KAMARAJ COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF POLYMER TECHNOLOGY

FIRST INTERNAL TEST – 2010

SUB CODE: PT 44 SUB NAME: PRINCIPLES OF CHEMICAL ENGINERING

SUB INCHARGE: K.AGATHIAN

TOTAL MARKS: 50 MARKS TIME: 1 ½ HOURS

PART A 5 X 2 = 10 Marks
1. What is a unit operation?
2. Name three types of impeller used in agitated vessel for mixing?
3. What is power number in agitated vessel?
4. Define the laws used for crushing?
5. What is the purpose of agitating fluids?
PART B 4X 10 = 40 Marks
6. Derive the equation for power required to derive the impeller?
7. Explain the various types of agitators with a neat sketch?
8. Explain the function of Jaw and roll crusher with a neat sketch?
9. Explain the working of cyclone separator and hydro clones?

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 KEY TO FIRST INTERNAL QUESTION

PART A
1. Unit operation:
• A unit operation is a basic step in a process.
• For example in milk processing, homogenization, pasteurization, chilling, and
packaging are each unit operations which are connected to create the overall process. A
process may have many unit operations to obtain the desired product.
Chemical engineering unit operations consist of five classes:
 Fluid flow processes, including fluids transportation, filtration, solids
fluidization
 Heat transfer processes, including evaporation, condensation
 Mass transfer processes, including gas absorption, distillation, extraction,
adsorption, drying
 Thermodynamic processes, including gas liquefaction, refrigeration
 Mechanical processes, including solids transportation, crushing and
pulverization, screening and sieving
2. Three impellers:
• Radial flow
• Mixed flow,
• Axial and peripheral flow.
3. Power number in agitated vessel:
P =Np.Sp.gr.N3.D5 / 1.524 * 10 13
Where P – Impeller power (HP)
Np – Power number.
Sp.gr – Fluid specific gravity.
N – Rotational speed (rpm)
D – Impeller diameter (inch)
4. Laws used for crushing:
A general equation giving the power required for size reduction is:
dE/dL = KLn
And from this can be derived
(a) Kick's Law in which n = -1 and which may be integrated to give:
E = KKfc loge(L1/L2)
(b) Rittinger's Law in which n = - 2, integrated to give:
E = KRfc(1/L2– 1/L1)
(c) Bond's equation in which n = - 3/2, integrated to give:
E = Ei (100/L2)1/2(1 - 1/q1/2)
5. Purpose of agitating fluids:
1. Gas-liquid mass transfer
The higher shear field near the impeller tip produces small bubbles, thereby increasing
gas-liquid interfacial area.
2. Suspension of solid (e.g. microcarriers, soybean meal) or dispersion of liquid
3. Liquid-liquid, liquid-solid mass transfer (e.g. hydrocarbon culture, quick mixing of
pH neutralizing base)
4. Decrease the maximum size of pellets or aggregates.
- Pellets are cell aggregates of mycelial mciroorganisms
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 (streptomyces, molds)

PART B

6. Equation for power required to derive the impeller: 10 Marks

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 7. Various types of agitators: 10 Marks
• Basically, an agitator is a shaft with a propeller attached. As mentioned earlier,
the two components that provide for good mixing are radial and axial flow.
• A propeller with pitched blades promotes this behavior.
• The propeller speeds range from 350 to 1750 RPM with suspended matter
being agitated at lower speeds and for rapidly dissolved solids or chemical reactions at
the higher speeds. Propellers typically work best at 3 HP or below and in tanks whose
diameters do not exceed six feet.
• Paddle type agitators come in both curved and flat-blade-turbine styles. They
operate in a wider range of horsepowers and larger tank diameters than the propeller
types.
• The blades extend farther than for propellers as well, so higher NRE values are
achieved at lower RPMs. Curved blade designs work well when starting up in a tank
of settled solids.
• Another variation is multiple propellers set along the agitator arm to enhance
mixing. These are especially advantageous with solid suspensions. (Example:
Leaching of minerals from aggregates in a tank.)

• Circular (tangential) motion in fluids will still occur with propeller or paddle
agitators. Given the disadvantages cited earlier, there are a few ways to minimize this.
• A relatively easy solution is to set the agitator in an off-center position.
• This solution is generally limited to low (<3 HP) energy applications because
flow patterns would apply excess stress loads to the agitator arm at higher power
levels.

