Processes and Process

Variables
Chapter 1(Part 2)

Processes and Process Variables

Evaluation of performance of process
operation requires the knowledge of the
amounts, composition, conditions of
materials that enter and leave each
process units.
This chapter presents methods of
calculating variables that characterize
the operation of processes and
individual
process units.

Process
Input/Feed

Process
Unit

Output/Product

Process
Unit

Output/Product

Process- any operation that cause a physical or

chemical change in a substance. Can consist of

several process unit.
Process streams connecting process units and

form the process flow sheet.

Chemical engineer is responsible to design and

operate the process.

Process Variables???
The quantities used to describe a process
and these must be measured and
computed

Feed

INPUT

PROCESS

Products

OUTPUT

To design or analyze a process, we need to know

the amounts, compositions, and condition of
materials entering, leaving and within the
process.
4

Processes and
Process Variables
Density and
Specific Gravity
Chemical
Composition
Flow rate
Temperature
Pressure

Density & Specific Volume

Density ()
mass per unit volume of a substance
Density of a substance can be used as a conversion

factor to relate the mass and the volume of the

substances.
Unit: g/cm3; kg/m3; lbm/ft3.

Specific Volume
volume per unit mass of a substance
inverse of density
Unit: cm3/g; m3/kg; ft3/lbm

Try This
The density of CCl4 is 1.595 g/cm3; what is
a) Mass of 20 cm3 of CCl4

20 cm3

1.595 g
cm

= 31.9 g

b) Volume of 6.20 lbm of CCl4

6.20 lbm
454 g
cm3
1 lbm

1.595 g

= 1760 cm3

Specific Gravity
Specific Gravity (SG)
Ratio of the density () of a substance to the density

of a reference (ref) substance at a specific condition:

SG

REF

Density of water at 4C is used as a reference

density;
ref=H2O(l) (4C)
= 1000 kg/m3
= 62.43 lbm/ft3

1.000 g/cm3

SG is a dimensionless. To get the density of a

substance, multiply the SG value to the value of

reference density, ref.

Try This
A liquid has a SG of 0.50. Find
a) Density in g/cm3
b) Density in lbm/ft3
c) Mass of 3 cm3 of this liquid
d) Volume occupied by 18 g of this liquid

Solution
=

a)

b)

c)

0.5

=
3 cm3

1g
cm3

0.5

62.43 lbm

0.5

18 g

1g

cm3
0.5 g

31.215 lbm/ft3

ft3
cm

d)

= 0.5 g/cm3

1.5 g

36 cm3

Flow Rate
Continuous process involve movement of

materials from one point to another with

certain rate.

the amount of material that

moves into or out of a process unit per
unit time

Flow rate-

Flow rate can be expressed as :Q

Mass flow rate (mass/time) =
Volumetric flow rate (volume/time) =
Molar flow rate: (moles/time )

Flow Rate
Relation Q (easiest to measure) to

If velocity, v is measured, Q then calculated as

Q
m
Q A
1
2

Try This

The mass flowrate of n-hexane (=0.659

g/cm3) in a pipe is 6.59 g/s. Determine the
volumetric flowrate of the n-hexane?

Flow meter is a device mounted in a

process line that provides a continuous

reading of the flow rate in the line.
Two commonly used flow meter are

rotameter and orifice meter.

Flow meter

Orifice meter
(based on pressure
drop)
Rotameter

Chemical Composition
Chemical
Composition

Moles and
Molecular Weight

Mass and
Mole Fractions
Average
Molecular Weight

Concentration

Parts per Million (ppm)

& Part per Billion (ppb)

Moles & Molecular Weight

Atomic weight - mass of an atom based on carbon

isotope 12C.

Molecular weight - Sum of the atomic weights of

atoms that represent a molecule of the compound.

Eg.: Oxygen atomic weight (O) = 16.0 g/g-mol

thus, the O2 MW = 16.0 + 16.0 = 32.0 g/g-

mol .

Unit: kg/kmol, g/mol, and lbm/lbmole

Moles & Molecular Weight-cont.

At 1 mol of a substance, its mass in gram is equal to its molecular

weight.
Example: CO has molecular weight of 28g/mole.

Therefore;
1 mol of CO contains 28 g
1Ib-mole CO contains 28 Ibm
1 ton-mole CO contains 28 tons

A mole ( or gram-mol ), n is the amount of a species (atom or

molecule) whose mass is numerically equivalent to its molecular

weight.

n = m/ MW

n = no. of moles, m = mass, MW = molecular weight

Example :
34 kg of NH3 is equivalent to ? Moles
(MW NH3 = 17.0 kg/kmol)
n

NH3

= 34 kg/ (17.0 kg/kmol) = 2 kmol

0.9 Ibmol

19

Mass and Mole Fraction

Process input or output streams can contain mixtures of

liquids or gases, solutions of one or more solutes in a

solvent.
need mass fraction and mole fraction to define the
compositions:

Mass and Mole Fraction

Mass fraction

xA

mass of A

total mass

Unit: kg A/kg total; g A/g total; lbm A/lbm total

Mole fraction

moles of A
yA
total moles

Unit: kmol A/kmol total; lb-moles A/lb-mole

total

Try This
A mixture of gases has the following mass
composition:
O2
CO
CO2
N2

16%
4%
17%
63%

What is the molar composition?

