Mixing Problem

In these problem, we will start with a substance that is dissolved in a liquid. Liquid will be
entering and leaving a holding tank. The liquid entering the tank might or might not contain
more of the substance dissolved in it. Liquid leaving the tank will of course contain the
substance dissolved in it.

We will start with a substance that is dissolved in a liquid. Liquid will be entering and leaving
a holding tank. The liquid entering the tank may or may not contain more of the substance
dissolved in it. Liquid leaving the tank will of course contain the substance dissolved in it. If
A(t) gives the amount of the substance dissolved in the liquid in the tank at any time t we want
to develop a differential equation that, when solved, will give us an expression for A(t). Note
as well that in many situations we can think of air as a liquid for the purposes of these kinds of
discussions and so we do not actually need to have an actual liquid but could instead use air as
the “liquid”.
The main assumption that we will be using here is that the concentration of the substance in
the liquid is uniform throughout the tank. Clearly, this will not be the case, but if we allow the
concentration to vary depending on the location in the tank the problem becomes very difficult
and will involve partial differential equations, which is not the focus of this course.

 Let A be the amount of substance in the tank at any time t.

 If we can create an equation relating dA/dt to A, then we will have a differential equation
which we can solve to determine the relationship between A and t.
 To describe dA/dt, we use the concept of concentration, the amount of substance per
unit of volume of liquid in the tank.
Solution of a mixture of water and substance
A tank has a substance mass A(t) dissolved in a volume V(t) of liquid at a time t. Liquid is
pouring into the tank at a rate rin(t) with a substance concentration cin(t). Liquid is also leaving
the tank at a rate rout(t) with a salt concentration cout(t). Recall that a liquid rate r means liquid
volume per unit time, and a substance concentration c means substance mass per unit volume.
 A(t): amount of substance
 V(t): volume of the solution
 c(t): concentration of substance
 r(t): flow rate
A(t )
c(t ) 
V (t )
 dA
 rate in - rate out = R in - R out = cin rin - cout rout
dt
Rate at which A(t) enters the tank : (flow rate of liquid entering) × (concentration of substance in liquid entering)

Rate at which A(t) exits the tank : (flow rate of liquid exiting) × (concentration of substance in liquid exiting)
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
concentration × flow rate = cr = 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 × 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

A(t )
cout (t ) 
V (t )

dA(t ) A(t )
 cin rin - rout , A(0)  A0
dt V (t )

where
 A = A(t) denote the amount of substance at time t.
 Initial amount of substance, A0 .
 Tank initially containing a volume V0 of mixture (substance + liquid).
 A concentration of substance, c in flow into the tank at the volume rate rin .
 The substance is entering the tank at the rate cin rin .
 Suppose that the well mixed solution is pumped out of the tank at the volume rate rout .
A(t )
 The concentration of substance (out flow) is where V (t ) is the current volume in
V (t )
the tank.

Examples
1. A tank contains 200 liters of water in which 40 kilograms of salt are dissolved. Five liters
of brine, each containing 2kg of dissolved salt, run into the tank every minute. The mixture
kept uniform by stirring, runs out at the same rate.
(a) Determine the amount of salt, 𝐴(𝑡), in the tank at time 𝑡.
(b) How much salt is in the tank after a long time?

Initial volume (tank) = V0 = 200 liters; Initial amount of salt = A0 = 40 kg

IN: rin = 5 litres/min; cin = 2 kg/litres
A(t )
OUT: rout = 5 litres/min; V (t) =200; cout (t ) 
200
dA A A
 cin rin - rout  2(5)  (5), A(0)  20
dt V 200
dA A
 10  , A(0)  40
dt 40
1
 t
Using initial amount salt A(0)  40 , we have the amount of salt at time t, A(t )  400  360e 40
2. Consider a tank with volume 100 litres containing a salt solution. Suppose a solution with
2kg/liter of salt flows into the tank at the rate of 5liters/min. The solution in the tank is
well mixed. Solution flows out of the tank at a rate 5liters/min. If initially there is 20kg of
salt in the tank, how much salt will be in the tank as function of time?

