ChE 110 Introduction to Chemical Engineering Spring, 2008 Problem 4.

3, Felder and Rousseau

Washington State University School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering Richard L. Zollars

A liquid mixture of benzene and toluene contains 55.0% benzene by mass. The mixture is to be partially evaporated to yield a vapor containing 85.0% benzene and a residual liquid containing 10.6% benzene by mass. (a) Suppose the process is to be carried out continuously and at steady state, with a feed rate of & & 100.0 kg/h of the 55% mixture. Let mv (kg/h) and ml (kg/h) be the mass flow rates of the vapor and liquid product streams, respectively. Draw and label a process flowchart, then write and solve balances on total mass and on benzene to determine the expected values of & & mv and ml . For each balance, state which terms of the general balance equation (accumulation = input + generation output consumption) you discarded and why you discarded them. (See Example 4.2-2) (b) Next, suppose the process is to be carried out in a closed container that initially contains 100.0 kg of the liquid mixture. Let mv (kg) and ml (kg) be the masses of the final vapor and liquid phases, respectively. Draw and label a process flowchart, then write and solve integral balances on total mass and on benzene to determine mv and ml . For each balance, state which terms of the general balance equation (accumulation = input + generation output consumption) you discarded and why you discarded them. (c) Returning to the continuous process, suppose the evaporator is built and started up and the product stream flow rates and compositions are measured. The measured percentage of benzene in the vapor stream is 85% and the product stream flow rate have the values calculated in part (a), but the liquid product stream is found to contain 7% benzene instead of 10.6%. One possible explanation is that a mistake was made in the measurement. Give at least five others. [Think about assumptions you made in obtaining the solution of part (a).] SOLUTION (a) The process flow diagram for this process would look like the following Vapor & mv 85.0 % benzene (mass) Feed 100.0 kg/h 55.0 % benzene (mass) Liquid & ml 10.6 % benzene (mass)

Using the general balance equation

accumulation = input + generation output consumption

We can eliminate the accumulation term since the process is described as being at steadystate. Since we are balancing mass (with no chemical reactions) the generation and consumption terms are also zero since mass is neither created nor destroyed. Thus the general balance becomes

0 = input output
Doing this for the total mass gives

100.0 Doing the same for benzene gives

kg & & = m v + ml h

kg & & 0.55 100.0 = 0.85 mv + 0.106 ml h & This gives two equations in two unknowns. Solve the first for ml and substitute this expression into the second equation to get

kg kg & & 0.55 100.0 = 0.85 mv + 0.106 100.0 mv h h & & Solve this for mv to get mv = 59.7 & ml = 40.3 kg . h kg . Using this value in the first equation gives h

(b) For this situation the process flowchart would look like the following

Vapor

mv
85.0 % benzene Liquid 100.0 kg 55.0 % benzene

Time

Liquid

ml
10.6 % benzene

The general balance would still be

accumulation = input + generation output consumption Since this is a batch process the balance is between two moments in time. If we consider the vapor phase balance we can write

accumulation = generation
Since there is no input or output (batch system) and nothing in the vapor phase is consumed. Instead the accumulation of material in the vapor phase (difference between the amount of vapor phase between two instants in time) is equal to the generation of the vapor phase. If we do this for the total amount of the vapor phase we get mv 0 = 100.0 kg ml h

where the zero on the left hand side is the amount of the vapor phase at time t = 0 and mv is the amount of the vapor at some time later (call it t). The amount of vapor generated is the difference between the total amount of liquid at t = 0 and the amount at t. Doing the same for the benzene gives kg 0.85 mv 0 = 0.55 100.0 0.106 ml h As in part (a) this gives two equations in two unknowns. Substitute the first into the second to get kg kg 0.85 100.0 ml 0 = 0.55 100.0 0.106 ml h h Solve this to get ml = 40.3 kg . Substitute this into the first equation to get mv = 59.7 kg . (c) For other reasons take a look at the general balance equation and see if there are situations where the assumptions we made might not be true. Among the possibilities are: i) The process is not at steady-state. ii) A reaction is occurring that consumes the benzene iii) There is a leak in the system and some of the benzene is escaping iv) The temperature in the system is higher than you had anticipated. v) The pressure in the system is lower than you had anticipated.