MASS BALANCES INVOLVING MULTIPLE UNIT SYSTEMS

1. In the tissue paper machine, stream N contains 85% fiber. Find the unknown fiber values (all
values in the figure are in kg) in kg for each stream.

R P N New pulp
Return water Fiber?
Fiber 2.34 Water 18
Fiber?
Water 7452
Water 3291
Stock
Chest
L
Effluent (reservoir)
E Transfer to the next step
Fiber?
Fiber 103.26
Water 4161
Water 3309

2. A labeled flowchart of a continuous steady-state two unit process is shown below. Each stream
contains two components, A and B, in different proportions. Three streams whose flow rates
and/or compositions are not known are labeled 1, 2 and 3.
40 kg/h 30 kg/h
0.90 kg A/kg 0.60 kg A/kg
0.10 kg B/kg 0.40 kg B/kg

100 kg/h 1 2 3
0.50 kg A/kg I
0.50 kg B/kg II

30 kg/h
0.30 kg A/kg
0.70 kg B/kg
Calculate the unknown flow rates and compositions of streams 1, 2 and 3.

3. Sugar cane juice is sent to a series of three evaporators to reduce water. The sugar cane juice
which is 87.3% H2O is fed to the first evaporator at 5000 kg/hr. Equal amounts of water is
removed in each evaporator. The concentrated juice in the last evaporator produced 36.72%
H2O.

Calculate the following:

a. Flowrate of the concentrated juice out from the third evaporator in kg /hr.
b. Amount of water removed in each evaporator in kg/hr.
c. Concentration of H2O (% by weight) of the juice out from the second
evaporator.
4. Acetone is used in the manufacture of many chemicals and also a solvent. In its latter role, many reactions
are placed on the release of acetone vapor to the environment. You are asked to design an acetone
recovery system having the flow sheet illustrated below. Make a material balance for the
system shown (Solve for W, A, G, F, B, and D). All concentrations shown of both gases and
liquids are specified in weight percent (or weight fraction) to make calculation simple.

Water (100%) Air, A kg/hr

W kg/hr Air 99.5%
Water 0.5%

CONDENSER

Distillate, D kg/hr
Acetone 99.0%
ABSORBER Water 1.0%

F kg/hr
Acetone 19.0%
Water 81.0% DISTILLATION
COLUMN

Feed, G kg/hr
Acetone 3.0%
Air 95.0%
Water 2

Bottom, B kg/hr
Acetone 4.0%
Water 96.0%

5. Liquid acetone (C3H6O) is fed at the rate of 400L/min into a heated chamber, where it evaporates
into a nitrogen stream. The gas leaving the heater is diluted by another nitrogen stream flowing
at a measured rate of 419 m3 (STP) / min. The combined gases are then compressed to a total
pressure of 6.3 atm gauge at a temperature of 325oC. The partial pressure of acetone in this
stream is 501 mmHg. Atmospheric pressure is 763 mmHg. The density of liquid acetone is
0.791 g/cm3.

a. What is the molar composition of the stream leaving the compressor?

 b. What is the volumetric flowrate (m3/min) of the nitrogen entering the evaporator if the
temperature and pressure of this stream are 27C and 475 mmHg gauge.
6. A simplified flow sheet for the manufacture of sugar is shown in the figure. Sugar cane is fed to
a mill where syrup is squeezed out and the resulting “bagasse” contains 80% pulp. The syrup
(E) containing finely divided pieces of pulp are fed to a screen which removes all the pulp and
produces a clear syrup (H) containing 15% sugar and 85% water. The evaporator makes
“heavy” syrup and the crystallizer produces 1000 lb/h of sugar crystals.
F, cane M, sugar
15% sugar 1000 lb/h
25% water
60% pulp

E H2O
CRYSTALLIZER
13% sugar
14% pulp
MILL
K
40% sugar
H
15% sugar
SCREEN 85% pulp EVAPORATOR
D, bagasse
80% pulp H2O