Initial volume (tank) = V0 = 100 liters; Initial amount of salt = A0 = 20 kg

IN: rin = 5 litres/min; cin = 2 kg/litres
A(t )
OUT: rout = 5 litres/min; V (t) =100; cout (t ) 
100
dA A A
 cin rin - rout  2(5)  (5), A(0)  20
dt V 100
dA A
 10  , A(0)  20
dt 20
1
 t
Using initial amount salt A(0)  20 , we have the amount of salt at time t, A(t )  200  180e 20

3. A tank has pure water flowing into it at 10 l/min. The contents of the tank are kept
thoroughly mixed, and the contents flow out at 10 l/min. Initially, the tank contains 10 kg
of salt in 100 l of water. How much salt will there be in the tank after 30 minutes?

Initial volume (tank) = V0 =100 l; Initial amount of salt = A0 = 10 kg

IN: rin = 10 l/min; cin = ? kg/l
A
OUT: rout = 10 l/min; V (t) =100; cout  kg/l
100
The inflow and outflow rates are the same, so the volume of liquid in the tank stays constant at
A
100 l. Mixture leaves the tank at the rate of 10 l/min, salt is leaving the tank at the rate of 10
100
l/min. This is the rate at which salt leaves the tank, so
dA A A
 cin rin - rout  0  (10), A(0)  10
dt V 100
dA A
  , A(0)  10
dt 10
1
 t
Using initial amount salt A(0)  10 , we have the amount of salt at time t, A(t )  10e 10
. The
1
 30
amount of salt in the tank after 30 minutes is A(30)  10e 10
 0.5kg .
4. A tank has pure water owing into it at 10 l/min. The contents of the tank are kept
thoroughly mixed, and the contents ow out at 10 l/min. Salt is added to the tank at the
rate of 0.1 kg/min. Initially, the tank contains 10 kg of salt in 100 l of water. How much
salt will there be in the tank after 30 minutes?
A
Now Rin = 0.1 kg/min; Rout = 10 kg/min such that
100
dA A
 0.1  , A(0)  10
dt 10
1
 t
The solution is A(t )  1  9e 10
. The amount of salt in the tank after 30 minutes is
1
 30
A(30)  1  9e 10
 1.448kg .

5. A tank contains 1000l of beer with 4% alcohol. Beer with 6% alcohol is pumped into the
tank at a rate of 20l per minute, and the mixture is pumped out at the same rate. What is
the percentage of alcohol in the mixture after 1 hour?
4
Let A be the volume of alcohol in the tank at any time t. Thus A(0)  1000  40 .
100
2 12
Inflow of alcohol/minute: Rin  20   1.2
100 10
A A
Outflow of alcohol/minute: Rout  20   0.02 A
1000 50
dA A
 1.2  , A(0)  40
dt 50
Using initial volume of alcohol A(0)  40 , we have the volume of alcohol at time t,
1 1
 t  1
A(t )  60  20e 50 . After 1 hour A(1)  60  20e 50
 40.4 . The percentage of alcohol in the
mixture after 1 hour is 0.4%.

6. A 1500 litres tank initially contains 600 litres of water with 5kg of salt dissolved in it.
Water enters the tank at a rate of 9 litres/hour and the water entering the tank has a salt
concentration of (1/ 5) 1  cos t  kg/litre. If a well mixed solution leaves the tank at a rate
of 6 litres/hour, how much salt is in the tank when it overflows (t = 300 hours) .

Initially we have 600 litres, then every hour, 9 litres enter and 6 litres leave. If we use t in hours,
every 3 litres enters the tank, or at any time t , there is 600 + 3t of water in the tank.
Initial volume (tank) = V0 =600 l; Initial amount of salt = A0 = 5 kg

IN: rin = 9 l/hr; cin = (1/ 5) 1  cos t  kg/l; R in = cin rin

 A
OUT: rout = 6 l/min; V (t) = 600 + 3t; cout  kg/l; R out = cout rout
600  3t

dA  A 
 9  (1/ 5)(1  cos t )   6  , A(0)  5
dt  600  3t 
dA  2  9
  A  1  cos t 
dt  200  t  5
Determining integrating factor, then apply the initial condition the amount of salt A(t) in the
tank at any time t is

The tank will overflow at t = 300 hours. Therefore, the amount of salt in the tank at
that time is A(300)  279.797 kg