CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PRINCIPLES

Chemical Engineering Calculations

INSTRUCTION: Select the correct answer for each of the following

questions.

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For numbers 1 to 2:
A solvent dewaxing unit in an oil refinery is separating 5000 bbl/day of a
lubricating distillate into 23 vol percent of slack wax and 77 vol percent
of dewaxed oil. The charge is mixed with solvent, chilled, and filtered into
wax and oil solution streams. The solvent is then removed from the two
streams by two banks of stripping columns, the bottoms from each column in
a bank being charged to the next column in the bank. The oil bank consists
of four columns, and the wax bank of three. A test on the charge and bottoms
from each column gave the following results:

percent solvent by volume

to 1st no. 1 no. 2 no. 3 no. 4
column bottoms bottoms bottoms bottoms
Pressed
83 70 27 4.0 0.8
Oil
Wax 83 71 23 0.5 ----

1. Calculate the total solution per day charged to the whole unit.
A. 17468 bbl/d C. 23567 bbl/d
B. 18795 bbl/d D. 29412 bbl/d

2. Calculate the barrels of solvent lost per day (in bottoms from last
column of each bank).
A. 22 bbl/d C. 15 bbl/d
B. 37 bbl/d D. 48 bbl/d

3. Assume that 50% of water present in a wet material is removed by drying.

Which one of the following statements is true?
A. The mass fraction of water in the solids leaving is half the mass fraction
of water in the entering solid.
B. The mass ratio of water in the solids leaving is half the mass ratio of
water in the entering solid.
C. The mass fraction and the mass ratio of water in the solid leaving the
dryer are half of the respective values in the feed.
D. The weight percent of water in the solids leaving the dryer is 25%.

For numbers 4 to 6:
In a process producing KNO3 salt, 1000 kg/h of a feed solution containing
10% KNO3 is fed to an evaporator which evaporates some water to produce a
50% KNO3 solution. This is then fed to a crystallizer, where crystals
containing 95% KNO3 are removed. The saturated solution containing 35% KNO3
is recycled to the evaporator. Calculate the following:

4. The amount of recycle steam, kg/h

A. 315.8 C. 275.1
B. 460.5 D. 193.7

5. The amount of crystals, kg/h

A. 97.67 C. 59.24
B. 88.33 D. 105.26

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6. The quantity of water evaporated, kg/h
A. 554.3 C. 148.9
B. 894.7 D. 692.1

7. Six hundred pounds of wet material containing 20% moisture (dry basis) is
fed to a dryer per hour. The product obtained was 515 lbs per hour. Find the
composition of the product in % moisture (dry basis).
A. 1% C. 7%
B. 4% D. 3%

8. A saturated solution containing 1000 kg of potassium chloride at 360 K is

cooled in an open tank to 290 K. If the specific gravity of the solution is
1.2, the solubility of potassium chloride per 100 parts water is 53.55 at
360 K and 34.5 at 290 K. What is the capacity of the tank?
A. 4.56 m3 C. 2.40 m3
B. 3.58 m 3 D. 5.71 m3

9. An evaporation-crystallizer process is used to obtain solid K2SO4 from an

aqueous solution of this salt. The fresh feed of the process contains 19.6%
wt K2SO4. The fresh feed joins a recycle stream from the filtrate product of
the recycle and enters the evaporator where 42% of the water fed is
evaporated. The evaporator has a maximum capacity of 175 kg water evaporated
per second. The concentrated solution then enters the crystallizer. The wet
filter cake consists of solid K2SO4 crystals and 40 wt% K2SO4 solution, in a
ratio of 10 kg crystals per kg solution. The filtrate is recycled to join
the fresh feed. Calculate the maximum recycle to fresh feed ratio.
A. 2.50 C. 1.60
B. 2.40 D. 1.80

10. A tannery extracts certain wood barks which contains 40% tannin, 5%
moisture, 23% soluble non-tannin materials and the rest insoluble lignin.
The residue removed from the extraction tanks contain 50% water, 3% tannin
and 1% soluble non-tannin materials. What percent of the original tannin
remains unextracted?
A. 3.4% C. 5.2%
B. 4.8% D. 6.9%

