23CHE111 – CHEMICAL PROCESS CALCULATIONS
Assignment -2
1. 10,000 kg/h of solution containing 20% methanol is continuously fed to a distillation
column. Distillate is found to contain 98% methanol and waste solution from the
column carries 1% methanol. All percentage are by weight. Calculate:
(i) The mass flow rates of distillate and bottom product
(ii) The percentage loss of methanol.
2. A distillation column separates 20% C6H6, 50 % Toluene, 30 % Xylene into 95 %
C6H6, 4% Toluene and 1% Xylene and waste product containing 2 % C6H6. Calculate
the quantities of distillate and residue if 1000 kgmol/h of feed is fed.
3. A gas mixture containing 15 mole% A and 85 mole% inerts is fed to an absorption
tower where it is contacted with liquid solvent B which absorbs A. The mole ratio of
solvent to gas entering tower is 2 : 1. The gas leaving the absorber contains 2.5% A,
1.5% B and rest inerts on mole basis. Calculate:
(i) The percentage recovery of solute ‘A’ and
(ii) The fraction of solvent ‘B’ fed to column lost in gas leaving the tower.
4. Absorption system utilized for absorption of solute gas ‘A’ is shown schematically as
follows:
Calculate the mass flow rate of solvent to the absorption tower.
5. An absorption tower is used for absorbing SO2 in a solvent. The solvent enters the
tower at a rate of 30 l/s from top with SO2 concentration of 0.5% by weight and leaves
from bottom with SO2 concentration of 1% by weight. The gas stream entering the
bottom of the tower contains 15% by volume of SO2. When the gas leaves the tower
from top, 70% of SO2 get absorbed. Assuming that the liquor has a specific gravity of
1.0, calculate:
(i) Molal flow rate of entering gas
(ii) Volumetric flow rate of entering gas.
6. An aqueous solution of pyridine containing 27% (by weight) pyridine and 73% (by
weight) water is to be extracted with chlorobenzene. The feed and solvent are mixed
well in batch extractor and the mixture is then allowed to stand for phase separation.
The extract phase contains 11% pyridine, 88% chlorobenzene and 1% water by
weight. The raffinate phase contains 6% pyridine and 94% water by weight.
Calculate:
(i) The quantities of two phases (layers)
(ii) The weight ratio of solvent to feed based on 100 kg of feed.
7. A crystallizer is charged with 7500 kg of an aqueous solution at 104°C, 28.5% by
weight which is anhydrous sodium sulphate. The solution is cooled. During cooling
operation 5% of water originally present was lost. As a result, the crystals of
Na2SO410H2O crystallize out. The mother liquor is found to contain 18.2% by weight
of anhydrous salt. Calculate the yield of crystals and quantity of mother liquor.
8. A solution of NaNO3 in water at 40°C contains 48% NaNO3 by weight. Calculate the
percentage saturation of this solution. Calculate the weight of NaNO3 that may be
crystallized from 1000 kg of this solution by reducing the temperature to 10°C.
Calculate the percentage yield. Solubility of NaNO3 at 40°C is 51.4% by weight
Solubility of NaNO3 at 10°C is 44.5% by weight.
9. A tank holds 10,000 kg saturated solution of NaHCO3 at 60°C. It is required to
crystallize 500 kg NaHCO3 from this solution. To what temperature the solution must
be cooled? Data:
Temperature (°C) 60 50 40 30 20 10
Solubility 16.4 14.45 12.70 11.11 9.6 8.15
(g NaHCO3/100 g water):
10. A solution of NaCl in water is saturated at 15°C. Calculate the amount of NaCl that
can be dissolved by 200 kg of this solution if heated to a temperature of 65°C. Data:
11. A solution of CaCl2 in water contains 62 kg of CaCl2 per 100 kg of water. Calculate
the weight of this solution necessary to dissolve 300 kg of CaCl26H2O at 25°C.
12. In a mixing process, two salt solutions having the following compositions are mixed:
1. 25 kg of 20% solution
2. 10 kg of 30% solution.
Calculate the amount and the concentration of the final salt solution
13. A single effect evaporator is fed with 4000 kg/h of weak liquor containing 17%
caustic by weight and is concentrated to get thick liquor containing 40% by weight
caustic (NaOH). Calculate:
(i) Amount (in kg) of water evaporated and
(ii) Amount (in kg) of thick liquor obtained
14. An evaporator system concentrating a weak liquor from 10% to 50% solids, handles
200 kg of solids per hour. If the same system is to concentrate a weak liquor from 5%
to 40%, find the capacity of the system in terms of solids that can be handled per hour
assuming water evaporating capacity to be same in both the cases.
15. A single effect evaporator concentrating a weak liquor containing 5% solids to 55%
solids (by weight) is fed with 6000 kg/h of weak liquor. Calculate:
(i) Amount (in kg) of water evaporated per hour and
(ii) Flow rate of thick liquor.
16. Fresh juice contains 14% solids and 86% water by weight and is to be concentrated to
contain 42% solids by weight. In a single evaporator system, it is found that the
volatile constituents of juice escape with water leaving the concentrated juice 56%,
with a flat taste. To overcome this problem part of the fresh juice bypass the
evaporator. Calculate: (i) The fraction of juice that bypass the evaporator (ii) The
concentrated juice produced containing 42% solids by weight.
17. A continuous fractionating column separates 2000 kg/h of a solution of benzene and
toluene containing 0.5 mass fraction benzene into an overhead product containing
0.97 mass fraction benzene and bottom product containing 0.03 mass fraction of
benzene. A reflux ratio of 2.5 kg of reflux per kg of product is to be used. Calculate
the quantity of top and bottom product in kg/h.
18. In a contact process for H2SO4, a gas mixture of 8% (by volume) SO3 and rest inert is
sent to a absorption tower at the rate of 28 kgmol/h where it is contacted with 97.3%
H2SO4 counter currently fed from top of the tower. 98.5% SO3 is absorbed to produce
98% (by weight) H2SO4. Part of this solution is withdrawn as final product and the
rest is mixed with 95.6% H2SO4 coming from an air drying tower to produce 97.3%
H2SO4, which is fed from top. Calculate: (i) Mass of 95.9% H2SO4 make up acid
required per hour. (ii) Mass of 97.3% H2SO4 fed from top of tower per hour. (iii)
Mass of 98% H2SO4 solution produced per hour. (iv) Recycle ratio. Assume physical
absorption.
Note: SO3 absorbed will get converted to H2SO4 according to the reaction
SO3 + H2O → H2SO4
19. A boiler-feed water contains 2000 ppm dissolved solids. The permissible limit of
dissolved solids in the water in the boiler is 1 part per 100 parts. What percent of the
feed water is to be blown down?
20. Sea water is desalinated by reverse osmosis as shown in Figure. All compositions are
on a mass basis. Calculate R/E.
21. Wet solid containing 75% water is mixed with a recycled dry solid to reduce the water
content to 50% before being admitted into the granulator. The solid leaving the
granulator is fed to a drier where it is brought into contact with dry air initially
containing 0.3% water by weight. In the drier the air picks up moisture and leaves
with a moisture content of 6%. The solid leaving the drier contains 15% water. A
portion of this solid is recycled.
For 5000 kg/h of wet solid sent to the granulator as fresh feed, determine the
following:
(i) The amount of solid recycled
(ii) The circulation rate of air in the drier on a dry basis