UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO

Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

CIE 340 J.N. Jensen

Environmental Engineering Spring 2013

Homework #2
Out Friday September 5, 2014, due Friday September 12, 2014 at 9:00am

In this homework assignment, you will use the tools of the energy and number balances. Problems 1 and 3
guide you through the energy and number balance analysis process, respectively. Use the solution process you
practice in Problem 1 to solve Problem 2.

Problem 1: UB has received a lot of attention recently for the water lens. A water lens focuses sunlight through
a circular lens into a pot of water to be disinfected. Assume the lens is 40% efficient (i.e., 40% of the energy
hitting the top of the lens is transmitted to the water to be disinfected). Assume the pot is perfectly insulated.

A. Write the energy balance for this system in words.

B. What hydrodynamic model would you use for this system (batch, CSTR, or plug flow) and why?
C. Write expressions for each term in the energy balance in Part A if the solar intensity is I (W/m2), the lens has
diameter D (m), the pot has volume V (m3), and the water in the pot is to be heated T (degrees C) over the
course of t seconds. Explain your work.
D. Determine the diameter of the lens to heat 20 L of water in the pot from 25oC to 65oC in 2 hours if the solar
intensity is 250 W/m2. Use the model you have been developing in Parts A, B, and C.

Problem 2: Incandescent light bulbs have been phased out in the US because they are very inefficient (i.e., they
produce a very large amount of heat). They convert about 7% of the energy they receive into light, with the
remainder released as heat. Suppose a 60 W incandescent light bulb is placed in a 100 m3 insulated room. (A 60
W light bulb consumes 60 W of electricity.)

A. Write an energy balance for the room in words. Treat the light bulb as a source of energy (like a utilization
rate).
B. Calculate the J/s given off by the incandescent lamp as heat.
C. Calculate the change in temperature of the air in the room over 4 hours. The density of air is 1.2 g/L. The
heat capacity of air is 1.004 J/g-oC. (Note: This is a pretty big temperature increase because we are assuming
that the room is perfectly insulated.)

Problem 3: Some bacteria can reproduce exponentially with a doubling time of 20 minutes.

A. If you put one bacterium in a Petri dish, write a number balance for the dish assuming no inflow or outflow
of bacteria. Write it in words and as a mathematical equation.
B. What is the value of the growth rate constant r?
C. Starting with one bacterium, how long would the bacteria have to grow exponentially to be equivalent to the
mass of a 75 kg person? Assume one bacterium weighs 6.541014 g. (Note: It will be a pretty short time. In
reality, bacteria do not maintain such a short doubling time for a long time.)

Extra credit: Design a problem to be solved using an energy or number balance analysis. Submit the problem
and its solution on a separate piece of paper with your name on it.