11. 0.05 kg of a slightly soluble salt is mixed with 0.1 kg of water. The
undissolved salt is removed by filtration. The filter cake weighed 0.045 kg
as obtained and 0.040 kg after drying. What is the solubility of the salt in
water expressed in kg salt/100 kg water?
A. 10.53 g C. 12.34 g
B. 13.05 g D. 14.32 g

12. Seawater containing 3.5 wt% salt passes through a series of 10

evaporators. Roughly equal quantities of water are vaporized in each of
the 10 units and then condensed and combined to obtain a product stream
of fresh water. The brine leaving each evaporator but the tenth is fed
to the next evaporator. The brine leaving the tenth evaporator contains
5 wt% salt. Calculate the weight percent of salt leaving the fourth
evaporator.
A. 0.02 C. 0.04
B. 0.01 D. 0.05

13. Sulfur dioxide is absorbed in a weak liquor which enters the top of the
column at a rate of 75 m3/h with SO2 concentration of 0.05 wt% and leaves
with SO2 concentration of 1 wt%. A gas stream with 20% mol SO2 enters the
column and 75% of the SO2 in the gas stream is absorbed in the weak liquor.
The pressure in the column is 1.5 bar and the temperature is 310 K. Assuming
that the liquor has a specific gravity of 1.0, determine the volume percent
of SO2 in the gas leaving the column
A. 5.88% C. 2.67%
B. 4.25% D. 3.33%
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For numbers 14 to 16:
In the production of bean oil, beans containing 13.0 wt% oil and 87.0 wt%
solids are ground and fed to an extractor along with fresh and recycled
streams of liquid n-hexane. The feed ratio is 3kg hexane/kg beans. During
extraction, the ground beans are suspended in the liquid, and essentially
all of the oil in the beans is extracted into the hexane. The extractor
effluent then passes to a filter. The filter cake contains 75.0 wt% bean
solids and the balance bean oil and hexane, the latter two in the same ratio
in which they emerge from the extractor. The filter cake is discarded and
the liquid filtrate is fed to a heated evaporator in which the hexane is
vaporized and the oil remains as a liquid. The oil is then taken as the
process product. The hexane vapor is subsequently cooled and condensed, and
the liquid condensate is recycled to the extractor. Calculate the following:

14. yield of bean oil product (kg oil/kg beans fed)

A. 0.118 C. 0.286
B. 0.354 D. 0.495

15. required fresh hexane feed per kilogram of beans fed

A. 0.39 C. 0.41
B. 0.57 D. 0.28

16. recycle to fresh hexane feed ratio.

A. 8.0 C. 7.3
B. 9.7 D. 6.9

17. Consider the following schematic diagram (an excerpt from a tissue
manufacturing plant). Stream N contains 85% fiber and all values reported
are in kilograms.

What is the ratio of R/N?

A. 74.54 C. 0.016
B. 36.32 D. 62.12

For numbers 18 to 20:

Potable water containing not more than 500 ppm dissolved salt is made by
desalinization by reverse osmosis of sea water which contains 3.1% salt.
Fresh sea water is admitted at a rate of 1000 kg/h. Potable water is withdrawn
from the reverse osmosis cell as product while a fraction of the brine that
leaves the cell and containing 5.25% salt is recycled. The concentration of
salt in the stream entering the cell after mixing the recycle stream with
fresh sea water is 4.0%. Determine the following:

18. The rate at which brine is removed from the plant, kg/h
A. 642 C. 490
B. 311 D. 587

19. The rate at which potable water is produced, kg/h

a. 424 C. 509
b. 586 D. 413

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20. The fraction of the brine leaving the cell that is recycled.
A. 0.40 C. 0.33
B. 0.25 D. 0.56

