THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES

SCHOOL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

CEIC2000 Material and Energy Systems

Final Examination

Session 1, 2016

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:

Time Allowed: 2 (two) hours

This paper contains in addition to this page, a chemical process description on page 2, and 4 (four)
questions in about that process on page 3. Data tables and unit conversions are provided on pages 4
to 18.

Partial marks may be awarded for explaining a solution methodology if you are not able to obtain a
solution.

Make an effort to lay your work out neatly. Scribble and poor layout makes it difficult to find
working which may be awarded marks.

You may keep a copy of this exam paper.

You may bring a copy of “Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes”, by Felder and Rousseau,
any edition. No other written or printed materials are permitted.

You may bring a UNSW approved electronic calculator.

Any assumptions found to be necessary in answering the questions should be stated explicitly.
Marks may be awarded for making good assumptions.

All answers must be in ink. Except where they are expressly required, pencils may be used only for
drawing, sketching or graphical work.

This exam is worth 25 marks. The questions are NOT of equal value.

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page 1 of 18
CHEMICAL PROCESS DESCRIPTION
Dimethyl ether (DME) is a potential green alternative to diesel fuel. It is produced industrially by
the catalytic dehydration of methanol, represented in the flowsheet below.

Pure methanol is fed to the process at 4 oC in stream 1, and mixed with recycled methanol at 60 oC
before being vapourised and heated in heat exchanger “a”. Hot methanol vapour in stream 4 (260 oC)
is fed to the catalytic dehydrator “c” and is dehydrated according to:

2CH 3 OH (g) ⇒ CH 3 OCH 3 (g)+H 2 O (g) Δ Hr ,298=−23.6 kJ/mol

The single-pass conversion in the reactor is 40%.

The reactor products in stream 5 exchange heat with the incoming methanol. Cooled reactor
products in stream 6 (80oC) are fed to distillation column “d”, which recovers nearly pure DME to
stream 7 (99.9 mol% DME, 0.1 mol% methanol). Most of the methanol and all of the water from
column “d” goes to stream 8, which feeds distillation column “e” for separation into the recycled
methanol stream 9 (98 mol% methanol, 2% water), and wastewater stream 10 (which is 1 mol%
methanol).
All pressures in the plant are low enough that ideal gas approximations apply.
Data for dimethyl ether gas:
Δ Hf,298K =−184.1 kJ/mol
T b =249K
C p=25.95×10−3 +14.3×10−5 T−3×10−8 T 2 kJ/(mol.K) , T in Kelvins for this equation

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page 2 of 18
QUESTIONS

Q1 Choosing a basis for calculation as 1000 moles of material in stream 7, calculate the mole ratio
of recycled to fresh methanol (mole amount of stream 9 divided by the mole amount of
stream 1).
(Hint: consider starting with overall balances)
(10 marks)

Q2 Calculate the combined heat duty required for heating units “a” and “b”, in MJ.
(Hint: if you were unable to solve Q1, assume required properties and a basis for stream 2).
(5 marks)

Q3 Reactor “c” is adiabatic. Estimate the temperature of stream 5.

(5 marks)

Q4 Assuming that the pressure in stream 6 is such that that all the DME in that stream is vapour,
and all methanol and water is liquid, calculate the heat duty for heat exchanger “a” and heater
“b” separately, both in MJ.
(5 marks)

End of questions. Data sheets follow.

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 5 oC
To convert a temperature measurement in oF to one in oC, subtract 32oF then multiply by
9 oF

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