CHEN 464 Spring 2013

Homework #1 Due on Thursday 1/24/13

1. Given the following reaction

N
2
O
4
(g) == 2 NO
2
(g)

Determine the equilibrium composition at 25C and 1 bar. Assume ideal gas behavior.

Thermodynamic Information:
AG
f,NO2
= 51.37 kJ/mol
AG
f,N2O4
= 97.89 kJ/mol (20 pts)

2. Fogler P1-9 (10 pts)

3. Fogler P1-11 (10 pts)
(Derive mole balances on the species at steady-state as well)

4. Fogler P1-15 (10 pts)

5. Fogler P1-17 (20 pts)
1. Given the following reaction

N
2
O
4
(g) == 2 NO
2
(g)

Determine the equilibrium composition at 25C and 1 bar. Assume ideal gas behavior.

Thermodynamic Information:
AG
f,NO2
= 51.37 kJ/mol
AG
f,N2O4
= 97.89 kJ/mol

Solution:
o
O N f
o
NO f
o
i f
n
i
i RXN
G G G G
4 2 , 2 , ,
1
2 A A = A = A

=
v (1)
AG
RXN
= 4.85 kJ/mol

Use value of AG
RXN
in
|
.
|

\
| A
=
RT
G
K
RXN
a
exp (2)

K
a
= exp ( (-4.85 kJ/mol*1000J/kJ)/(8.314 Jmol
-1
K
-1
*298.15 K)) = 0.141

For reactions at chemical equilibrium we know that
4 2
2
2
1 1 O N
NO
n
i
i
n
i
o
i
i
a
y
y
y
f
f
K
i
i
= = |
.
|

\
|
=
[ [
= =
v
v
(3)

And we can reach the second step since we assume the mixture is an ideal gas and we are
operating at 1 bar (the reference state).

Now, we need to express the mole fractions y
i
as a function of the conversion. To do this we can
use a mole balance

Species Initial # moles Final # moles
N
2
O
4
1 1-X
NO
2
0 2X_____
Total 1 1 +X

So y
N2O4
= (1-X)/(1+X)
y
NO2
= 2X/(1+X)
Problem # 1, (cont)

Substituting the y
i
s into (3) gives

( )
( )
( )( ) ( )
2
2 2
2
1
4
1 1
4
1
1
1
2
X
X
X X
X
X
X
X
X
K
a

=
+
=
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
+

+
=

Rearranging this to solve for X

185 . 0
4
=
+
=
a
a
K
K
X

which gives

y
N2O4
= 0.688
y
NO2
= 0.312







Since the cell is well-mixed, V r G
p p
=
Therefore,
dt
dNp
F V r
out p p
=
,


Likewise, for the corn steep liquor since there is no outflow,
dt
dNc
V r F
c in c
= +
,




For RNA since there is neither inflow nor outflow
dt
dN
V r
RNA
RNA
=


At steady-state,

c p
out p
r
in Fc
r
F
V

= =
,
,
, and no RNA is generated or destroyed.












The populations of rabbits and foxes are oscillating because of the fact that as the number of
rabbits increases so does the number of foxes and this will make the number of rabbits decrease,
thereby decreasing the number of foxes Natural balance