Material Balance Calculations
Department of Chemical Engineering
Based on Notes from Prof. M. Ioannidis
Outline
• Single Unit in the Absence of
Chemical Reactions
•Multiple Units in the Absence of
Chemical Reactions
•Multiple Units in the Presence of
Chemical Reactions
1. Single Unit Analysis
An everyday example…
• The Process: Brewing Coffee (technical
term: leaching)
• The Machinery: Coffeemaker (technical
term: solid-liquid contactor)
Process Description *
A: water (W)
B: CS, CG C: CS, W
D: coffee solubles (CS), coffee grounds
(CG) and water (W)
(*) Batch process
Stream Description
• We know everything about a stream if we
know: its mass (or mass flow rate for
continuous processes) and its composition.
• n variables needed to describe a stream with
n components. What may these variables
be?
Stream Description (cont’d)
• Stream D (three components: CS, CG, W)
needs 3 variables to describe it.
• The 3 mass fractions: xCS, xCG and xW are a
poor choice, because xCS + xCG + xW = 1 (i.e.,
they are not independent). Thus, at least one
variable must be a mass (total or component
mass).
Stream Description (cont’d)
• To describe stream D, we could use either:
– the total mass D and any two mass fractions
(say, xCS and xCG), or
– the mass of each component: DCS, DCG, DW, or
– any other combination, except xCS, xCG and xW !
• For example, upon finding DCS, DCG, DW, we
also know the mass fractions:
xCS = DCS/(DCS + DCG + DW), etc.
Process Description (cont’d)
AW
BCG, BCS
CW, CCS
DCS, DCG, DW
Verify that if you knew AW, BCG, BCS, CW, CCS, DCS, DCG and DW, you’d know
everything there is to know about the mass and composition of all four streams.
Material Balance Equations
• To determine unknowns you must solve an
equal number of independent equations that
relate them. Around a process unit
involving n components we can write at
most n independent material balance
equations:
– Total balance plus n-1 component balances, or
– n component balances.
Material Balance Equations (cont’d)
• Suppose we write:
– Water balance, AW = CW + DW
– Coffee grounds balance, BCG = DCG
– Coffee solubles balance, BCS = DCS + CCS
then,
– Total balance (not independent): A + B = C +D
If we are to solve this problem, we must have no
more than 3 unknowns (because we can write at most
3 independent equations). The remaining 5 variables
must be obtained from data. Data are frequently
interpreted as extra (auxiliary) equations.
Data and Auxiliary Equations
The following equations are not material balances, they are
auxiliary equations coming from data (as they may be given in a
problem statement):
One kg of W is used to brew coffee:
A = AW = 1 kg,
Coffee contains 1% CS:
BCS/(BCS+BCG) = 0.01,
Coffee extract contains 0.4% CS:
CCS/(CCS+CW) = 0.004,
Waste product contains 80% CG and 19.6% W:
DCG/(DCG+DW + DCS) = 0.8,
DW/(DCG+DW + DCS) = 0.196.
Linear_Algebra@Work
• Thus far, we have established 7 independent
simultaneous linear equations in 7 unknowns (AW is
directly available):
(0)BCG + (0)BCS + (0)CCS + (1)CW + (0)DCG + (0)DCS + (1)DW =1
(1)BCG + (0)BCS + (0)CCS + (0)CW - (1)DCG + (0)DCS + (0)DW =0
(0)BCG + (1)BCS - (1)CCS + (0)CW + (0)DCG - (1)DCS + (0)DW =0
- (0.01)BCG + (0.99)BCS + (0)CCS + (0)CW + (0)DCG + (0)DCS + (0)DW =0
(0)BCG + (0)BCS + (0.996)CCS - (0.004)CW + (0)DCG + (0)DCS + (0)DW =0
(0)BCG + (0)BCS + (0)CCS + (1)CW + (0.2)DCG - (0.8)DCS - (0.8)DW =0
(0)BCG + (0)BCS + (0)CCS + (1)CW - (0.196)DCG - (0.196)DCS + (0.804)DW = 0
Linear_Algebra@Work (cont’d)
• Alternatively we write , [M]•{X} = {b}, where
0 0 0 1 0 0 1 B CG 1
1 0 0 0 1 0 0 B CS 0
0 1 1 0 0 1 0 C CS 0
M 0.01 0.99 0 0 0 0 0 X CW b 0
0 0 0.996 0.004 0 0 0 D CG 0
0 0 0 0 0.2 0.8 0.8 D CS 0
0 0 0 0 0.196 0.196 0.804 DW 0
Solution: {X} = M-1•{b}
Excel and Mathcad can both solve linear systems easily...
Advantages of Matrix Solution
• Analytical clarity
• Ability to investigate “what-if ” scenarios
• Convenient treatment of processes
involving many streams and many
components
2. Multiple Unit Analysis
• Two-distillation column
process to separate benzene
(B), toluene (T) and xylene
(X).
• First column produces
overhead product containing
mostly B.
1 2 • Second column produces
overhead product containing
mostly T and bottom product
containing mostly X.
• All chemicals (B,T,X) are
present in all streams.
Our Methodology
A D
• Pretend that you have
no data.
F
• Then give a unique 1 2
name to each stream.
C E
Our Methodology (cont’d)
• Recall that each stream AB, AT, AX DB, DT, DX
has 3 components
each stream is fully
described by 3 variables.