G, solids
95% pulp
a. Find the water removed in the evaporator, lb/h
b. Find the rate of cane sugar fed to the unit, lb/h
c. Of the sugar fed in the mill, what percentage is lost with the bagasse?
d. What is the percentage recovery of sugar?
e. Find the composition of the waste stream, G

7. NaCl crystals are produced from 1000 kg of solution containing 10% NaCl, 1% KOH, and 89%
H2O. The solution is first sent to an evaporator where 750 kg of water from the solution is
removed. The hot concentrated solution is sent to a crystallizer where the solution is cooled to
20C and NaCl crystals are precipitated. No water evaporates. Each kilogram of crystals carries
with it 0.10 kg of adhering mother liquor. The wet crystals are then treated in a dryer where
95% of the water is removed. Calculate:
a. The compositions of the concentrated solution from the evaporator
b. The composition of the final product and
c. The percentage recovery of NaCl from the original solution.
The solubility of NaCl is 36 grams NaCl / 100 grams H2O at 20C.

MATERIAL BALANCES WITHOUT CHEMICAL REACTION

BUT WITH RECYCLE, BYPASS, AND PURGE

PROCESS FLOW ARRANGEMENT

A whole chemical plant is composed of several unit operations and unit process
equipment. In actual industrial processes where conditions are far from ideal, the optimum
operation can best be obtained from proper flowchart arrangement. For instance, 100%
completion of reaction is seldom attained and there is a need to recover the unreacted raw
material and feed it again. Sometimes, when a reaction becomes uncontrollable, there is a need to
redirect flow and bypass a reactor. Whether it is for control or for economy, proper arrangement
is vital in any industrial set-up.
Three basic flow arrangements are used. RECYCLE, BYPASS, and PURGE.
Combination of these three is widely used in most processes.

RECYCLE
Recycling operations refer to the process in which part of the product is returned and
mixed with the feed entering a process equipment. The figure below shows a process that makes
use of recycle stream.
Recycle Stream

Fresh Process Feed PROCESS Gross Product

Feed UNIT Net Product

Mixer Separator

There are several reasons for using recycle in a chemical process besides recovering and reusing
consumed reactants, and this includes the following:
1. Recovery of catalyst. Many reactors use catalyst to increase the rate of the reaction. Catalysts
are usually expensive, and the processes generally include provisions for recovering them
from the product stream and recycling them to the reactor. They must be recovered with the
unconsumed reactants or recovered separately in special facilities designed with this
purpose.
2. Dilution of a process stream. Suppose a slurry (a suspension of solids in a liquid) is fed to a
filter. If the concentration of solids in the slurry is too high, the slurry is difficult to handle
and the filter will not operate properly. Rather than diluting the feed with fresh liquid, a
portion of the filtrate can be recycled to dilute the feed to the desired solids concentration.
 3. Control of a process variable. Suppose a reaction releases an extremely large amount of
heat, making the reactor difficult and expensive to control. The rate of heat generation can
be reduced by lowering the reactant concentration, which can in turn be accomplished by
recycling a portion of the reactor effluent to the inlet. In addition to acting as a diluent for
the reactants, the recycled material also serves as a capacitance for the hear released: the
greater the mass of the reaction mixture, the lower the temperature to which that mass will
be raised by a fixed amount of heat.
4. Circulation of a working fluid. The most common example of this application is the
refrigeration cycle used in household refrigerators and air conditioners. In these devices, a
single material is reused indefinitely, with only small makeup quantities being added to the
system to replenish working fluid that may be lost through leaks.

Example:
1.) The manufacture of such products as penicillin, tetracycline, vitamins and other
pharmaceuticals, as well as photographic chemicals, dyes and other fine organic compounds,
usually requires separating the suspended solids from their mother liquor by centrifuging, and
then drying the wet cake. A closed loop system for centrifuge unloading, drying, converging
and solvent recovery is comprised of equipment especially designed for handling materials
requiring sterile and contamination-free conditions.
Given the experimental measurements on the pilot plant equipment outlined below, what
is the lb/hr of the recycle stream R?

