Chemical engineering series for

interviews

1. Principle of Chemical Engineering:

 What is Chemical Engineering & What do Chemical Engineers do?

Engineering:
The word Engineer comes from a Latin
word which means to Design or Create.
Engineers use principles of math and
science to design structures, machines
and products of all kinds in an economic,
safe and environmentally friendly way.

Chemical Engineering is:

as defined by: (AIChE) American Institute for Chemical Engineers
Chemical Engineering is the profession in which a knowledge of math, chemistry, and other natural
sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with judgment to develop economic ways
of using materials and energy for the benefits of
mankind.

Chemical Engineers design/operate chemical plant equipment and processes for manufacturing
chemicals and products, such as petrochemicals,
fuels, synthetic rubber, plastics, paint, detergents, cosmetics, cement, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, food,
drinks, pulp and paper,…etc.

 What is the difference between a Chemical Engineer & a Chemist?

Chemists tend to focus on developing Chemical engineering focuses on turning these new
novel materials and processes, ideas and discoveries into useful products that are
analyzing substances, measuring the attainable. Most work falls into the design, manufacture
physical properties of substances and and operation of plants and machinery; and the
testing theories. development of new materials or substances. Chemical
engineers focus on making products for profit and on a
scale that is accessible to the many.

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 Introduction to Engineering Calculations

Dimension : A property that can be measured (length, time, mass, Temperature, etc.. ) or
calculated (area, volume, velocity, density, etc…) by multiplying or dividing other dimensions.

Important conversion factors:

Temperature Conversion

4 different scales for

measuring Temperature:
T(K)= T(̊C)+273.15
T(̊R)=T(̊F)+459.67
T(̊R)= 1.8T(K)
T(̊F)=1.8T(̊C)+32

Two point Linear Interpolation :

Consider the following table for boiling point temperature of water at different
pressures,

P TBP P TBP
x1 y1 1.0 100
x y 1.3 ?
x2 y2 1.5 111.4

The relationship between these points can be expressed as:

Exercise : How much is TBp @1.3 atm?

Answer: 106.84

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 Process and Process Variables

Process: Operation(s) that cause a physical or chemical

change in a substance or mixture of substances

Input Output
Process Product
Feed

Basic terminology:

 Mass (m): is a measure of the amount of a matter in the body, g, kg, lbm
 Density (ρ) : mass per unit volume of the substance Kg/m3, g/cm3, lbm/ft3
Density of liquids changes with temperature
Density of liquids almost remains constant with pressure (incompressible fluids).
Density of gases changes with temperature and pressure
The inverse of density (1/ ρ ) is called specific volume, (m3/kg, ft3/lbm) volume per unit
mass
 Specific Gravity : Ratio of the density of a substance to a reference density at a specific
temperature and pressure.
SG= ρ/ρref (dimensionless) . The reference density is often the density of water at 4 C
and 1.0 atm (1.000 g/cm3) or (62.43 lbm/ft3)
 Flow Rates:
Mass flow rate: mass per unit time (mass/time)
Volumetric flow rate(volume per unit time) (volume/time)

Flow Rate Measurement

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 Basic terminology
Continuous :

 Mass fraction and Mole fraction:

 Parts per million (ppm) & parts per billion (ppb): used to express concentrations of
trace species.
ppmi: parts of species i per 1 million part of mixture.
ppm & ppb are used as mass ratio for liquids and mole ratio for gases
 Average Molecular Weight of a mixture:

 Fluid Pressure and Hydrostatic Head

- Pressure is force per unit area perpendicular to the force direction .P= F/A
- Units of pressure: N/m2 (Pascal)
- Other units of pressure: atm., bar (100 kPa), mm Hg
- 1atm= 14.7 psi, 760 mm Hg, 101.3 kPa
- The height of the static fluid causing pressure is called hydrostatic head.

 Absolute Pressure & Gauge Pressure:

- Pressure can be reported either as Absolute pressure (Atmospheric pressure
included) or Gauge pressure (atmospheric pressure NOT included):
P absolute = P gauge + Patm

- Vacuum is defined as air pressure below atmospheric pressure

 Hydrostatic Pressure
The pressure at a point under static fluid can be calculated from the
following equation (Basic Equation of fluid statics)
P = Po + ρgh
If P0 is considered 1 atm, then P is in absolute pressure.
If P0 is considered 0 “gauge” then P is in gauge pressure. And the
above equation becomes:
And the above equation becomes:
P=ρgh

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 Fundamentals of Material Balances

Process classification :

Way 1:
Batch Process  Fed is charge to process and product remove when process is completed.
(Un Steady)  No mass is fed or remove from process during operation.
 Use for small scale production.
 Operate in Unsteady state.