• Let’s use component FB, FT, FX
mass flows to describe 1 2
them.
• We have a total of 15
unknowns (remember, CB, CT, CX
we pretend we have no
data!) EB, ET, EX
Our Methodology (cont’d)
• Recall that around each AB, AT, AX DB, DT, DX
unit we can write as many
independent mass balances
as the number of
components involved, that FB, FT, FX
is 3 balances.
1 2
• For unit 1:
[1]: FB = AB + CB (B-balance)
[2]: FT = AT + CT (T-balance) CB, CT, CX
[3]: FX = AX + CX (X-balance)
EB, ET, EX
Our Methodology (cont’d)
• For unit 2:
AB, AT, AX DB, DT, DX
[4]: CB = DB + EB (B-balance)
[5]: CT = DT + ET (T-balance)
[6]: CX = DX + EX (X-balance)
• Total of 6 independent mass F , F , F
B T X
balances
1 2
• Anything more (e.g., overall
balance for B):
F B = AB + D B + E B
CB, CT, CX
is redundant (to see this add
equations [1] and [4]!) EB, ET, EX
Our Methodology (cont’d)
• Observe that without data
AB, AT, AX DB, DT, DX
we cannot proceed, because
we have 6 equations and 15
unknowns!
• Data can be translated into
FB, FT, FX
auxiliary equations; we
need 9 such equations and 1 2
we want them to be
independent!
• Suppose they give us the CB, CT, CX
composition of stream A... EB, ET, EX
Our Methodology (cont’d)
• Knowledge of stream A AB, AT, AX
composition allows us to write DB, DT, DX
(4%B, 91%T, 5%X)
no more than 2 auxiliary
equations, e.g.,
[7] AB/(AB+AT+AX) = 0.04
[8] AT/(AB+AT+AX) = 0.91 FB, FT, FX
• The following would not be 1 2
independent (why?)
AX/(AB+AT+AX) = 0.05
• Generalize: knowing the CB, CT, CX
composition of a stream of n
components affords us n-1 EB, ET, EX
auxiliary equations.
Our Methodology (cont’d)
• Knowledge of the composition of AB, AT, AX DB, DT, DX
streams F and D would give 4
(4%B, 91%T, 5%X) (4.3%B, 91.2%T, 4.5%X)
additional auxiliary equations:
FB, FT, FX
(35%B, 50%T, 15%X)
[9] DB/(DB+DT+DX) = 0.043 1 2
[10] DT/(DB+DT+DX) = 0.912
[11] FB/(FB+FT+FX) = 0.35
[12] FT/(FB+FT+FX) = 0.50 CB, CT, CX
EB, ET, EX
Our Methodology (cont’d)
AB, AT, AX DB, DT, DX
• A basis provides one more (4%B, 91%T, 5%X) (4.3%B, 91.2%T, 4.5%X)
auxiliary equation, e.g.:
[13] FB+FT+FX = 100 FB, FT, FX
• The last two auxiliary equations
(35%B, 50%T, 15%X)
may come from knowing that 1 2
stream E contains 10% of B in
the feed and 93.3% of X in the
feed: CB, CT, CX
[14] EB = 0.1FB
[15] EX = 0.933FX EB, ET, EX
Our Methodology (cont’d)
• Think: Why do we prefer to work with component
mass flows as our stream variables, e.g., CB, CT and
CX for stream C, and not with total mass flow and
mass fractions (e.g., C, xCB and xCT) ?
Our Methodology (cont’d)
• Suppose we used C, xCB and xCT AB, AT, AX DB, DT, DX
to describe stream C. Then, the
(4%B, 91%T, 5%X) (4.3%B, 91.2%T, 4.5%X)
mass balances for, say, unit 2
would be:
FB, FT, FX
CxCB = DB + EB (for B) (35%B, 50%T, 15%X)
CxCT = DT + ET (for T) 1 2
C(1-xCT-xCB)= DX + EX (for X)
This formulation would result C, xCT, xCB
in non-linear equations
which are more difficult to EB, ET, EX
solve!
3. Single Unit Balance with
Reaction
A (NH3)
4NH3 + 5O2 4NO + 6H2O
B (Air: O2, N2) C (O2, N2, NO,
NH3, H2O)
NOTE: Since no data are available at this stage, we must
assume that all reactants and products are present in the
effluent stream (8 stream variables)
Mass balances using the extent of
reaction...
If X is the number of ammonia moles that reacted:
• Ammonia: CNH3 = ANH3 - X
• Nitrogen monoxide: CNO = X
• Oxygen: CO2 = BO2 - (5/4)X
• Nitrogen: CN2 = BN2
• Water: CH2O = (6/4)X
To the 8 stream variables we must add the extent of
reaction, i.e., we have 9 unknowns and 5 equations
from mass balances (one for each chemical species)
Auxiliary equations from data...
In addition to the 8 stream variables, the extent of reaction is
a also an unknown, i.e., we have 9 unknowns and only 5
equations from mass balances (one for each of the 5
chemical species). We need 4 auxiliary equations before
we can solve this problem. These may be:
• One from the basis: e.g., 100 mol of NH3 feed
• One from the composition of stream B (why not two?)
• One from knowledge of NH3 fractional conversion
• One from knowledge of the percent excess air