21. Glaubers salt is made by crystallization from a water solution at 200C.

The aqueous solution at 200C contains 8.4% sodium sulfate. How many grams of
water must be evaporated from a liter of such solution whose specific gravity
is 1.077 so that when the residue solution after evaporation is cooled to
200C, there will be crystallized out of 80% of the original sodium sulfate
as Glaubers salt? The solubility of sodium sulphate in equilibrium with the
decahydrate is 19.4 g Na2SO4 per 100 g H2O.
A. 851 C. 852
B. 721 D. 802

22. Calculate the weight rate flow in lb/hr of ammonia, through a pipe from
the following data. A stream of pure oxygen is admitted to the ammonia line
at a rate of 40 cubic feet per minute and the resulting mixture is sampled
farther along the pipe and found to contain 10% by volume oxygen. The entering
oxygen is metered at 3.3 psig and 850F.
A. 1130 lb/hr C. 1250 lb/hr
B. 1470 lb/hr D. 1340 lb/hr

23. The manufacture of such products as penicillin, tetracycline, vitamins,

and other pharmaceuticals, as well as photographic chemicals, dyes, and other
fine organic compounds, usually requires separating the suspended solids
from their mother liquid by centrifugation, and then drying the wet cake. A
closed-loop system (figure) for centrifuge unloading, drying, conveying, and
solvent recovery is comprised of equipment especially designed for handling
materials requiring sterile and contamination-free conditions. Given the
experimental measurements on the pilot plant equipment outline in figure:

What is the lb/hr of the recycle stream R?

A. 18.6 C. 23.4
B. 43.8 D. 36.9

For numbers 24 to 26:

In an absorption tower (or absorber), a gas is contacted with a liquid such
that one or more components in the gas is transferred in the liquid. A
stripping tower (stripper) also involves a gas contacting a liquid but
components are transferred from the liquid into the gas. A process consisting
of an absorber and a stripper is used to separate the components of a gas
containing 30.0 mole% CO2 and the balance CH4. This gas is fed to the absorber.
A liquid containing 0.500 mole% CO2 and the balanced methanol is recycled
from the stripper and also fed to the absorber. The effluent gas leaving the
absorber contains 1.00 mole% CO2 and all the CH4 in the feed gas. The effluent
solvent leaving the absorber is fed to the stripper (the same stripper that
supplies the recycled CO2-methanol liquid mixture) together with a stream of
nitrogen gas. Ninety percent of the CO2 in this effluent solvent is removed
in the stripper and the nitrogen/CO2 stream leaving the stripper passes out
to the atmosphere. Methanol may be assumed to be non-volatile and nitrogen
may be assumed insoluble in methanol.

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24. Taking 100 mol/h of the gas fed to the absorber, calculate the fractional
CO2 removal in the absorber (moles CO2 absorbed/mole CO2 in gas feed).
A. 0.835 C. 0.976
B. 0.712 D. 0.654

25. Molar flow rate and composition of the liquid feed to the stripping
tower.
A. 680 mol/h; 0.0478 C. 680 mol/h; 0.0362
B. 120 mol/h; 0.0362 D. 120 mol/h; 0.0478

26. Molar feed rate of the gas to the absorber required to produce an absorber
product gas flow rate of 1000 kg/h.
A. 3.45 x 104 mol/h C. 1.85 x 104 mol/h
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B. 8.69 x 10 mol/h D. 7.32 x 104 mol/h

27. A water solution of molasses contains 5% by weight of sucrose. The CO2

formed in the reaction can be considered having a negligible solubility in
the solution and the last 5% of the sugar can be assumed unchanged. The
weight percent of ethyl alcohol in the solution after 95% of the sucrose has
been converted to ethyl alcohol by fermentation is
A. 5% C. 6%
B. 8% D. 3%

For numbers 28 to 31:

A common method used in manufacturing sodium hypochlorite bleach is by the
reaction
Cl2 + NaOH → NaCl + NaOCl + H2O
Chlorine gas is bubbled through an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide after
which the desired product is separated from the sodium chloride. A water-
NaOH solution that contains 1145 lb of pure NaOH is reacted with 851 lb of
gaseous chlorine. The NaOCl formed weighs 618 lb.

