DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

BALANCE OF MATERIAL IN NON-REACTIVE SYSTEMS - SINGLE UNITS

1) Skim milk is prepared by the removal of some of the fat from whole milk. This skim milk is found to contain
90.5% water, 3.5% protein, 5.1% carbohydrate, 0.1% fat and 0.8% ash. If the original milk contained 4.5% fat,
calculate its composition assuming that fat only was removed to make the skim milk and that there are no
losses in processing.
2) 10 kgmol of a feed containing 55 mol. % of a component A and 45 mol. % of B was processed in a distillation
unit. 5 kgmol of distillate with composition of 90 mol. % of A was obtained. What are the amount and
composition of the bottom product?
3) 300 kg of a mixture containing 10 wt. % of a component A, 10 wt. % of B and 80wt % of C is in a storage tank.
The goal is to obtain 500 kg of a mixture with the composition of 20 wt. % of A, and 30 wt. % of B. The
following is available: a mixture AB containing 90 wt.% of A and 10 wt. % of B, A mixture of BC containing 8 wt.
% of B and 92 wt. % of C, and pure component B. What amounts of mixtures AB and BC and pure component B
have to be added to the original mixture?
4) Potatoes are dried from 14% total solids to 93% total solids. What is the product yield from each 1000 kg of
raw potatoes assuming that 8% by weight of the original potatoes is lost in peeling.
5) A continuous filter is used to separate a clear filtrate from alumina particles in a slurry. The slurry is 30% by
weight of alumina that has a specific gravity of 4.5. The cake retains 5% by weight of water. For a feed stream
of 1000 kg/h, determine the following:
1. The mass flow rate of particles and water in the input stream
2. The volumetric flow rate of the inlet stream in m3/s.
3. The mass flow rate of filtrate and cake in kg/s.
6) A distillation column is used to separate a mixture of methanol, ethanol, and isopropyl alcohol. The feed
stream, with a mass flow rate of 300 kg/h, has the following composition:

Component Composition
Methanol 50,1%
Ethanol 25,0%
Isopropyl alcohol 24,9%
Separation of this mixture of alcohol takes place according to the following specifications:
(a) 90% of the methanol in the feed leaves with the distillate stream
(b) 5% of the ethanol in the feed leaves with the distillate stream
(c) 3% of the isopropyl alcohol in the feed leaves with the distillate stream.
Assuming that the volumes of the components are additive, compute the composition and volumetric flow rates of the
distillate and bottom streams (Densities of all alcohols are 0,78 g/cm3)
7) A mixture of ethanol (A) and water (B) is separated in a distillation column. The volumetric flow rate of the
feed stream is 5 m3/h. The concentration of ethanol in the feed is cA = 2.800 mol/m3. The distillate leaves the
column with a concentration of ethanol cA = 13.000 mol/m3. The volumetric flow rate of distillate is one cubic
meter per hour. How much ethanol is lost through the bottoms of the column, in kilograms of ethanol per hour?
8) A ternary mixture of benzene, ethylbenzene, and toluene is fed to a distillation column at a rate of 105 mol/h.
The composition of the mixture in % moles is: 74% benzene, 20% toluene, and 6% ethylbenzene. The distillate
flows at a rate of 75x103 mol/h. The composition of the distillate in % moles is 97,33 % benzene, 2% toluene,
and the rest is ethylbenzene. Find the molar flow rate of the bottoms stream and the mass fractions of the three
components in the distillate and bottoms stream.
9) A complex mixture of aromatic compounds leaves a chemical reactor and is fed to a distillation column. The
mass fractions and flow rates of distillate and bottoms streams are given in Table 4.25. Compute the molar flow
rate and composition, in molar fractions, of the feed stream.