Recycle Stream, R: 0.4 lb Vitamins /lb H2O

Continuous
F Filter
98 lb/hr Centrifuge
20% Vitamin Solution

X, 60% Vitamins

Vitamin Product
(P)
Water, W 4% H2O
100% 96% Vitamins
2.) Data are presented in the diagram for an evaporator. What is the recycle stream in lb/hr?
H2O (W)

10, 000 lb/hr

Evaporator 20% KNO3 solution

Recycle(R), 100F
X, 50% KNO3
Saturated solution (0.6 lb KNO3/ lb H2O

Crystallizer

Crystals(C) carry off 4% H2O

(4% H2O per lb total crystal)

3.) Fresh air containing 4.00 mole % water vapor is to be cooled and dehumidified to a water
content of 1.70 mole% H2O. A stream of fresh air is combined with a recycle stream of
previously dehumidified air and passed through the cooler. The blended stream entering the
unit contains 2.30 mole% H2O. In the air conditioner, some of the water in the feed stream is
condensed and removed as liquid. A fraction of the humidified air delivered to the cooler is
recycled and the remainder is delivered to a room. Taking 100 mole of dehumidified air
delivered to the room as a basis of calculation; calculate the moles of fresh feed, moles of
water condensed, and moles of dehumidified air recycled.

Recycle stream (R)

Fresh air (F) X

Dehumidifier 100 moles

Water removed (Y)

4.) To save energy, stack gas from a furnace is used to dry rice. The flow sheet and unknown
data are shown in Figure 4. What is the amount of recycle gas (in lbmole) per 100 lb of P if
the concentration of water in the gas stream entering the dryer is 5.20%. Find also the value
of S and W. Recycle
Wet gas
R, (lbmole)
W, (lbmole)
Stack gas S,
9.31% Water
(lb/mole)
4.73% Water
Dryer
Rice feed, F (lb) Dried Rice, P (lb)
25% water 5% water
Figure 4

BYPASS
Closely related to recycle is the bypassing of a fluid stream. A main stream is split into
two with one stream set to the process equipment and the other one mixed with the outlet stream
from the process equipment. This is shown below.

Bypass Stream

Fresh Process Feed PROCESS Gross Product

Feed Net Product
UNIT
Separator
Mixer

The divider is actually a control valve. Bypassing of a stream is useful in attaining operations.
Either the arithmetic or algebraic method is suitable. Mass balance can be taken around the four
portions:

1. around the whole system

 2. around the process between the bypass top
3. around the point of splitting
4. around the point of mixing

Example
1. In the feed-stock preparation section of a plant manufacturing natural gasoline, iso-pentane is
removed from butane-free gasoline. Assume for purposes of simplification that the process
and components are shown in the diagram. What amount of the butane-free gasoline is
passed through the iso-pentane tower?

Iso-pentane side stream (S)

i-C5H12

Iso-
De-
x Pentane
butanizer
tower

y n-C5H12
(F) 100lbs Butane free
To natural gasoline plant (P)
90% n-C5H12
n-C5H12 80%
10% i-C5H12
i-C5H12 20%

2. In a process of concentrating 1000 kg/hr of freshly extracted juice (orange) containing 12.5%
solids, the juice is strained yielding 800 kg/hr of strained juice and 200 kg of pulpy juice. The
strained juice is concentrated in an evaporator to give an evaporated juice of 58% solids. The
pulpy juice is bypassed around the evaporator and mixed with the evaporated juice in a mixer
to improve the flavor. This final concentrated juice is 42% solids. Calculate a) the solids
concentration in the strained juice b.) the kg/hr of final concentrated juice and c) the
concentration of solids in the pulpy juice bypassed.

