ChE 211 Final Exam

Spring, 2004
Closed Book 20 Points
1. (10 pts) Define the following terms in your own words and explain why this is an
important concept in analysis of chemical processes. If you use symbols, define
each in words.
a. Sequential modular simulation

b. Recycle calculator (in HYSYS)

c. Standard deviation (of a fit)

d. Finite-difference solutions

e. Shell balances

2. (10 pts) Indicate whether the following statements are true or false by placing a T
or F in front of each.
a. ___ Gauss-Jordan elimination is a method for inverting a matrix, which is
useful in solving a system of linear algebraic equations.
b. ___ The transient energy balance says that the rate of change of total
energy of a system is equal to the net rate of input of energy across the
system boundaries plus the net generation of energy within the system.
c. ___ There are four mechanisms by which energy can cross the boundaries
of a system: heat, work, nuclear reactions, and streams.
d. ___ One way to find the root of the nonlinear algebraic equation f(x) = 0 is
to employ Newtons method.
e. ___ The primary advantage of programming a material balance problem
onto an Excel spreadsheet is to eliminate having to perform a degrees of
freedom analysis.
f. ___ HYSYS would be the software of choice (in 2004) to fit process data
to a mathematical model by least squares.
g. ___ The basic assumption of the plug flow reactor is perfect mixing
throughout the reactor.
h. ___ Transient analyses of chemical processes are often useful to model
start-up behavior.
i. ___ If the degrees of freedom is equal to zero, then the number of state
variables is equal to the number of design variables.
j. ___ Simpsons rule is usually a more accurate numerical integration
scheme than the Trapezoidal rule.

ChE 211 Final Exam

Spring, 2004
Open Book 80 Points
1. (20 pts) A water tank has one inlet stream and one exit stream. The flow rate of the
exit stream is controlled to prevent the tank from overflowing. All you need to know
about this controller is that the exit flow rate is proportional to the volume of water in
the tank:
v out a bV

Observations of tank behavior while under control indicate the follow steady-state
volumes of water in the tank as a function of the inlet flow rate:
v in ( m 3 / h)

V (m 3 )

100
200

100
110

Assume that the tank has been operating at steady state, with an inlet flow rate of
100 m3/h. At t = 0, the inlet flow rate is suddenly changed to 200 m3/h. Determine
the following:
a.
b.
c.
d.

the differential equation relating volume of water in the tank to time

the initial volume and the initial slope of volume versus time
sketches of volume and exit flow rate versus time
the volume in the tank at the end of 5 min

2. (20 pts) The following data have been measured for the first-order rate constant for a
reaction A B .
A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

T(C)
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0

-1

kA (s )
0.51
1.02
1.97
3.95
8.12

You have been asked to fit this data to the Arrhenius equation in linearized form.
Explain in detail how you would solve this problem on this Excel spreadsheet. Your
boss wants to know the Arrhenius parameters and their standard uncertainties.

3. (20 pts) You are to develop a HYSYS simulation of the process described in Problem
9.22, p. 483, in the Felder and Rousseau text. The condensation of water from the
product gases is for material balance purposes and not part of the process.
a. Prepare a PFD with the HYSYS units and calculational modules (all
clearly identified) that you would choose (from the Palette) for your
simulation.
b. Indicate what you would need to set up in the Basis Environment,
providing details of components and all other information you would need
to input.
c. Indicate the design variables for this problem (as per the problem
statement) and how you would input them for this process.
4. (20 pts) A fuel gas contains methane and nitrogen. This gas is burned with air to
produce a stack gas at 500 C and 101 kPa. An analysis of this stack gas indicates
that 1) the partial pressure of CO2 is 65 mmHg (on a dry basis), and 2) the stack gas
contains no methane, oxygen or CO. It is desired to know the mole fraction of
methane in the fuel. Imbed a flowchart for this process in the Excel spreadsheet
below, and indicate how you would program it to perform the desired calculations.
A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20