Problem 1: Plant Mass balance and stoichiometry (20 pts total)

1. Write a balanced reaction (2 pts.)

6CO2 + 6H2O C6H12O6 + 6O2
2. CO2 and H2O are stoichiometrically balancedno excess. No, total moles are
not conserved in this system. (2 pts. for no)
264 !

1 !
44

1 ! !" !
= 1
6 !

108 !

1 !
18.02

1 ! !" !
= 1 (3 )
6 !

264 !

1 !
44

6 !
= 6 !
6 !

108 !

1 !
18.02

6 !
= 6 ! (3 )
6 !

3. Assume all glucose goes to increasing the mass of the plant. (5 pts.)

!" !"# + !"#"$%&'(# = !""#$#%!&'()

or
!"#"$%&'(# = !""#$#%!&'()
since glucose generation through the reaction (100% conversion) is the only contribution
to glucose accumulation. No glucose flows in or out of the system.
Then: mass increase = 180 g glucose/day

264 ! 1 !

44
= 180 /
108 !

1 !
18.02

1 ! !" !
6 !

180 ! !" !

1 ! !" !
6 !

180 ! !" !
= 180 /

4. 50% loss of water by transpiration. (5 pts.)

Note that water is now the limiting reactant, and CO2 is in excess. (100% excess, since
we have twice as much as we need to match the stoichiometry of water)
If we only have 50% inputs, we would only have 54 g H2O reacting.
54 ! 1 !

18.02
= 90 /

1 ! !" !
6 !

180 ! !" !

Problem 2 (30 pts. total)

This is very similar to the paint and the extraction problems from homework 4.
Case i (10 pts. for case i.)
First, we can relate the concentrations of A in the oil ([A]o ) and in the water ([A]w ) AT
THE OUTLET by the following equation:
1)

[]!
=
[]!
[!]

2) [!]! = 2
!

!" !"#
!" !

So the concentration of A in the water at equilibrium is twice the concentration of A in

the oil at equilibrium,.
We can now write a mass balance for component A
3) !,!" = !,!"#

4) !,!"

!,!" = !"#,!"#

!,!"#

+ !,!"#

!,!"#

If we relate the concentration of A in oil with the concentration of A in water, then our
equation only contains one unknown ( concentration of A in oil).:

5) !,!"

!,!" = !"#,!"#

!,!"#

+ !,!"# 2

6) 100

.010
= !"#,!"#

7) 100

.010
= 1200

8)

!,!"#

!" !
!" !
.!"!

!"#
!" !
!" !"#
!" !
!" !"#
!"##
!!""
!

!"#
!"#
!! !

!""

!,!"#

!,!"#

+ !,!"# 2

!,!"#

+ 100

!" !

!,!"#

= 7.143 10!! !" !"#

!,!"#

Then use the equilibrium relation to solve for the concentration of A in water:

9)

!,!"# =

7.143 10!!
= 1.4 10!!

Case ii (18 pts. total for case ii)

Now we have 3 extractions in series. The concept is the same as in case 1, except the
flow rate of oil into each extractor is 400 kg/min rather than 1200 kg/min. In addition,
[A]w, in changes for each extractor. We feed [A]w, out from a given extractor as [A]w, in into
the following extractor.
Extractor 1: (6 pts)

10)

!,!"#

= 2

100 .010



= 3.3 10!!




400 + 100 2

Extractor 2: (6 pts)

11)

!,!"#

= 2

100 3.3 10!!



= 1.1 10!!




400 + 100 2

Extractor 3: (6 pts)
12)

!,!"#

= 2

100 1.1 10!!



= 3.7 10!!




400 + 100 2

Final answer: (2 pts)

From this, we see that option (ii) will remove more A from the water than option (i).
However, in a complete analysis we must also consider the costs of the additional units.

Problem 3 (30 pts. total)

Notice that the stoichiometry dictates what comes out of the reactor.
A. (8 pts.) Drawing a system boundary around the entire system, we find:
=
!,! = !,! + !,!
!,! = !,! !,! = 200 80 = 120 /
Products C and D are created in equal molar amounts. The total amount of C leaving the
system must equal the total amount of D leaving the system. A and B must also be
present in equal molar amounts throughout the system. Then we find:
!,! = 20

!,! = 20

!,! = 80

Note that this is 16.7% A, 16.7% B, 67% C.

Consider reaction conversion:
!!,! !!!,!
!!,!

= 0.5

This can also be interpreted as:

!,! = 0.5 !,!
Thus we can related the flow of these components in the specified streams.
B. (12 pts.) Note that all the D that comes out of the separator must come from stream 3.

Since there was 50% conversion of the reactor (the moles of unreacted A and B are
equal to the moles of A and B that reacted to form C and D):

!,! = 80

!,! = 80

!,! = 80

The mole fractions in streams 3, 5, 6, and 7 must be the same. Based on the
composition from stream 6,

!,! = 4!,! = 4!,! = 320

C. (5 pts.) Stoichiometry and the overall mass balance require that the component flow
rates in the purge do not change. If the reactor has 70% conversion but still produces
80 mol/min of D, less A & B are required in Stream 2 and less A & B exit the reactor
in Stream 3. The amounts of A & B that exit the system (in the purge) do not change,
so the amounts of A & B in the recycle are smaller than in the system with 50%
reactor conversion. The ratio of C to A (or C to B) is the same in Streams 3, 5, 6, and
7, and is also the same as in the system with 50% reactor conversion. Since the flow
rates of A & B in the recycle have been reduced, the flow rate of C in the recycle will
also be reduced compared to the system with 50% reactor conversion. In summary,
the flow rates of the components in the purge will not change, but the flow rates of
the components in the recycle will decrease, when the reactor conversion is changed
from 50% to 70%.
D. (5 pts.) With 50% reactor conversion, it is not possible to produce 100 mol/min of D
in Stream 4 without adding additional units. If 100 mol/min of D were to exit the
system in Stream 4, then Stream 6 would have 100 mol/min of C and 0 mol/min of A
& B. Since the recycle has the same composition as the purge, no A or B would get
recycled to the reactor. The reactor would only receive A & B from Stream 1, at 100
mol/min each. With 50% conversion in the reactor, 100 mol/min of D could not be
achieved with A & B inputs of only 100 mol/min each.

Problem 4 (20 pts)

A detailed, workable design is shown on the following page. This design washes the
stalks to remove dirt prior to crushing the stalks, so that sugar is not lost in the dirty water
effluent from the washer. The design also includes two approaches to recycle energy (for
extra credit): (1) transfer of heat energy from the combustion of bagasse to the
evaporator, and (2) a heat exchanger to cool/condense the steam from the evaporator and
pre-heat the input to the evaporator. Points were deducted for the following common
mistakes:
If the stalks were crushed prior to washing, some of the sugar will be lost in the
washers dirty water effluent because sugar dissolves in water.
If steam from the evaporator was not recycled (also requires a condenser).
If the molasses and sugar crystals were not separated using a centrifuge. A
centrifuge is used because the density difference between molasses and sugar
crystals is small.
If the mud was not removed with a settler. A settler is used because the density
difference between mud and sugar water is large.
If essential unit operations or streams were missing.
If extra unit operations made the design unnecessarily inefficient.
If units or streams were not properly labeled.
If flow chart conventions were not followed.