4 steps to convert from mass fractions to moles

fractions:

Solution

Basis: 100g of mixture

Component

Mass
Fraction

Mass

MW

Moles

Mole Fraction

xi

mi

Mi

ni

yi

O2

0.16

16

32

0.500

0.152

CO

0.04

28

0.143

0.044

CO2

0.17

17

44

0.386

0.118

N2

0.63

63

28

2.250

0.686

Total

1.00

100

3.279

1.000

Average Molecular WeightM

M
Mean molecular weight of a mixture (kg/kmol, lbm/lbmole).

Average Molecular Weight

If yi is the mole fraction of the component i of the mixture

and Mi is the molecular weight:

M y1M1 y2M2 .....

yM

i i
all component

If xi is the mass fraction of the component i of the mixture

and Mi is the molecular weight:

1 x1 x2
xi

.....

M M1 M2
all component Mi

Example:
Determine the average molecular weight of refinery waste gas has the following
analysis by volume; CH4- 78.0%, C2H6-10.0%, C3H8- 8.0%, C4H10-4.0%

Strategy:

BASIS: 100 kmol refinery gas

Unit: Kg/Kmole, g/mole
Vol.%
kmol
CH4
C2 H 6
C3 H 8

2
6

C4H10

78.0
10.0
8.0
4.0

78.0
10.0
8.0
4.0

100.00

100.00

MW

kg

16.0
30.1
44.1
58.1

1248
301
352
232
2133

Mavg = 2133/100
= 21.33

Concentrations
=

CA

cA

2
7

moles of A
Volume of mixture

mass of A

Volume of mixture

Molarity

moles of A
Volume of mixture in Liter

Try This
You have 0.02 molar solution of NaOH (0.02
mol NaOH/ 1 L of solution)
How many moles in 5 L of solutions?
0.02 mol NaOH x 5 L = 0.1 mol NaOH

1L

Parts per Million (ppm)&

Parts per Billion (ppb)
To express the concentrations of trace species in mixtures

of gases or liquids.

May refer to mass ratios (usual for liquids) or mole ratios

(usual for gases).

How many parts (in gram or moles) of the species are
present per million or billion parts of the mixture.
ppmi= yi x 106
ppbi = yi x 109

Pressure
A pressure is the ratio of a force to the area on which

the force acts (P= F/A).

Pressure units: N/m2, dynes/cm2, lbf/in2, psi, Pa.

Hydrostatic Pressure
In term of Height h(m) of column of fluid and has a
cross sectional area A (m2) .
The fluid has a density of (kg/m3) that a pressure
P0(N/m2) is exerted on the upper surface of the
column.
The pressure P at the base of the column is by
definition the force exerted on the base divided by
the area
A that
F ma
mg force is the weight of the column
plus any force acting on the top.

F (m) g ( Ah) g
P F / A gh
P P0 gh

Pressure Head
When pressure is expressed in terms of a
height of fluid, it is called fluid "head
Usually, water or mercury is used

Head units are mostly used for very low

pressures and expressed as "mm Hg" or
"in H2O
Converting between force/area and head
force
P

gP (headof fluid )
units
area

fluid

32

Atmospheric, Absolute & Gauge

Pressure
The atmospheric pressure can be thought of

as the pressure at the base of a column of

fluid (air) located at the point measurement
(e.g. at sea level).
A typical value of the atmospheric pressure at

sea level, 760.0 mm Hg, has been designated

as a standard pressure of 1 atmosphere.

Atmospheric, Absolute & Gauge

Pressure.
Absolute pressures- absolute value of the force per
unit area exerted on a surface by a fluid.
In a perfect vacuum, the absolute pressure is
zero.
Gauge Pressure -the pressure relative to the ambient
measuring or atmospheric pressure at measurement
point.

absolute
gauge
atmopheric
Relationship between
absolute
pressure
and gauge
pressure is:

Fluid Pressure Measurement

Common pressure- measurement devices-

Bourdon gauge and monometer.

Monometer- U-shaped tube partially filled

with fluid of known density.

Manometer gives the measurement of

pressure in pressure difference, P (P1-P2).

Pressure test equipment

Manometer

Pressure gauge

2-36

Temperature
Temperature of a substance in a particular state of

aggregation (solid, liquid, or gas) is a measure of the

average kinetic energy possessed by the substance
molecules.

Some temperature measuring devices: resistance

thermometer, thermocouple, pyrometer and

thermometer.

Temperature-cont.
The following relationship may be used to
convert a temperature expressed in one
defined scale unit to its equivalent in another;

T K T C 273.15

T R T F 459.67
T R 1.8T K

T F 1.8T C 32


Temperature interval
the conversion factor used are
1.8 oF
1oC

1.8 oR
1K

1 oF
1 oR

1oC
1K

EXAMPLE :
1)

2.

3
9

Find the number of celcius degrees between 32 oF and 212 oF

T (oC) = (212 32) x 1oC
= 100oC
1.8 oF
Find the temperature of 32oF in oC
T(oF) = 1.8 T(oC) + 32
32 = 1.8 T(oC) + 32 = 0 oC

Try This
Consider the interval from 20F to 80F
a) Calculate the equivalent temperature in
C and the interval between them.
T(F) 32
1.8
20 32
T1(20F)
C 6.7C
1.8
T(C)

80 32
T2 (80F)
C 26.6C
1.8
T T2 T1 26.6 (6.7) 33.3C

What have you learn from

this Chapter?