Chemical Engineering Calculations 1

Problem Set 2 - Material Balance without Chemical Reactions

NAME ___________________________________

Strategy for analyzing material balance problems

1. Read and reread the problem until it is clearly understood by you
2. Draw a sketch of the process; define the system by a boundary
3. Put all the known values (rates and composition) on the figure by each stream;
calculate additional compositions from the given data as necessary
4. Select a basis
5. Represent by unknown symbols each of the unknown values. Define each symbol
6. Set up as many independent balances as there are unknown symbols introduced
7. Solve the equations
8. Check your answers

A. MIXING Problems
1. The spent acid from a nitrating process contains 33% H SO , 2 4

36% HNO and 31 % H O. This acid is strengthened by the

3 2

addition of concentrated sulfuric acid containing 95% H SO and 2 4

concentrated nitric acid containing 78% HNO . The strengthened 3

mixed acid is to contain 40% H SO and 43% HNO . Calculate

2 4 3

the quantities of spent and mixed acids that should be mixed

together to yield 1500 kg of the desired mixed acid.

2. The waste acid from a nitrating process contains 21 % HNO , 3

55% H SO and 24% H O. This acid is to be concentrated to

2 4 2

contain 28% HNO and 62% H SO by the addition of

3 2 4

concentrated sulfuric acid containing 93% H SO and 2 4

concentrated nitric acid containing 90% HNO . Calculate the 3

weights of concentrated acids used and mixed acid formed from

1000 kg of waste acid.

3. As superintendent of a lacquer plant, your foreman brings you

the following problem: he has to make 1000 kg of an 8%
nitrocellulose solution. He has available a tank of 5.5% solution.
How much dry nitrocellulose must he add to how much of the

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 5.5% solution in order to fill the order?

4. Your boss asks you to calculate the flow through a natural gas
(CH ) pipe line. Since it is 65 cm in diameter, it is impossible to
4

run the gas through any kind of meter or measuring device. You
decide to add 45 kg of CO per min to the gas through a small
2

1.25 cm pipe, collect samples of the gas downstream, and

analyze them for CO . Several consecutive samples after 1 hr are:
2

​time ​1 hr, 0 min ​ 1 hr, 10 min ​1 hr, 20 min

​1 hr, 30 min ​ 1 hr, 40 min
​% CO 2
​2 ​ ​ 2.2 ​ ​1.9 ​
​2.1 ​ ​2
a) Calculate the flow of gas in kg/min at the point of injection
b) Unfortunately for you, the gas at the point of injection of
CO already contained 1 % CO . How much was your original
2 2

flow estimate in error (%)?

5. Chlorine gas containing 2.4% O is flowing through an2

earthenware pipe. The gas flow is measured by introducing air

into it at the rate of 3.25 m /min and further down the line, after
3

mixing is complete, removing a sample of the gas for analysis.

The gas is now found to contain 10.85% O . How many m /min 2
3

of the gas were flowing through the pipe?

6. It is desired to measure the rate at which waste gases are

passing up a stack. The gases entering contain 2.1 % CO by 2

weight. Pure CO is introduced at the bottom of the stack at a

2

measured rate of 2.2 kg/min. It is found that the gases leaving the
stack contain 3.2% CO by wt. Calculate the rate of flow in
2

kg/min of the entering gases.

B. DRYING Problems
1. A tunnel drier is designed to dry wet sand continuously. 1000
kg of wet sand is to be dried per hr from 30% moisture (wet
basis) to 9% moisture (dry basis). How much water is
evaporated/hr?

2. A granular material is to be dried using a batch tray drier. The

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 trays measure 0.5 m by 0.5m by 3 cm thick. The material
contains 25% moisture ( d.b). The drier can only remove 200 kg
of pure water per hour. If the product is to contain not more than
5% moisture ( d.b), how much fresh material should be charged
to the drier? How many trays are needed? The density of the
bone dry material is 1600 kg/m . Assume there is no shrinkage
3

during drying.

3. Wood chips are to be dried in a rotary drier from 35% moisture

to 12% moisture. If 10 kg of wet wood is charged/min, how
much product can be obtained over an 8-hr period? Find the ratio
of kg water evaporated/kg wet wood charged.

