Republic of the Philippines

BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Pablo Borbon Main II, Alangilan Batangas City
College of Engineering, Architecture & Fine Arts
www.batstate-u.edu.ph Tel. No. (043) 425-0139 loc. 118

Chemical and Food Engineering Department

ChE – 403: Chemical Engineering Calculations

Name: Rocel Marie D. Lopez Section: ChE - 2103

Material Balance

Material balance involves the calculation of all quantities of materials that enter and leave
any system or process which are based on the law of conservation of mass. The law states that
matter is neither created or destroyed in the process and the total mass remains unchanged.

A process is an operation or series of operations that causes a physical or chemical change in

a substance while the system can be defined as any arbitrary portion of a process that can be
considered for analysis.

Classifications of Unit Operations

1. Evaporation- Evaporation is a type of vaporization, which occurs on the surface of

a liquid as it changes into the gaseous phase. Evaporation is the removal of solvent as vapor
from a solution, slurry or suspension of solid in a liquid. The aim is to concentrate a non-
volatile solute, such as organic compounds, inorganic salts, acids or bases from a solvent.
Common solutes are caustic soda, caustic potash, sodium sulfate, sodium chloride,
phosphoric acid, and urea.

Factors Influencing the Rate of Evaporation

 Concentration of the substance evaporating in the air
If the air already has a high concentration of the substance evaporating, then the
given substance will evaporate more slowly.
 Concentration of other substances in the air
If the air is already saturated with other substances, it can have a lower capacity
for the substance evaporating.
 Flow rate of air
This is in part related to the concentration points above. If "fresh" air (i.e., air
which is neither already saturated with the substance nor with other substances) is
moving over the substance all the time, then the concentration of the substance in
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 the air is less likely to go up with time, thus encouraging faster evaporation. This
is the result of the boundary layer at the +evaporation surface decreasing with
flow velocity, decreasing the diffusion distance in the stagnant layer.
 The amount of minerals dissolved in the liquidInter-molecular forces
The stronger the forces keeping the molecules together in the liquid state, the
more energy one must get to escape. This is characterized by the enthalpy of
vaporization.
 Pressure
Evaporation happens faster if there is less exertion on the surface keeping the
molecules from launching themselves.
 Surface area
A substance that has a larger surface area will evaporate faster, as there are more
surface molecules per unit of volume that are potentially able to escape.
 Temperature of the substance
The higher the temperature of the substance, the greater the kinetic energy of the
molecules at its surface, and therefore the faster the rate of their evaporation.

2. Drying - Refers to the removal of other organic liquids such as benzene from solids.

Principles of Drying
A. Temperature Pattern in Dryers
- The way in which temperatures vary in a dryer depends on the nature and
liquid content of feedstock, the temperature of the heating medium, the drying
time and the allowable final temperature of dry solids. The pattern of variation
however, is similar from one dryer to another.
B. Heat Transfer in Dryers
- Drying of wet solids is by definition a thermal process. While it is often
complicated by diffusion in the solid or through a gas, it is possible to dry
many materials merely by heating them above the boiling point of the liquid.
C. Mass Transfer in Dryers
- In all dryers, mass must be transferred from the surface of the solid to the gas
and sometimes through interior channels of the solid. The resistance to mass
transfer, not heat transfer, may control the drying rate.
D. Equilibrium Moisture and Free Moisture
- That portion of the water in the wet solid that cannot be removed by the inlet
air, because of the humidity of the latter, is called the equilibrium moisture.
The free water I the difference between the total water content of the solid and
the equilibrium water content.
E. Bound and Unbound Water
- The moisture content so defined in the minimum moisture the material can
carry and still exert a vapor pressure at least as great as that exerted by liquid
water at the same temperature.
F. Constant Rate Period
- This period which may be absent if the initial moisture content of the solid is
less than certain minimum is called the constant rate period. It is characterized
by a rate of drying independent of moisture content.

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 G. Critical Moisture Content and Falling Rate Period
- As the moisture content decreases, the constant rate period ends at a definite
moisture content, and during a further drying the rate decreases. The point
terminating the constant rate period is called the critical point. In nonporous
solids, the critical point occurs at about the time when the supercritical
moisture is evaporated. In porous solids, the critical point is reached when the
rate of moisture flow to the surface no longer equals the rate of evaporation
called by the wet-bulb evaporation process. The critical moisture content
varies with the thickness of the material and wit the rate of drying. The point
subsequent to the critical point is called the falling-rate period.
H. Nonporous Solids and Diffusion Theory
- Diffusion is characteristic of slow-drying materials. The resistance to mass
transfer of water vapor from the solid surface to the air is usually negligible
and diffusion in the solid controls the overall drying rate.
I. Porous Solids and Flow by Capillarity
- The flow of liquid through porous solids does not conform to the solution to
the diffusion equation. Moisture flows through porous solids by capillarity
and to some extent by surface diffusion.

