Chemical Process Calculation

CHE-251A
Assignment - 7
1. Ethylene oxide is produced by the catalytic oxidation of ethylene:
1
𝐶! 𝐻! 𝑔 + 𝐻! 𝑂 𝑔 → 𝐶! 𝐻! 𝑂 𝑔
2
An undesired competing reaction is the combustion of ethylene to CO2.
The feed to a reactor contains 2 mol C2H4/mol O2. The conversion and yield
in the reactor are respectively 25% and 0.7 mol C2H4O produced / mol C2H4
consumed. A multiple-unit process separates the reactor outlet stream
components: C2H4 and O2 are recycled to the reactor. C2H4O is solid, and
CO2 and H2O are discarded. The reactor inlet and outlet streams are each at
450ºC, and the fresh feed and all species leaving the separation process are at
25ºC. The combined fresh feed-recycle stream is preheated to 450ºC.
i) Taking a basis of 10 mol of ethylene entering the reactor, draw and
label a flowchart of the complete process (show the separation
process as a single unit).
ii) Calculate the molar amounts and compositions of all the process
streams.
iii) Calculate the heat required (kJ) for the entire process and that for the
reactor alone.
iv) Calculate the flow rate (kg/h) and composition of the fresh feed and
the overall and the reactor heat requirements (kW) for a production
rate of 1500 kg C2H4O/day.
𝑘𝐽
Δ𝐻!! = −51.00
𝑚𝑜𝑙
𝐽
𝐶! . 𝐾 = −4.69 + 0.2061𝑇 − 9.995×10!! 𝑇 !
𝑚𝑜𝑙
T is in kelvin.
2. Ammonia is oxidized in a well-insulated continuous reactor:
4𝑁𝐻! 𝑔 + 5𝑂! 𝑔 → 4𝑁𝑂 𝑔 + 6𝐻! 𝑂 𝑣
Δ𝐻!! = −904.7𝑘𝐽/𝑚𝑜𝑙
 The feed stream enters at 200ºC and the products leave at temperature Tout (ºC).
The inlet contains 4 mol of ammonia per 6 mol of oxygen.

i) Draw and label a process flowchart and calculate the molar amounts of
the product stream components and the extent of reaction. Make the
enthalpy table based on input and output stream. Take sum of the digits of
your roll number as basis (total input).
ii) Calculate the outlet temperature Tout. State all the necessary assumptions.
iii) If we neglect the second term in the heat capacity formula how much
temperature difference we will get. Calculate the % error in Tout.
iv) What will happen to the reactor if we neglect the second term in the heat
capacity formula. Talk about reactor cost and safety.
3. Sulfur dioxide is oxidized to sulfur trioxide in a small pilot-plant reactor. SO2
and 100% excess air are fed to the reactor at 450°C. The reaction proceeds to a
65% SO2 conversion, and the products emerge from the reactor at 550°C. The
production rate of SO3 is 1.01 x 102 kg/min. The reactor is surrounded by a
water jacket into which water at 25°C is fed.
i) Calculate the feed rates (standard cubic meters per second) of the SO2 and
air feed streams and the extent of reaction, ξ.
ii) Calculate the standard heat of the SO2 oxidation reaction, ΔH0r (kJ).
Then, taking molecular species at 25°C as references, prepare and fill in
an inlet–outlet enthalpy table and write an energy balance to calculate the
necessary rate of heat transfer (kW) from the reactor to the cooling water.
iii) Calculate the minimum flow rate of the cooling water if its temperature
rise is to be kept below 15°C.
iv) Briefly state what would have been different in your calculations and
results if you had taken elemental species as references in Part (ii)?
4. Ammonia is oxidized with air to form nitric oxide in the first step of the
production of nitric acid. Two principal gas-phase reactions occur:

All species in the following flowchart are gases.

 i) Taking elemental species [N2 (g), H2 (g), O2 (g)] at 25°C as references,
prepare and fill in an inlet–outlet enthalpy table.
ii) Calculate the required rate of heat transfer to or from the reactor in kW.
iii) What would have been different in your calculations and results in Parts
(i) and (ii) if you had taken molecular species as references in Part (i)?

N.B. : Feel free to use the appendix from the book. State everything properly.