QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

CHEE 221 CHEMICAL PROCESSES AND SYSTEMS
QUIZ #2-2015 (2 questions for 25 total marks)
50 minutes

NAME: STUDENT NUMBER:

1. (10 marks) Ethane (C2H6) is chlorinated in a continuous reactor:

C2 H 6  Cl2  C2 H 5Cl  HCl
Some of the product monochloroethane is further chlorinated in an undesired side reaction:
C2 H 5Cl  Cl2  C2 H 4Cl2  HCl
The reactor, operating at steady state, is designed to achieve a 15% conversion of ethane and a
selectivity of 14 mol C2H5Cl/mol C2H4Cl2.

Assume that the feed contains only ethane and chlorine (Cl2), and that all of the chlorine is
consumed in the reactor. Taking a basis of 100 mol/h of C2H5Cl produced, draw and completely
label a flow diagram of the system. Write out the system of equations required to solve for all
unknowns, including known information where available. In addition, specify the equation for
the fractional yield of C2H5Cl.

You do not need to provide a numerical solution, only the set of equations.

Turn over for Q2

2. (15 marks total)

Methanol (CH3OH) is synthesized from carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a catalytic reactor.
100 mol/h of fresh feed is fed to the process, containing 32.0 mol% CO, 64.0 mol% H2 and 4.0
mol% N2. This stream is mixed with a recycle stream in the ratio 5 mol recycle/1 mol fresh feed
to produce the feed to the reactor. This feed to the reactor contains 13.0 mol% N2. The reactor
effluent goes to a condenser from which two streams emerge: a liquid product stream containing
all the methanol formed in the reactor, and a gas stream containing all of the CO, H2 and N2
leaving the reactor. The gas stream is split into two fractions: one is removed from the process as
a purge stream, and the other is the recycle stream that combines with the fresh feed to the
reactor.

Note that CO and H2 are fed in stoichiometric proportions, and remain in this 1:2 ratio
throughout the entire process.

i) Draw and completely label a flow diagram of this process, with all streams
completely labeled with known information, and variables introduced to represent the
unknown quantities (5 marks).

ii) Calculate the production rate of methanol (mol/h), the molar flow rate and
composition of the purge gas, and the overall AND single-pass conversions (10
marks).