Batch reactor
Continuous Process  Input and output continuously fed and remove from the process
(steady)  Used for large scale production
 Operate in steady state.
 Examples: CSTR (Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor),distillation
columns, tubular reactors, etc…

continuous reactor
Semi Batch Process  Neither batch or continuous
(Unsteady)  During the process a part of reactant can be fed or part of product can be
removed

Way 2:

Processes are also classifieds according to change with time as steady state or
unsteady State (transient).
Steady state Unsteady state
Steady state: NO change of any Unsteady state (transient): If any of
process variable (T, P, flow rates, the process variables changes with
concentrations, etc,,,) with time. time

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 The General Balance
Equation

 Law of conservation of mass, “mass can neither be created nor destroyed”

Input  Generation output

 Consumption
 Accumulation

Input –Output + Generation – Consumption = Accumulation

crossing system
within system boundary
boundary

Simplified Rule of Mass Balance :

 For nonreactive species (neither a reactant nor product )

generation =0 , consumption =0

 For steady state system accumulation = 0

 Thus for non-reactive systems at steady state, the general balance equation
reduces to: Input = Output

Flowchart:

 what is : Flowchart is a drawing or representation of the process using boxes or

other symbols to represent process units (e.g., column, reactor, tank, etc.) and
lines with arrows to represent inputs and outputs
 what include : A flowchart should have all the information related to the process,
such as known and unknown variables (e.g., flow rates, compositions, etc.),
conditions (e.g., T, P)
 Flowchart scaling and Basis calculation :
scale up and scale down can be done by multiply all stream amount by :
scaling factor = (Desired amount /Old amount)

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 Degree of freedom

Degree of freedom : number of unknowns-number of independent equations

(ndf=nunknowns-nindependent eqns)

ndf = 0 ndf > 0 ndf < 0

The number of The number of The number of
unknowns equals unknowns is more unknowns is less
the number of than number of
than the number of
independent independent
equation independent
equations
equation
solved problem overspecified
underspecified problem

Recycle , Bypass & purge :

Recycle Bypass purge

What is : In chemical reaction some of Fraction of feed to When a process uses a recycle
unreacted reactant also found in a process unit is loop, there can often be a
product. Therefore, unreacted diverted around buildup of some undesired
reactant can be separate and unit and combine material within the system. By
recycle back to reactor with output stream using a purge, a fraction of the
recycle loop material is
removed. This purge fraction is
generally only a few percent of
the recycle flow rate.
Purpose 1. Recovery of the catalyst 1.Control of
2. Dilution of a process stream output stream
3. Control of process variables conditions as
(e.g., T, P) composition,
4. Circulation of a working fluid temperature.
(Freon in refrigeration cycle)
Diagram

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 Chemical equilibrium :

 Type of reaction :

Reverse Reaction Two direction reaction

Irreversible Reaction One direction reaction ( concentration of limiting

reactant eventually approach zero )

 Yield & Selectivity:

For Yield there are three definition :

Mole of desired product formed

Yield =
Mole of reactant fed

Mole of desired product formed

Yield =
Mole of reactant consumed

Mole of desired product formed

Yield =
Moles that would have been formed if there were no side reactions and the
limiting reactant had reacted completely

moles of desired product formed

Selectivity =
moles of undesired product formed

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 Combustion Reactions

Good to know about combustion reaction :

 combustion to mean the reaction of oxygen with an compound containing carbon

and hydrogen. Written using generic symbols:

CxHy + O2 ---> CO2 + H2O

 The products of a combustion reaction are (CO2, H2O, and possibly CO and SO2)
Which worth much less than the fuel itself!.
 When CO (Silent Killer!) is formed, the combustion is called incomplete
combustion. (No enough oxygen available)
 Composition of combustion products is either reported on
wet basis (including water) or dry basis (excluding water).
 Stack gas or flue gas, is the product gas that leaves the combustion furnace.

