Chemical Process Principles

CHE 113

Instructor:
Dr. Faisal Ahmed
Process Classification
Chemical processes may be classified as batch, continuous or semi-batch and as either steady state or
transient.

Batch process:
The feed is charged (fed) into a vessel at the beginning of the process and the vessel contents are removed
sometime later. No mass crosses the system boundaries between the time the feed is charged and the time
the product is removed.

Example: Add reactants to a tank and remove the products and unconsumed reactants
sometime later when the system has come to equilibrium.

Continuous process:
The inputs and outputs flow continuously throughout the duration of the process.

Example:
Pump a mixture of liquids into a distillation column at a constant rate and steadily withdraw product streams
from the top and bottom of the column.
Semi-batch process:
Any process that is neither batch nor continuous.

Examples:
• The contents of a pressurized gas container to escape to the atmosphere.
• Several liquids are entering and are being blend in a tank from which nothing is being withdrawn. After the
blending is complete, liquid entering is stopped and then the mixture is withdrawn.
General Balance Equation

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The following rules may be used to simplify the material balance equation:

If the balanced quantity is total mass, set generation = 0 and consumption = 0. Except in nuclear reactions,
mass can neither be created nor be destroyed.

If the balanced substance is a nonreactive species (neither a reactant nor a product), set generation = 0 and
consumption =0.

If a system is at steady state, set accumulation = 0, regardless of what is being balanced.

By definition, in a steady-state system nothing can change with time, including the amount of
the balanced quantity.

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Material Balances on a Continuous Distillation Process
Problem:

One thousand kilograms per hour of a mixture of benzene (B) and toluene (T) containing 50%
benzene by mass is separated by distillation into two fractions. The mass flow rate of benzene in the
top stream is 450 kg B/h and that of toluene in the bottom stream is 475 kg T/h. The operation is
at steady state. Write balances on benzene and toluene to calculate the unknown component flow
rates in the output streams.
Material Balances on a Batch Mixing Process
Problem:

Two methanol–water mixtures are contained in separate flasks. The first mixture contains
40.0 wt% methanol, and the second contains 70.0 wt% methanol. If 200 g of the first mixture is
combined with 150 g of the second, what are the mass and composition of the product?