Flow rate and composition of distillate and bottoms streams. (kg/h)

Flow rate ωBenzene ωToluene ωBenzaldehide ωBenzoicAcid ωMethylBenzoate
Distillate 125 0.1 0.85 0.03 0.0 0.02
Bottoms 76 0.0 0.05 0.12 0.8 0.03
10) The indicator dilution method is a technique used to determine flow rate of fluids in channels for which devices
like rotameters and orifice meters cannot be used (e.g., rivers, blood vessels, and large diameter pipelines). A
stream of an easily measured substance (the tracer) is injected into the channel at a known rate and the tracer
concentration is measured at a point far enough downstream of the injection point for the tracer to be
completely mixed with the flowing fluid. The larger the flow rate of fluid, the lower the tracer concentration at
the measurement point. A gas stream that contains 1.50 mole% CO2 flows through a pipeline. 20.0 kg of
CO2/min is injected into the line. A sample of the gas is drawn from a point in the line 150 m downstream of
the injection point and found to contain 2.3 mol% CO2. (a) Estimate the gas flow rate (kmol/min) upstream of
the injection point (after steady state has been reached). (a) If the CO2 concentration at the measurement
points (150 m downstream) begins to rise at 18 s after the additional CO2 was first injected. Assuming that the
tracer travels at the average velocity of the gas in the pipeline (i.e. neglecting diffusion of CO2), estimate the
average velocity (m/s). If the molar gas density is 0.123 kmol/m3, what is the pipe diameter?
11) Two octane-heptane mixtures are contained in separate tanks. The first mixture contains 93 wt% octane and
the second mixture contains 80 wt% octane. In order to have a fuel that can be used in a vehicle, 2.3 kg of the
first mixture is mixed with 1.1 kg of the second mixture. What is the mass and composition of the product? A
schematic of the process is shown below.

12) The effluent from a coal gasifier contains 52 mol% carbon monoxide, 39 mol% hydrogen, and 9 mol% carbon
dioxide. The stream is mixed with water before it enters a water-gas shift reactor where the additional
hydrogen is formed. (a) You require a molar water feed that is 10% larger than the carbon monoxide flow rate.
Determine the mole fractions in the reactor feed.
13) A stream of humid air, containing 10.0 mole% water, enters a condenser in which 95% of the water vapor in
the air is condensed. The flow rate of the condensate (liquid leaving the condenser) is measured and found to
be 225 L/h. Calculate the flow rate of the gas stream leaving the condenser and the mole fractions of O2, N2,
and H2O.
14) A liquid mixture containing 45.0 wt% benzene (B) and 55.0% toluene (T) is fed to a distillation column
operating at steady state. Product streams emerge from the top and bottom of the column. The top product
stream contains 95.0 wt% B, and the bottom product stream contains 8% of the benzene fed to the column. The
volumetric flow rate of the feed stream is 2000 liters/h and the specific gravity of the feed mixture is 0.872.
Determine the mass flow rate of the overhead product stream and the mass flow rate and composition (mass
fractions) of the bottom product stream. Suggestion: start using the approach: draw and label a flow chart, do a
degree of freedom analysis, lay out a solution strategy, and then write equations and solve for the required
quantities.
15) An aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide contains 20% NaOH by mass. It is desired to produce an 8% NaOH
solution by diluting a stream of the 20 % solution with a stream of pure water. Determine the feed rates of 20%
solution and diluting water to produce 2310 lbm/min of the 8% solution and calculate the ratios (g H2O/g feed
solution) and (g product solution/g feed solution).
16) A feed stock available at the rate of 1000 mol/h and consisting of (all in mol%) 20% propane (C3), 30%
isobutane (i-C4), 20% isopentane (i-C5) and 30% n-pentane (nC5) is to be separated into two fractions by
distillation. The distillate is to contain all the propane fed to the unit and 80% of the isopentane fed to the unit
and is to consist of 40% isobutane. The bottoms stream is to contain all the normal pentane fed to the unit.
Calculate the complete distillate and bottoms analysis.
17) The conventional method for separating ethyl alcohol from an alcohol/water mixture is by distillation.
However, this procedure can at best only produce a product 95% by volume alcohol because alcohol and water
form a constant boiling mixture, called an azeotrope, of that composition. Simple distillation cannot eliminate
the azeotrope. Instead, if a pure alcohol product is desired, benzene is added to the feed solution. The benzene
itself forms an azeotrope with water but one, which has a lower boiling point than the alcohol, and thus the
alcohol can be purified.