CH-102: Tutorial-4: Reactive Systems

1. In the anaerobic fermentation of grain, the yeast digests glucose (C6 H12 O6 ) from plants
to form the products ethanol and propenoic acid (C2 H3 CO2 H) by the following overall
reactions: C6 H12 O6 → 2C2 H5 OH + 2CO2 ; C6 H12 O6 → 2C2 H3 CO2 H + 2H2 O. In a
batch process, a tank is charged with 4000 kg of 12% solution of glucose in water. After
fermentation, 120 kg of CO2 are produced and 90 kg of unreacted glucose remains in the
broth. What are the mass % of ethanol and propenoic acid in the broth at the end of
the fermentation process? Assume none of the glucose is assimilated into the bacteria
(yeast). Solve this problem first by using extent of reaction approach and then by atomic
specie balance approach. While solving using atomic balances you should first evaluate
the number of independent atomic species present. (3.1% and 2.9% )

2. Mercaptans, H2 S, and other sulfur compounds are removed from natural gas by so called
sweetening process. A proposed process to remove H2 S is by the following reaction: 2 H2 S
(g) + SO2 (g) → 3 S (s) + 2 H2 O. In a test of the process, a gas stream containing 20%
H2 S and 80% CH4 was combined with a stream of pure SO2 . The process produced 5000
lb of S (s), and in the product gas the ratio of SO2 to H2 S was 10. Determine the fraction
conversion of limiting reactant, and feed rates of H2 S and SO2 streams. (Use extent of
reaction approach) (Hydrogen Sulfide - limiting reactant, f = 0.91, 83.3 lb and
573 lb)

3. In order to neutralize the acid in a waste stream (composed of H2 SO4 and H2 O), dry
ground limestone (95% CaCO3 and 5% inerts) is mixed with it. The dried sludge collected
from the process is only partly analyzed by firing it in a furnace which results in only CO2
being driven off. By weight the CO2 represents 10% of the dry sludge. What percent of
pure CaCO3 in the limestone did not react in the neutralization? (Hint: CaCO3 reacts
with H2 SO4 to form CaSO4 and that CaCO3 when heated yields CO2 and CaO whereas
when CaSO4 is heated it does not decompose.) (30% unreacted)

4. n-pentane is burned with excess air in a continuous combustion chamber.

a. A technician runs an analysis and reports that the product gas contains 0.270 mol%
pentane, 5.3% O2 , 9.1% CO2 , and the balance N2 on a dry basis. Assume 100 mol of
dry product gas as basis of calculation, draw a fully labeled flowchart and perform a
degree of freedom analysis based on atomic species balances. What is the degree of
freedom for this system and interpret this result.
b. Use balances to prove that the reported % could not be possibly correct.
c. The technician reruns the analysis and reports new values of 0.304 mol5.9% O2 , 10.2%
CO2 and balance nitrogen. Verify that this result is correct, and assuming that it is,
calculate the % excess air fed to the reactor and the fractional conversion of pentane.
(18.5%, f = 0.87)

5. Methanol is synthesized from carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a catalytic reactor. The
fresh feed to the process contains 32.0 mole% CO, 64.0 % H2 , and 4.0 % N2 . This stream
is mixed with a recycle stream in a ratio 5 mol recycle/ 1 mol fresh feed to produce the
feed to the reactor, which contains 13.0 mol % N2 . A low single-pass conversion is attained
in the reactor. The reactor effluent goes to a condenser from which two streams emerge:
 a liquid product stream containing essentially all the methanol formed in the reactor, and
gas stream containing the entire CO, H2 and N2 leaving the reactor. The gas stream is
split into two fractions: one is removed from the process as purge stream, and the other
is the recycle stream that combines with the fresh feed to the reactor. For a basis of 100
mol fresh feed/h, calculate the production rate of methanol (mol/h), the molar flow rate
and composition of the purge gas, and the overall and single-pass conversions.
6. Iso-octane is produced in the reaction of isobutane and butylene in an emulsion with
concentrated sulfuric acid:
i − C4 H10 + C4 H8 =⇒ i − C8 H18
The fresh feed to the process flows at a rate of 40000kg/h and contains 25 mole % isobutane,
25% butylene and 50% n−butane, which is chemically inert in this process. The fresh feed
combines with three separate recycle streams, as shown in flowchart, and the combined
stream enters the reactor. Essentially all of the butylene fed to the reactor is consumed. A
portion of the reactor effluent is recycled to the reactor inlet and the remainder passes to
a decanter (seperation unit), in which the aqueous (sulfuric acid) and hydrocarbon phases
are allowed to separate. The acid is recyled to the reactor, and the hydrocarbons pass to
a distillation column. The overhead from the column contains iso-octane and n-butane,
and the bottom product, which is recycled to the reactor, contains only iso-butane. The
stream entering the reactor contains 200 moles of iso-butane per mole of butylene, and 2
kg of 91 wt %H2 SO4 (aq.) per kg of hydrocarbon. The stream obtained by combining the
fresh feed and iso-butane recycle contains 5 moles of iso-butane per mole of butylene.
(a) Draw and label a flowchart of the process.
(b) Do the degree of freedom analysis for overall system and each of the single unit
subsystems.
(c) Detremine the molar flow rates of each component of fresh feed, the product stream,
and the emulsion, iso-butane and acid recycle stream.
fresh feed: Iso-butane: 173.6, butylene = 173.6, n-butane = 347.2 product:
347.6 n-butane, 173.6 iso-octane acid recycle = 1485.7, emulsion: 33852
iso-butane, 16926 n-butane, 8463 iso-octane, all flow-rates in kmol/h
7. A process for methanol synthesis is shown in figure below. The pertinent chemical reactions
involved are:

CH4 + 2H2 O → CO2 + 4H2 , (main reformer reaction) (1)

10% excess steam, based on reaction (1), is fed to the reformer, and conversion of methane
is 100%, with a 90% yield of CO2 . Conversion in the methanol reactor is 55% on one pass
through the reactor.
A stoichiometric quantity of O2 is fed to CO converter, and the CO is completely converted
to CO2 . Additional make up CO2 is then introduced to establish a 3-to-1 ratio of H2 to
CO2 in the feed stream to methanol reactor.
The methanol reactor effluent is cooled to condense all the methanol and water, with the
noncondensible gases recycled to methanol reactor feed. The H2 /CO2 ratio in the recycle
stream is also 3-to-1. Because the methane feed contains 1% nitrogen as an impurity,
a portion of recylce stream must be purged as shown in figure to prevent the build-up
of nitrogen in the system. The purge stream analyzes 5% nitrogen. Assume basis of
calculations to be 100 mol of methane feed (including N2 i.e. 99 mol methane and 1 mol
N2 ):

(a) Identify the components in all streams (i.e. 1 to 13) and show complete labeling on
flowchart.
(b) Determine the degree of freedom (DOF) for each sub-unit in the system and finally
for the overall system. Use extent of reaction approach for determining DOF for sub-
units and atomic balance approach for calculating DOF for overall system. Assuming
that the a consistent solution exist for the given system, what information is revealed
from DOF of overall system.
(c) Analyze the whole process in terms of number of unknowns and number of indepen-
dent equations and determine whether the system is solvable or not? If solvable,
write down the sequence in which you should perform the calculations
(d) Solve for all the unknown variables.
(e) Determine moles of methanol produced if the methane feed is 100 kg instead of 100
moles.