CBE 141: Chem. Eng.

Thermodynamics

Exam 2 Practice Problems

These problems are meant to give you extra practice on concepts that are fair game for the
exam. Solutions will not be posted, but we might work through some of these during office
hours on request.
1. Show that the maximum coefficient of performance for any heat pump cycle
operating between two regions at temperatures TC and TH is:
!
=

! !
Next, show that the maximum coefficient of performance for a heat pump used for
cooling is:
!
=
! !
2. CO2 needs to be compressed from P1=1 bar, T1 = 300 K to P2=40 bar to transport
it to remote sites for sequestration. What is the minimum energy requirement per kg
of CO2 for the compressor? Should the compressor operate adiabatically or
isothermally for the best energy efficiency? The environment is at Tenv= 300 K.
Ans: 310 kJ/kg for adiabatic operation, 197 kJ/kg for isothermal
3. Derive an expression for the efficiency of the Diesel cycle in terms of r (compression
ratio) and the re (expansion ratio). You might find this page helpful:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_cycle
4. The internal energy of a gas is expressed as

= !/!

N moles of this substance, initially at T0 and P0, are expanded reversibly and
adiabatically until the pressure is halved. What is the final temperature?
5. Show that, for the van der Waals equation,

=
!


the residual enthalpy HR is equal to:

2
! =


You should start with a total derivative. In order to make isolating the derivatives
mathematically tractable, you will need to do a change of variables from P to V. This
will change your bounds of integration as well, and you should substitute
!"
= !" .
Similarly, show that
! = ln 1

CBE 141: Chem. Eng. Thermodynamics

Exam 2 Practice Problems

6. Refrigerant HFC-134a (1,1,1,2 tetrafluoroethane) has been used since the early
1990s in automobile air conditioning applications, replacing earlier ozone-depleting
refrigerants. In a typical cycle, the warm coil operates at a maximum temperature of
130 F and the cooling coil is at 40 F. Calculate the process conditions, amount of
work and heat and efficiency of the cycle of the figure below. (Unfortunately, HFC134a has very large global warming potential (1300 times as large as CO2) and is in
the process of being phased out.)
(The data for this refrigerant can be found in the NIST webbook.)

Ans: COP = 4.66, QH=-158 kJ/kg, QC=130 kJ/kg

7. (Modified from HW 5, the ungraded Problem 6): Using thermodynamic derivatives,
derive ! ! for the general case as a function of P, T, and V only.
Show that this simplifies to R using the ideal gas EOS. What is it for the truncated
virial equation Z=1+BP/RT, if B is assumed to be constant?
Finally, show that ! > ! must always hold.
8. Starting with the fundamental equation for enthalpy,
a. Show that the isobars in the vapor region of a Mollier (H-S) diagram (see
Figure 6.4 in SVNA) must have both positive slope and positive curvature.
b. What is the slope of the isobar in the vapor-liquid coexistence line?
c. How does the isotherm compare to the isobar in the V-L coexistence line?