3. Distillation- It is a method of separating the constituents of mixture (either a liquid or q

gaseous one). It is a physical process and not a chemical reaction using the different boiling
temperatures of the constituents to separate them from the others.
4. Gas Absorption and Desorption

Gas Absorption or Scrubbing is a process in which a gas mixture is contacted with a

liquid for the purpose of dissolving one or more components of the gas mixture and to provide a
solution of them in the liquid. There is mass transfer of the component of the gas from the gas
phase to the liquid phase. The solute transferred is said to be absorbed by the liquid.

In Gas Desorption or Stripping, however, the transfer is in the opposite direction, that is
from liquid phase to the gas phase. Here, two components of a liquid are separated by contact
with a gas. The principles for both systems are the same.

Physical and Chemical Adsorption

There are 2 types of absorption processes: physical absorption and chemical

absorption, depending on whether there is any chemical reaction between the solute and the
solvent (absorbent).

 When water and hydrocarbon oils are used as absorbents, no significant chemical
reactions occur between the absorbent and the solute, and the process is commonly
referred to as physical absorption.

 When aqueous sodium hydroxide (a strong base) is used as the absorbent to dissolve an
acid gas, absorption is accompanied by a rapid and irreversible neutralization reaction in

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 the liquid phase and the process is referred to as chemical absorption or reactive
absorption.

5. Adsorption - defined as the process of accumulation of any substance giving higher

concentration of molecular species on the surface of another substance as compared to that in
the bulk. It is phenomenon of concentration of molecules of a gas or liquid at a solid surface.
It is a well-established and powerful technique for treating domestic and industrial effluents.
Mechanism of Adsorption
The basic principle of operation for carbon adsorption is the mass transfer and adsorption of a
molecule from a liquid or gas into solid surface. Adsorption occurs because
a. The contaminant has low solubility in the waste
b. The contaminant has greater affinity for the carbon than for the waste
c. A combination of two (i and ii)
Types of Adsorption
1. Physical Adsorption or Physisorption occurs when the force of attraction existing
between adsorbate and adsorbent are weak Vanderwaal forces of attraction. It takes place
with formation of multilayer of adsorbate on adsorbent.

Chemical Adsorption or Chemisorption occurs when the force of attraction existing between
adsorbate and adsorbent are chemical forces of attraction or chemical bond. Chemisorption
takes place with formation of unilayer of adsorbate on adsorbent.

6. Crystallization - It is a solid-liquid separation process in which the mass transfer occurs of a

solute from the liquid solution to a pure solid crystalline phase. Crystallization is the physical
transformation (phase transition) of a liquid, solution, or gas to a crystal, which is a solid
with an ordered internal arrangement of molecules, ions, or atoms.

Principle of Crystallization
The principle behind the crystallization is that the amount of solute that can be dissolved
by a solvent increases with temperature. In crystallization, the impure substance is
dissolved in a suitable solvent to reach its nearly saturated solution at a temperature higher
than the room temperature.

7. Extraction
a. Extraction: Liquid- Solid Process (Leaching) - Leaching is the process of extracting
minerals from a solid by dissolving them in a liquid, either in nature or through an
industrial process.

b. Liquid- Liquid Extraction- Liquid–liquid extraction (LLE), also known as solvent

extraction and partitioning, is a method to separate compounds or metal complexes, based
on their relative solubilities in two different immiscible liquids, usually water (polar) and
an organic solvent (non-polar)

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 c. Solid Phase Extraction- Solid phase extraction is a form of digital (step-wise)
chromatography designed to extract, partition, and/or adsorb one or more components
from a liquid phase (sample) onto stationary phase (sorbent or resin).

8. Flotation- is a process of separating mixtures which involves separating substances by

whether they sink or float. Flotation is a process in Liquid-Solid Separation technology
whereby solids in suspension are recovered by their attachment to gas, bubbles to the solid
from the liquid. Flotation is used primarily in the treatment of wastewater streams that carry
heavy loads of finely divided suspended solids or oil.

9. Filtration- is a mechanical or physical process of separating suspended and colloidal

particles from fluids (liquids or gases) by interposing a medium through which only the fluid
can pass. Medium used is generally a granular material through which water is passed. In the
conventional water treatment process, filtration usually follows coagulation, flocculation, and
sedimentation.
10. Sedimentation- also known as settling or clarification, is the process of allowing particles in
suspension in water to settle out of the suspension under the effect of gravity. The particles
that settle out from the suspension become sediment, and in water treatment is known as
sludge. When a thick layer of sediment continues to settle, this is known as consolidation.
When consolidation of sediment, or sludge, is assisted by mechanical means then this is
known as thickening.
11. Mechanical Size Reduction- In size reduction of solids, feed materials or solid are reduced
to a smaller size by mechanical action.

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