PURGE (to take out impurities)

Purge is a flow arrangement which is used in some recycling operations. If in a process
using a recycle, a separator is provided in removing only the desired product from the gross
product, then there will be a gradual accumulation of inerts and impurities in the recycle stream.
The inerts and impurities which are entering with the feed should be provided with an outlet
stream. This is done by bleeding out a portion of the recycle line. The arrangement is shown
below.

Separator
Recycle Stream
Purge

PROCESS
UNIT
 Fresh Process Feed Gross Product
Feed Net Product
Separator
Mixer

If the desired product does not contain any inert material or impurity, by a component
balance around the whole system (outside the recycle loop) the inert or impurities in the feed is
equal to the inert in the purge stream.

Exercises:
1. A distillation column separates 10,000 lb/hr of a 50% benzene, 50% toluene mixture. The
product recovered from the condenser at the top of the column contains 95% benzene and the
bottoms from the column contain 96% toluene. The stream entering the condenser from the
top of the column is 8000 lb/hr. A portion of the product is returned to the column as reflux
and the rest is withdrawn for use elsewhere. Assume the compositions of the streams at the
top of the column; the product withdrawn and the reflux are identical. Find the ratio of the
amount refluxed to the product withdrawn.
2. In a pilot process, a sticky material containing 25% water is to be dried. To facilitate the
operation, a part of the dried product containing 5% water is recycled and mixed with the
feed. If the material entering the drier contains 12% water, calculate (a) the kg water removed
per 2000 kg fresh feed and, (b) the recycle-to-feed ratio. (If feed is not specified, assume it to
be fresh feed)
3. In a process producing KCIO 3 salt, 1000 kg/hr of a feed solution containing 20% by wt.
KCIO3 (and traces of impurities) is feed to the evaporator which evaporates some water at
422K to produce 50% by wt. KCIO 3 solution. This solution is then feed to a crystallizer at
32C where crystals containing 96% by wt. KCIO 3 are removed. The saturated solution from
the crystallizer is recycled by the evaporator. Calculate the (a) amount of crystals produced
and (b) amount of solution recycled.
Solubility @ 32 C= 12 kg KCIO3 / 100 kg H2O
4. In a wood drier, the hot air must contain at least 2% by wt. water to prevent the wood from
drying too rapidly and splitting or warping. The original fresh air feed contains 1% by wt.
water. Wood is dried from 20% to 5% by wt. water. The wet air leaving the dried contains
4% by wt. water. Calculate the amount of wet air that must be returned to the drier if 1000
kg/hr of wet wood is dried.
5. A solid material containing 15% w is moisture is dried so that it contains 7% w H 2O by
blowing fresh air mixed with recycle air over the solid in the drier. The inlet fresh air has a
humidity of 0.01 kg H2O/kg dry air. The air from the drier that is recycled has a humidity
0.1kg H2O/ kg dry air and the mixed air to the drier of 0.03 kg H2O/ kg dry air. For a feed of
100 kg solid /hr fed to the drier, calculate (a) kg/hr of dry air in the fresh air (b) kg/hr of dry
air in the recycle air c) kg/hr of dried product.
 6. It is desired to lower the n-hexane content of a nitrogen- n-hexane mixture at 45C (the
partial pressure of n-hexane =310 mmHg) and a total pressure of 757 mmHg to a mixture
containing 15% mole n-hexane. This could be achieved by passing a portion of the gas
mixture through a chiller which condenses out some of the n-hexane and leaves the gas
saturated at 10C (the partial pressure of n-hexane =64 mmHg) and a total pressure of 750
mmHg. The bypassed gas mixes with the gas from the chiller to form 15% mole n-hexane.
Three hundred cubic meters per minute of the original gas mixture is to be treated.
Solve a) kmoles/min of the final mixture containing 15% mole n – hexane
b) kmoles/min of the n-hexane condenses in the chiller
c) kmoles/min of the gas that bypasses the chiller.
7. Figure 2 is a diagram of the shirt-cleaning process used by Lala Laundry Services, Inc. The
shirts are soaked in an agitated tub containing Whizzo, the Wonder Detergent, and are then
wrung out and sent to a rinse stage. The dirty Whizzo is sent to a filter in which most of the
dirt is removed, and the cleaned detergent is recycled back to join a stream of pure Whizzo,
with the combined stream serving as the feed to washtub.

