Please staple these

sheets to the front of

your answer sheets ChBE 6260 Spring 2020 Lively

Name:____________________________________________________________
Final Exam: Take-home exam
Due: 5:30 PM, Thursday, April 23rd, 2020
Open book, open notes, internet-based references permitted (please provide a citation if used)
Solo work only: no discussion of problems with classmates, groupmates, faculty, etc. – Do your own work
Use pages of blank white paper for your answers
Pledge Statement: I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this exam.

Signature:__________________________________________________________

Problem 1 (40 points)

Continuing our theme on odorous rooms, you have decided to purchase a reed diffuser for one of the rooms in your house.
You are trying to decide the optimum number of reeds to put into the diffuser so that you do not run out of oil too quickly
but can also smell it. The reed diffuser works by having a porous capillary (the reed) syphon oil from a reservoir to be
exposed to the ambient air. The oil evaporates and distributes uniformly into the room air (this is not entirely true, but it is
a useful assumption).
Useful data for the problem:
A sketch of the diffuser is shown below. The reservoir contains 100 mL of oil. The room can be assumed to be 3000 cubic
feet in volume, and the air in the room turns over 10 times an hour.
The vapor pressure of the oil at room temperature is 0.1 kPa (i.e.,
psat(22°C) = 0.1 kPa). The diffusivity of the oil in air is 0.05 cm2/s.
The odor from the oil in the diffuser can be detected at a concentration
of 0.1 mg/m3. The molecular weight of the oil is 150 g/mol.
Assume that the reed is always saturated with the liquid.
The density of the oil can be assumed to be 0.8 g/cm3.
A table of correlations can be found on the last page.
Estimate the following:
(i) How long will the oil last as a function of the number of
reeds in the bottle (including zero reeds; note that estimating
the zero reed case will require a different approach)?

(ii) What is the minimum number of reeds needed for you to

smell the oil in the room?

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Problem 2 (30 points):
You are trying to design an adsorption column to remove a genotoxic impurity (GTI) from a mixture containing a solvent,
the GTI, and an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) that you and your team have synthesized. Molecular models of the
API and GTI show that the API is significantly larger than the GTI such that the API does not interact with the adsorbent at
all.
Fortunately, the GTI is very dilute in this mixture such that a linear sorption isotherm can be assumed without issue.
However, the GTI is highly toxic and the effluent leaving the column must have < 0.001 mol% of the GTI in it.
You would like to use the column multiple times. The column can be washed with hot solvent to remove the GTI such that
the column
For a given flow rate (𝑄1 ) of reactant mixture (i.e., API/GTI/solvent), and an initial loading of GTI (𝑥𝐺𝑇𝐼,𝑖𝑛 ), determine

(i) How would you determine how long the adsorption column needs to be to create a GTI-free product for a set
time, e.g., 24 hours? Be as detailed and quantitative as possible. Which parameters would you need to estimate
and how would you estimate them?
(ii) How would you determine the ideal size of the adsorbent beads? Again, be as detailed and quantitative as
possible. Which parameters are important and how would you estimate them?
(iii) How would you estimate the appropriate temperature to go to “clean” the column? Describe a way in which
you could find the appropriate solvent flow rate for this cleaning step.
Note for this problem:
You are not expected to calculate anything. Instead, you should identify key parameters you would need to measure or look-
up (try to identify which ones you could likely look up and which ones would need to be measured), key relations that will
provide answers to the questions above, and any manipulations of those relations necessary to get to the answer. Think of
this as a conceptual design of a column, not an exact design for a specific scenario.
Hint: The style of the polymer drying problem in Topic 1 is a good example of what we are looking for.

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Problem 3 (40 points):
Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a toxic gas that’s lethal at very low concentrations (100 ppm). Most gas sensors nowadays are
electrochemical sensors, but one of your labmates attempts to design their own for your lab with their own materials. The
gas sensor is basically a metal rod whose surface is covered in a catalyst. Your lab mate conveniently uses a catalyst that
selectively catalyzes the combustion of H2S and O2. When any H2S comes into contact with the surface of the rod it combusts
and releases heat. The temperature of the surface of the cylinder is then correlated to the concentration of H 2S in the air.
Relevant data is presented in the figure (not drawn to scale) and table below. You may assume that the reaction is immediate
once the H2S touches the cylinder surface and any heat that’s released only raises the temperature of the cylinder’s surface
(Biot number is much less than one). Your goal is to determine the detection limit of H2S with your labmates device.

T=25 °C P=1 atm 𝑣∞

μair =1.86*10-5 Pa*s ρair =1.1839 kg/m3

J J
ΔHcomb =-5.6*105 Cp =1003
mol kg*K

𝑃𝑟 =0.8

(i) Estimate the bulk diffusivity of H2S in air.

(ii) Explain the assumptions necessary to use the Chilton-Colburn analogy.
(iii) Using the Chilton-Colburn analogy to develop a relationship between the concentration of H2S, the
properties in the table, and the temperature difference between the cylinder surface and the bulk gas.
(Hint: You will need an energy balance).
(iv) The thermocouple for you makeshift gas sensor can reliably measure temperature differences of 0.1
°C. What is the minimum detection limit for H2S? Is it good enough to warn people of potential H2S
exposure?

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