4. An experimental drier is being used to reduce the moisture

content of bagasse to be used for fiberboard manufacture. It
contains 50% moisture. 5.75 kg of wet bagasse is charged to the
drier. After 3 hrs, it was found that the weight has gone down to
3.25 kg. What is the moisture content of the final product?

5. As dug from the ground, peat has the following composition:

88% moisture, 8.05% volatile matter, 3.18% fixed carbon and
0.77% ash. For use as domestic fuel this peat is dried until it
contains only 10% moisture. A process for drying by artificial
heat is developed whereby water may be evaporated at a cost of
P 10/50 kg water removed. Calculate the drying cost per tonne of
product.

6. After drying, a batch of leather is found to weigh 450 kg and

to contain 7% moisture (db). During drying, the leather lost 59.1
% of its original weight when wet. Calculate: a) % of bone dry
leather in the original stock b) Number of kg of water

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 removed/kg bone dry leather c) % of water removed based on
water originally present.

7. Slabs of building boards contain 16% moisture. They are dried

to a water content of 0.5% by circulating hot air over them. The
fresh air contains 0.02 kg water/kg dry air. The exhaust air
contains 0.09 kg water/kg dry air. Calculate the quantity of fresh
air required per 1000 kg/hr final dry board product, if the fresh
air is supplied at 280C and 760 mm Hg.

C. FERTILIZER Problems
1. Find the amount of each of the following components
necessary to make 1000 kg of a 2-12-6 NPK fertilizer:
​NaNO , 98% pure
3
​Ca (PO ) ​KCI, 97% pure
3 4 2

​Inert fillers

2. Repeat (1) for the following: Calcium nitrate, pure; phosphoric

acid; K S0 , 90% pure; inert fillers.
2 4

3. To make 1000 kg of mixed fertilizer of 8-12-12 NPK, find the

amount of the following necessary: (NH ) PO ; Ca (PO ) ; KNO ;
4 3 4 3 4 2 3

inert fillers.

4. 10,000 kg of a 5-10-5 NPK fertilizer is available. It is desired

to convert it to a 3-12-12 NPK by the addition of appropriate
amounts of: NaNO ; CaHPO ; KCI; inert fillers. How much of
3 4

each is necessary to produce 18,000 kg of the desired fertilizer?

5. It is desired to manufacture a fertilizer with a formula of 2-12-

6 NPK from ammonium nitrate, calcium phosphate, potassium
chloride of 90% purity and inert fillers. How much of each
material should be mixed to produce 2000 kg of final product?

D. PRICE ADJUSTMENT Problems

l. A contract is drawn up for the purchase of paper containing 5%
moisture at a price of P 0.70/kg. It is provided that, if the
moisture content varies from 5%, the price per kg shall be
proportionately adjusted in order to keep the price of the bone-

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 dry paper constant. In addition, if the moisture content exceeds
5%, the purchaser shall deduct from the price paid the
manufacturer, the freight charges due to the excess moisture. If
the freight rate is P 0.90/100 kg, calculate the price to be paid for
3 tonnes of paper delivered containing 8% moisture.

2. A laundry can purchase soap containing 30% moisture at a

price of P 70/100 kg FOB the factory. The same manufacturer
offers a soap containing 5% of water. If the freight rate is P 6/100
kg, what is the maximum price that the laundry should pay the
manufacturer for the soap containing 5% water?

3. A company uses a certain chemical in 20% wt solution in

water in one of its manufacturing processes. A long term contract
for purchase of large quantities of the chemical is made with a
supplier. The contract sets a price of P 0.50/kg for a 50 w%
solution, with provision for price adjustment if the concentration
is different. A shipment of 20 tonnes is analyzed and found to be
45 w%, freight and handling costs paid directly to the carrier
amount to P 0.10/kg. The supplier submits a bill for P 9,000. Is
this bill correct?

4. A company has a contract to buy NaCI of 98% purity (2%

insoluble impurity) for P500/tonne delivered. Its 'last shipment of
10 tonnes was only 90% pure (10% insoluble impurity). a) How
much should it pay for the shipment if the freight rate is P 5/100
kg? b) How much of this 90% material should be added to 100
m of water to make a 5 wt% solution?
3

5. Your company purchases a water solution containing 3

chemicals A, B, and C. A recent shipment of 10,000 kg contains
6% A, 13% Band 19% C. The bill submitted by the supplier is P
1125. This does not include shipping, which is a separate item.