Wh

Dirty shirts
Clean Shirts, C

97% Wh Agitated tub

Pure Wh (A) 87% Wh 8% Wh
B
E Filter
D

Figure 2
Recycled Wh, R

Required:
a) How much pure Whizzo (A) must be supplied per 100
lbm of dirty shirts?
b) Find the amount of B, C, D, E and R,
c) What is the composition of the recycled stream?

Data:
a) Each 100 lbm of dirty shirts contains 2 lbm of dirt
 b) The washing removes 95% of the dirt in the dirty shirts
c) For each 100 lbm of dirty shirts, 25 lbm of Whizzo leaves with the clean shirts, of which is
22 lbm is wrung back into the tub
d) The detergent that enters the tub contains 97% Whizzo, and that which enters the filter
contains 87%. The wet dirt that leaves the filter contains 8% Whizzo.

8. A stream containing 5.15% wt% chromium, Cr, is contained in the wastewater from a metal
finishing plant. The wastewater stream is fed to a treatment unit that removes 95% of the
chromium in the feed and recycles it to the plant. The residual liquid stream leaving the
treatment unit is sent to a waste lagoon. The treatment unit has a capacity of 4500 kg
wastewater/hr. If wastewater leaves the finishing plant at a rate higher than the capacity of
the treatment unit, the excess (anything above 4500 kg/hr) bypasses the unit and combines
with the residual liquid leaving the unit, and the combined stream goes to the waste lagoon.
If the wastewater leaves the finishing plant at rate of 6000 kg/hr, calculate the flow rate of
liquid to the waste lagoon and the mass fraction of Cr in this liquid.
9. If machine parts are degreased by means of kerosene as shown in the diagram, how much
kerosene make-up is needed per day? How much kerosene has to enter the degreasing vat
per day? There are about 3 lb of grease per 100 lb of machine parts, and 60 tons of machine
parts are processed each day. Five thousand pounds of kerosene (the 10% solution) are
carried away by the machine parts each day but drip off and are caught and put back in the
degreasing vat. Two hundred pounds of the 10% solution are lost each day from the vat by
evaporation, spillage, or by being carried away.

Machine parts Degreased

Machine parts

200 lbs
W
VAT 10% Grease SEPARATOR 25% Grease
in kerosene in kerosene
2% Grease Y
K
in kerosene
Z

X
Make up Note: Solve also for the value of Y, Z, W and K
kerosene (pure)
PURGE
It is desired to produce 1000 kg/hr of Na2SO4. 10 H2O crystals from a feed aqueous solution
containing 5.6% w Na2SO4. The original solution is first evaporated in an evaporator to a 35% wt
solution and then cooled to 293K in a crystallizer, where the hydrated crystals and the mother
liquor are removed. One out of 10 kg of mother liquor is discarded to waste to get rid of
impurities and the remaining mother liquor is recycled to the evaporator. The solubility of
Na2SO4 at 293K is 9.91% wt. Calculate the feed rate in kg/hr; H 2O evaporated in kg/hr and the
mother liquor recycled in kg/hr.

Recycle (9/10 L) Purge (1/10 L)

W
9.91 % Na2SO4 9.91 % Na2SO4
Evaporator

9.91 % Na2SO4
Feed, F L, mother liquor
5.6%
Na2SO4 X
Concentrated Solution Crystals, C
Crystallizer 1000 kg/hr
35 % Na2SO4
Na2SO4  10 H2O