8. Function of Jaw and roll crusher:

Jaw Crusher 5 Marks
• A jaw or toggle crusher consists of a set of vertical jaws, one jaw being fixed and the other
being moved back and forth relative to it by a cam or pitman mechanism.
• The jaws are farther apart at the top than at the bottom, forming a tapered chute so that the
material is crushed progressively smaller and smaller as it travels downward until it is small
enough to escape from the bottom opening.
• The movement of the jaw can be quite small, since complete crushing is not performed in
one stroke.
• The inertia required to crush the material is provided by a weighted flywheel that moves a
shaft creating an eccentric motion that causes the closing of the gap.
• Single and double toggle jaw crushers are constructed of heavy duty fabricated plate frames
with reinforcing ribs throughout.
• The crushers’ components are of high strength design to accept high power draw.
• Manganese steel is used for both fixed and movable jaw faces.
• Heavy flywheels allow crushing peaks on tough materials. Double Toggle jaw crushers may
feature hydraulic toggle adjusting mechanisms.

Gyratory Crusher 5 marks

• A gyratory crusher is similar in basic concept to a jaw crusher, consisting of a concave
surface and a conical head; both surfaces are typically lined with manganese steel surfaces.
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 • The inner cone has a slight circular movement, but does not rotate; the movement is
generated by an eccentric arrangement.
• As with the jaw crusher, material travels downward between the two surfaces being
progressively crushed until it is small enough to fall out through the gap between the two
surfaces.
• A gyratory crusher is one of the main types of primary crushers in a mine or ore processing
plant. Gyratory crushers are designated in size either by the gape and mantle diameter or by
the size of the receiving opening.
• Gyratory crushers can be used for primary or secondary crushing.
• The crushing action is caused by the closing of the gap between the mantle line (movable)
mounted on the central vertical spindle and the concave liners (fixed) mounted on the main
frame of the crusher.
• The gap is opened and closed by an eccentric on the bottom of the spindle that causes the
central vertical spindle to gyrate.
• The vertical spindle is free to rotate around its own axis. The crusher illustrated is a short-
shaft suspended spindle type, meaning that the main shaft is suspended at the top and that the
eccentric is mounted above the gear.
• The short-shaft design has superseded the long-shaft design in which the eccentric is
mounted below the gear.

9. Working of cyclone separator and hydro clones:

Cyclone Seperator 5 Marks
• Cyclonic separation is a method of removing particulates from an air, gas or water stream,
without the use of filters, through vortex separation. Rotational effects and gravity are used to
separate mixtures of solids and fluids.
• A high speed rotating (air) flow is established within a cylindrical or conical container called
a cyclone. Air flows in a spiral pattern, beginning at the top (wide end) of the cyclone and
ending at the bottom (narrow) end before exiting the cyclone in a straight stream through the
center of the cyclone and out the top.
• Larger (denser) particles in the rotating stream have too much inertia to follow the tight
curve of the stream and strike the outside wall, falling then to the bottom of the cyclone
where they can be removed. In a conical system, as the rotating flow moves towards the
narrow end of the cyclone the rotational radius of the stream is reduced, separating smaller
and smaller particles.
• The cyclone geometry, together with flow rate, defines the cut point of the cyclone. This is
the size of particle that will be removed from the stream with a 50% efficiency.
• Particles larger than the cut point will be removed with a greater efficiency, and smaller
particles with a lower efficiency.
• Large scale cyclones are used in sawmills to remove sawdust from extracted air.
• Cyclones are also used in oil refineries to separate oils and gases, and in the cement industry
as components of kiln pre heaters. Smaller cyclones are used to separate airborne particles for
analysis.
• Some are small enough to be worn clipped to clothing and are used to separate respirable
particles for later analysis.
• Analogous devices for separating particles or solids from liquids are called hydro cyclones or
hydro clones.
• These may be used to separate solid waste from water in wastewater and sewage treatment.

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Hydro Clones 5 Marks

• A hydrocyclone is a device to classify, separate or sort particles in a liquid suspension based

on the densities of the particles.
• A hydrocyclone may be used to separate solids from liquids or to separate liquids of different
density.
• A hydrocyclone will normally have a cylindrical section at the top where liquid is being
fed tangentially, and a conical base.
• The angle, and hence length of the conical section, plays a role in determining operating
characteristics.

Uses

• A hydrocyclone is most often used to separate "heavies" from a liquid mixture originating at a
centrifugal pump or some other continuous source of pressurized liquid.
• A hydrocyclone is most likely to be the right choice for processes where "lights" are the
greater part of the mixture and where the "heavies" settle fairly easily.
• Generally, hydrocyclones are used in continuous flow systems so that the instantaneous liquid
inflow to the hydrocyclone is equal to the total instantaneous outflow of "lights" plus
"heavies". I
• n cases where "heavies" are a very small part of the whole liquid, it is sometimes
advantageous to accumulate them in the bottom of the hydrocyclone for batchwise removal.