28. What is the limiting reactant?

A. NaOH C. Cl2
B. H2O D. NaOCl

29. What was the percent excess of the excess reactant used?
A. 19.2% C. 45.7%
B. 31.2% D. 51.3%

30. What is the degree of completion of the reaction, expressed as the moles
of NaOCl formed to the moles of NaOCl that would have formed if the reaction
had gone to completion?
A. 0.40 C. 0.69
B. 0.53 D. 0.75

31. What is the yield of NaOCl per amount of chloride used (on a weight
basis)?
A. 0.11 C. 0.37
B. 0.54 D. 0.73

For numbers 32 to 34:

In a process for the manufacture of chlorine by direct oxidation of HCl with
air over a catalyst to form Cl2 and H2O (only), the exit product is composed
of HCl (4.4%), CI2, (19.8%), H2O (19.8%), O2 (4.0%), and N2 (52.0%).

32. The limiting reactant?

A. Cl2 C. HCl
B. O2 D. N2

33. The percent excess reactant?

A. 33% C. 26%
B. 22% D. 35%
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34. The degree of completion of the reaction?
A. 0.88 C. 0.92
B. 0.90 D. 0.85

For numbers 35 to 37:

Phosgene gas is probably most famous for being the first toxic gas used
offensively in World War I, but it is also used extensively in the chemical
processing of a wide variety of materials. Phosgene can be made by the
catalytic reaction between CO and chlorine gas in the presence of a carbon
catalyst. The chemical reaction is CO + Cl2 à COCl2. Suppose that you have
measured the reaction products from a given reactor and found that they
contained 3.00 kg of chlorine, 10.00 kg of phosgene, and 7.00 kg of CO.
Calculate the following:

35. The percent excess reactant used.

A. 145% C. 98%
B. 77% D. 120%

36. The percentage conversion of the limiting reactant.

A. 88% C. 71%
B. 65% D. 50%

37. The kg mol of phosgene formed per kg mol of total reactants fed to the
reactor.
A. 0.33 C. 0.14
B. 0.40 D. 0.21

38. Solid calcium (CaF2) reacts with sulfuric acid to form solid calcium
sulfate and gaseous hydrogen fluoride. The HF is then dissolved in water to
form hydrofluoric acid. A source of calcium fluoride is fluorite ore
containing 96 wt% CaF2 and 4% SiO2.
In a typical hydrofluoric acid manufacturing process, fluorite ore is reacted
with 93 wt% aqueous sulfuric acid, supplied 15% in excess of the
stoichiometric amount. Ninety-five percent of the ore dissolves in the acid.
Some of the HF formed reacts with the dissolved silica in the reaction
6 HF + SiO2 (aq) à H2SiF6 (s) + 2 H2O (l)
The hydrogen fluoride exiting from the reactor is subsequently dissolved in
enough water to produce 60 wt% hydrofluoric acid. Calculate the quantity of
fluorite ore needed to produce a metric ton of acid.
A. 1690 kg C. 1480 kg
B. 1530 kg D. 1770 kg

For numbers 39 to 40:

A rotary drier burns a fuel with dry air at 40oF and 30.1 inHg. The oil
contains only carbon and hydrogen. Analysis of the flue gas shows 13.1% CO2,
5.2% O2, 2.6% CO and 79.1% N2.

39. Calculate % excess air

A. 22.76% C. 20.72%
B. 21.98% D. 23.09%

40. Calculate the weight % of carbon in oil

A. 98.29% C. 97.68%
B. 96.22% D. 97.06%

41. In moist hydrogen containing 14% water by volume is burnt completely in

a furnace with 20% excess air; calculate the percent moisture of the flue
gas produced from the furnace.
A. 33.03% C. 39.45%
B. 35.70% D. 38.67%

