoine’s equation

lnP = 15.8742-2808.79/(T-45.9)
where P is vapour pressure in mmHg and T is in K. [4x4]

7. (a) A commercial drier needed 7 hours to dry a moist material from a moisture
content of 33% to 9% on bone dry basis. The critical and equilibrium moisture
content were 16% and 5% respectively. Determine the time needed to dry the
material from a moisture content of 33% to 7% if the drying conditions remain
unchanged.
(b) Discuss the effects of gas velocity, temp, humidity and thickness of solid on
rate of drying for a cross circulation batch drying. [8+8]

8. (a) Carbon dioxide is diffusing through a membrane (1.25 mm thick) at 298 K

. the partial pressure of CO2 on one side of the membrane is 5 cm Hg and
the other side is zero. The solubility coefficient for CO2 at 298 K = 0.9 m3
gas(NTP)/(m3 rubber).atm. take diffusivity of CO2 in the rubber = 1.1 ×
10−10 m2 /sec. determine the permeability of the membrane for CO2 at 298 K
and the rate of diffusion of CO2 through the membrane.
(b) Describe spray chamber with neat sketch. [8+8]

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