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 Your superior feels he is being overcharged and asks you to
check. In looking over past records, you find this
information:
Shipment ​ Kg shipped ​ ​ A
% ​ ​ B
% ​ ​%C ​ Total
Cost
1 ​6000 ​ ​10 ​ ​6 ​ ​23 ​ 589.90
2 ​4000 ​ ​10 ​ ​12 ​ ​20 ​ 461.60
3 ​6000 ​ ​7 ​ ​10 ​ ​22 ​ 654.60
What is your report to your supervisor?
E. EVAPORATION Problems
1. A certain evaporator is designed to evaporate 30,000 kg of
water per hour. A solution containing 10% salt is to be
concentrated to 40% salt. What must be the feed rate and how
much thick liquor product is obtained?

2. It is desired to concentrate a 6% KNO solution in water to 3

20% KNO solution. 7000 kg of product liquor is to be needed/hr.

3

How much solution must be charged? How much water is

evaporated? ​

3. A solution containing 15% dissolved solids is to be

concentrated to 60% solids. If the evaporator will evaporate
20,000 kg/hr of water, what are the feed and thick liquor rates?

4. An evaporator is concentrating solutions from two different

sources. The solution from the first source containing 10% NaCI
and 10% NaOH flows at the rate of 50 kg/min. The other
solution containing 8% NaCI and 12% NaOH flows at the rate of
70 kg/min. The two streams are fed directly to the evaporator. If
50% of the total water is to be evaporated, calculate the
composition and flow rate of the product.

5. A double effect evaporator is to concentrate 1,000,000 kg/day

of liquor containing 5% solids to 40% solids. Assuming equal
evaporation are obtained from each effect, calculate the
composition of the solution from the first effect (if forward
feeding is used) and the flow rate of the product in kg/hr. How
much evaporation is obtained?

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 6. A triple effect evaporator concentrates a 10% caustic soda
solution from 10% to 50% NaOH. Assuming equal amounts of
evaporation in each effect, calculate the concentration of the
solution leaving each effect.

F. CRYSTALLIZATION Problems
1. A hot solution containing 35% MgSO and 65% H O is cooled 4 2

to 15 C. During cooling, 4% of the total water in the system

o

evaporates. How many kg of Epsom salt crystals, MgSO .7H O 4 2

are obtained per metric ton of the original mixture? Solubility of

MgSO at 15°C is 0.245 parts MgSO per part solution.
4 4

2. A saturated solution of Na SO at 30°C is cooled in a

2 4

crystallizer to a saturated solution at 15°C. Assuming no water is

evaporated, how many kg of Glauber’s Salt, Na SO .10H O is 2 4 2

expected to be produced from a metric ton of the solution at

30°C? ​Solubility at 15°C is 13.5 parts and at 30°C, 40
Na SO per 100 parts water.
2 4

3. Recalculate #2 if 10% of the original water in the solution is

lost by evaporation.

4. One tonne of a 30 % solution of soda ash, Na CO in water is 2 3

cooled slowly to 20°C. During cooling, 10% of the water

originally present is evaporated precipitating out sal soda,
Na CO .10H O. If the solubility of soda ash at 20°C is 21.5
2 3 2

parts/100 parts water, what weight of sal soda crystallizes out?

5. 100 grams of a mixture of sal soda and Glauber’s salt is heated

to drive off water of hydration. The final weight of the mixed
salts is 39.6 g. What is the composition of the original hydrated
salts?

6. Two salts A and B are dissolved in water. At the temperature

of the experiment, the solubility of A is 1 kg A/kg pure water and
that of B is 0.4 kg /kg water. It will be assumed that the
solubilities of the two salts are not affected by the presence of

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 each other. If originally 20 kg of A and 20 kg B are dissolved in
100 kg water, and some of the water is evaporated from solution,
calculate the: (1) amount evaporated (2) weight of mother liquor
(3) composition of mother liquor (4) weight of each crystal
formed for the following cases:
a) 50% of the water is evaporated
b) Enough water is evaporated to reduce the total weight of the
solution to 50% of the original value
c) Enough water is evaporated to leave the solution saturated
with A, without crystallizing any A
d) Enough water is evaporated so that the remaining solution is
50% of the original value.