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42. The data from a certain flue gas analysis are as follows:
Original volume of the sample 100 ml
Volume after passing through KOH solution 87.9 ml
Volume after passing through alkaline pyrogallol solution 83.7 ml
Volume after passing through cuprous chloride solution 80.5 ml
On dry basis, what is the percentage of oxygen in the flue gas sample?
A. 19.5 C. 12.1
B. 3.2 D. 4.2

43. A 95-octane gasoline is burned in a brand-new engine. What is the

percentage of carbon dioxide in the Orsat analysis assuming complete
combustion and theoretical oxygen is supplied?
A. 11.8% C. 12.1%
B. 14.6% D. 13.9%

44. The formula of the saturated hydrocarbon in hydrocarbon – N2 mixture was

determined by burning a sample of the mixture with 30% excess air. The
combustion gases were analyzed and showed an Orsat analysis of 9.46% CO2,
1.05% CO, 5.65% O2 and 83.84% N2. What is the formula of the hydrocarbon?
A. CH4 C. C2H6
B. C3H8 D. C4H10

For numbers 45 to 46:

A natural gas analyzes CH4, 70% and N2, 30%. It is burned under a boiler and
most of the CO2 is scrubbed out of the flue gas for the production of dry
ice. The exit gas from the scrubber analyzes CO2, 1.2%; O2, 4.9%; and N2,
93.9%.

45. Calculate the percentage of the CO2 absorbed

A. 89.1% C. 87.4%
B. 86.8% D. 88.3%

46. Calculate the percent excess air used

A. 26% C. 27%
B. 25% D. 28%

For numbers 47 to 48:

A burner burns a fuel gas entering at 70oF and 1atm, employing 20% excess
air with the same condition as the fuel gas. Assuming complete combustion,
give the orsat analysis of the flue gas. Fuel gas composition (%vol) is as
follows: 1%O2, 3%CO2, 33%CO, 40%H2, 1%Benzene, 6%ethylene, 6%N2, 10%Paraffins
(C12H44).

47. The number of moles of carbon dioxide in the flue gas per mole of fuel
gas
A. 1.25 C. 2.36
B. 1.74 D. 3.51

48. The moles of theoretical oxygen per mole of fuel gas.

A. 1.75 C. 2.91
B. 2.05 D. 3.05

For numbers 49 to 51:

Pure propane is completely burned with air. The outlet gases from thru burner
which contains no oxygen, are passed through a cooler, where some of the
water is removed by condensation. The gases leaving the cooler have a
nitrogen mole fraction of 0.75. Calculate the following:

49. The analysis of the gases leaving the cooler in terms of water
A. 10% C. 13%
B. 9% D. 7%

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50. The mass of the water condensed per one kilogram of methane burned
A. 0.3 C. 1
B. 0.8 D. 0.6

51. The average molar mass of the gases leaving the cooler
A. 26 C. 30
B. 32 D. 29

For numbers 52 to 53:

A sample of lignite was found to contain 34.55% moisture, 22.91% FC, 7.2%
ash, 1.1% S and 0.57% N with a calorific value of 16.45 MJ/kg. Calculate the
following:

52. %O
A. 20% C. 40%
B. 30% D. 50%

53. CV of VCM
A. 30 MJ/kg C. 55 MJ/kg
B. 42 MJ/kg D. 25 MJ/kg

54. A furnace is fired with coal with the following analysis: 5% M, 60% FC,
25% VCM and 10% ash. Its calorific value is 31.33 MJ/kg. Calculate the %CV
lost in the refuse if the refuse analyzes: 14.4% FC, 6% VCM and 79.6% ash.
A. 1% C. 3%
B. 2% D. 4%

55. On an “as received” basis, the proximate analysis of a representative

coal from the Semirara Plant is 32% VCM, 53% FC, 10% ash, and 1.2% N and
6.2% S. Its calorific value is 23.78 MJ/kg. On the assumption that this coal
is burnt with 150% excess air so that the molal ratio of CO2 to CO is 5:1,
calculate the %H2O in the complete analysis of the stack gas.
A. 2.9% C. 4.4%
B. 3.7% D. 1.0%