Single Phase Systems :

 Ideal Gas Equation of State ( used for gas at low pressure and high temperature ) :

P absolute pressure , V volume of gas , n number of mole of gas ,R gas constant ,

T absolute temperature

 Gas constant unit :

R = (Pressure X volume) /(mole X temperature ) or
= (energy) /(mole X temperature)
Example of those units :
8.31451 J K-1 mol-1 , 8.20578 x 10-2 L atm K-1 mol-1

Standard Temperature and Pressure (STP) for gas in SI unit :

TS PS VS
C Or 273.15k 1 atm 22.4 m3/kmol
 Ideal Gas Mixtures:
For the whole gas mixture: PV = nRT
For one component, A in the mixture: PA V= nA RT

PA is the partial pressure of A ; (pressure that would be exerted by moles of A alone

(nA) in the same total volume V at the same T

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 Single Phase Systems continue :

Dalton’s law:
Definition : The summation of the partial pressures of the components of an ideal gas
mixture equal the total pressure of the gas mixture.

Formula :
PA+PB+PC+…= (yA+yB+yC + …)P = P

Amagat's Law:

Definition : The volume of an ideal gas mixture is equal to the summation of the
partial volumes of the component gases of the mixture, at the same temperature and
pressure.

Formula :
vA + vB + vC +…. =V

Multiphase Systems:

 Multiphase Processes examples :

_Solid to Liquid (Leaching)

_ Liquid or Gas to Solid (Adsorption)
_ Gas to liquid (Absorption or Scrubbing)
_ Liquid to Gas (Stripping)
_ Liquid to Vapor (Distillation)
_ Liquid to Liquid (Extraction)

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 Multiphase Systems continue :

Estimating Vapor Pressure:

Vapor pressure is a measure of a component’s tendency to escape from the liquid

phase to the vapor phase (volatility).

The Antoine Equation:

where :

P* is Vapor pressure (in mm Hg)

T is in degrees Centigrade (_C)

A, B and C are constants for the component taken from tables.

Gas-Liquid Systems - Raoult’s law:

Note: Raoult’s law is generally valid when xi is close to 1, i.e the liquid is almost pure
i component. However it is also valid over the entire range when the liquid mixture is
made of similar components (like Benzene& Toluene)

Henry’s Law:

Definition : Henry’s law states that the partial pressure of a species in the vapor phase
is directly proportional to its liquid phase mole fraction. The proportionality constant
is called Henry’s constant H(T).

Formula :

NOTE: Henry’s law is generally valid for very dilute solute

in the liquid phase (i.e., xi is close to 0.0)

Saturation & Humidity:

The term “ saturation” refers to any gas-vapor combination, while

The term “ humidity” refers to an air-water vapor system

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 Energy and Energy Balance

Forms of Energy

Kinetic energy (Ek) Potential energy (Ep) _ Internal energy (U)

energy due to the _energy due to the _all energy possessed
translational motion of position of the system by a system other than
the system as a whole in a potential field (such kinetic and potential
relative to some frame as a gravitational or energy; or Energy due
of reference (usually the electromagnetic field). to translation, rotation,
earth’s surface) vibration &
or to rotation of the electromagnetic
system about some axis. interactions of the
molecules, atom and
subatomic particle
within the system.

First Law of Thermodynamics

_Law of conservation of energy, which state that energy can neither be
created nor destroyed.
_General form of first law of thermodynamics
Inlet Energy + Heat - Outlet Energy – Work = Accumulation
Inlet energy and outlet energy is summation/total of all energy such as
potential, kinetic and internal energy

Energy Balances on Open System

Energy Balances on Closed System _^ symbol is used to denote the specific
_ Closed system : no mass is transferred property
across the system boundaries while the ( property divided by mass or by mole) such
process is taking place as
_ Energy balance specific internal energy (Û kJ/kg), specific
Final System Energy – Initial System Energy volume
= Net Energy Transferred to the System ( m3/kg) and so on.
Initial energy system = Ui + Eki + Epi _One important property for energy balance
Final energy system = Uf + Ekf + Epf on
Net energy transfer = Q-W open system is specific enthalpy (H kJ/kg).ˆ
(Uf-Ui) + (Ekf-Eki) + (Epf-Epi) = Q-W

References :

1. Sohar university lecture notes

2. Richard M.Felder & Ronald
W.Rousseau , " Elementary principles of
chemical processes.,(2005), WILEY
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