G. DISTILLATION Problems
1. A mixture containing 70% methanol and 30% water is to be
distilled. If the distillate is to contain 99.9% methanol and the
bottoms product 0.004% methanol, how much distillate and
bottoms product are obtained per 100 kg of feed distilled?

2. 100 kmo1s of a benzene-toluene mixture in equimo1a1

amounts is distilled. 96% of the benzene is obtained in the
distillate product while 90% of the toluene in the bottoms.
Calculate the composition of the product streams.

3. A process plant needs two ethyl-alcohol-water solutions, one

containing 89% ethanol and the other 60% ethanol. A dilute
mixture containing 35% ethanol is available. The 60% solution is
withdrawn at the rate of 1000 kg/h. If the bottoms is to contain
no more than 3% ethanol and only 5% of the alcohol in the feed
should be lost in this stream, calculate the flow rates of all the
unknown streams.

4. A mixture consisting of isobutane, n-butane, isopentane and n-

pentane is to be distilled. The
following tabulation gives the composition of the streams in

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 mole fraction:

isobutane n-butane isopentane n-pentane

Feed 0.06 0.17 0.32 0.45
Distillate 0.245 X Y 0.0242
Botoms w 0.129 0.3008 z

Per 100 mols of feed, find the amount of the distillate and bottoms streams. Complete the tabulation of the
composition.

H. GAS ABSORPTION/SCRUBBING Problems

1. In order to recover benzene from a benzene-air mixture, the
mixture is scrubbed with kerosene in a packed tower. 8000m /h 3

of a benzene-air mixture containing 2 mole% benzene (25°C,

765 mm Hg) is treated with 10,000 kg/h of kerosene. If 98% of
the benzene is recovered; find the composition of the gas stream
and liquid stream leaving the tower. What is the volumetric flow
rate of the outgoing gas stream (25°C, 759 mm Hg)?

2. In a plastic manufacturing concern, air is used to dry plastic

sheets in which acetone is used as solvent, The acetone in the air
is recovered by absorption in pure water in a packed tower. 1000
kg-mol/hr of an air-acetone mixture containing 4 mole% acetone
is to be scrubbed to a mixture containing 0.06 mole% acetone.
The tower is to be operated such that the kg absorbing water/kg
acetone-free air is 1.5. What is the flow rate and composition of
the outgoing liquid stream? What is the flow rate of the exit gas
stream at 758 mm Hg and 30°C? Neglect the water vapor in the
exit gas stream.

3. A certain plant requires SO solution in water which can be

2

prepared by absorbing SO gas in pure water. The source of the

2

SO is a sulfur burner which issues a gas consisting of 12 % SO ,

2 2

10% O and 78 % N . 90 kg-mol/hr of this gas is available. The

2 2

resulting solution is 1 % SO by weight. The outgoing gas has a

2

partial pressure of SO equal to 2.6 mm Hg and a partial pressure

2

of water equal to 20 mm Hg. The total pressure is 760 mm Hg at

35 C. Find the liquid water requirements in kg/h, the volumetric
o

flow rate of the exit gas and the % recovery of the SO gas. 2

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 I. EXTRACTION/LEACHING Problems
1. A mixture of non-volatile oil (MW=290) and butane is fed to a
packed tower. It contains 4mole% butane. Superheated steam at
140 C is fed at the rate of 1 kmol/30 kmols of butane free oil
o

used. The outgoing liquid stream contains 0.04 % butane.

Calculate the composition of the exit gas stream and the mass
flow rate of the exit liquid stream.

2. 40 tonnes of sugar beets analyzing 47% water, 40.5% pulp and

12.5% sugar is to be extracted with pure water. The resulting
sugar solution is 17% sugar. 96.5% of the sugar in the beets is
recovered. If each tonne of pulp retains 2.5 tonnes water, find the
amount of water used and the resulting sugar solution.

3. 1000 kg of an oilseed containing 20% oil is extracted with 800

kg of hexane containing 2% oil. 91 % of the oil in the oilseed is
to be recovered. If the extract contains 55% oil, calculate the
composition of the raffinate stream.

4. 800 kg/h of halibut livers containing 23% oil is extracted with

570 kg/h of pure ether. The extracted livers is analyzed and is
found to contain 1.12% oil, 32.96% ether and 65.92% oil- free
livers. Find the composition and weight of the extract, and the %
recovery of the oil.

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