Material and Energy balance

Material Balance

Material balance can be simple, at times they can be very complicated, but the
basic approach is general. Experience in working with the simpler systems such as
individual unit operations will develop the facility to extend the methods to the more
complicated situations, which do arise. The increasing availability of computers has
meant that very complex mass balance can be set up and manipulated quite readily
and therefore used in everyday process management to maximize product yields and
minimize costs.

The general material balance simply accounts for where things come/go and how their
total number (or amount) changes. This led us to the following generic expression:

IN - OUT + GENERATION - CONSUMPTION = ACCUMULATION

where IN and OUT are the inputs and outputs to the system, respectively.

For steady state process the accumulation term will be zero. Therefore, the
unsteady state balance reduce to:

Accumulation = Input – Output

where for our case, no mass is generated or accumulated but only transformed from
material to other, the main equation will be:

Input= Output

Material balance for all process and for each equipment (i.e for all stream),
may be done by making overall material balance and for some steps by back
calculations, as follows:

Material Balance Around Blast Furnace

The daily consumption of scrap is about 600 tons per day, so the flow rate of scrap
with one day of operation is :

ton∗1000 Kg
Scarp flow rate=600
1ton

Scarp flow rate=600000 Kg

The amount of melted iron produced from the furnace is about 500 tons (500000 Kg)
per day.
The amount of slug is found to be about 100 tons (100000 Kg)

The amount of LPG and off gases are determined by using the energy balance around
the blast furnace.

Off gases

Scrap iron

LPG
Blast
Furnace

Slug Melted iron

The number of moles for scrap iron

The molecular weight is 55.85 kg/kmol

niron = 500000*(1/55.85) = 8952.551 kmol

Energy balance around a blast furnace

The temperature inside blast furnace is found to be 1800 oC, and it’s increased via the
combustion of LPG.

The amount of energy required for the fusion of iron is calculated using the following
equation:

dH iron=m∗Cp∗dT +m∗L f

Where :

H : The heat content of the iron

m : mass of iron
Cp : The heat capacity of the iron
T : The temperature
Lf : latent heat of fusion
The heat capacity of iron is function of temperature as follows :

Equation used Temperature, K

4.13 + 0.00638*T 273-1041
6.12+0.00336*T 1041-1179
Specific heat (Cp)
8.4 1179-1674
10 1674-1803
8.15 1803-2073

The latent heat of fusion of iron is 3560 cal/mol at its melting point 1530 oC

By integrating the previous equation, we get :

∆ H iron=8952.551∗¿
11
∆ H iron=1.683∗10 cal

∆ H iron=704170196.6 kJ

The amount of heat produced from the combustion of LPG:

∆Hcomb = m * Calorific value

The calorific value of LPG is found to be 55000 kJ per each Kg of LPG combusts

The amount of LPG required is :

m = (∆Hcomb / Calorific value )

m = 704170196.6 / 55000

m = 12803.1 Kg

m = 12.803 tons

So, the amount of LPG required in the blast furnace for the fusion of the 500 tons of
scrap is 12.803 tons

Now the amount of off gases can be determined from the chemical reactions of the
combustion of the LPG

The LPG is 40% propane (C3H8) and 60% butane (C4H10), and the combustion
produced CO2 and H2O

The chemical reactions are :

C 3 H 8 +5 O2 → 3 CO2 + 4 H 2 O
 C 4 H 10+(13/2)O2 → 4 CO2 +5 H 2 O

The molecular weight of LPG is :

Mw = 0.40*(12*3+8*1) +0.60*(12*4+10*1)

Mw = 52.4 kg/kmol

Number of moles of LPG used in blast furnace is :

nLPG = 12.803*1000/52.4

nLPG = 244.33 kmol

The chemical reactions are assumed to be complete combustion reactions, due to the
excess amount of air.

For the first reaction ( The propane combustion reaction)

The number of moles of CO2 produced is :

CO2 moles = 0.4*244.33*3

CO2 moles = 293.196 kmol = 12900.624 Kg

The number of moles of H2O produced is :

H2O moles = 0.4*244.33*4

H2O moles = 390.928 kmol = 7036.704 Kg

The number of moles of O2 required is :

O2 moles = 0.4*244.33*5

O2 moles = 488.66 kmol = 15637.12 Kg

For the second reaction ( The butane combustion reaction)

The number of moles of CO2 produced is :

CO2 moles = 0.6*244.33*4

CO2 moles = 586.392 kmol = 25801.248 Kg

The number of moles of H2O produced is :

H2O moles = 0.6*244.33*5

H2O moles = 732.99 kmol = 13193.82 Kg

The number of moles of O2 required is :

O2 moles = 0.6*244.33*6.5

O2 moles = 952.887 kmol = 30492.38 Kg

The following table shows the summation of total mass in and out:

Material In (kg) Out (kg)

LPG 12803 -
O2 46129 -
CO2 - 38701
H2O - 20229
SUM. 58932 58930

From the previous calculation, the consumption of LPG in the blast furnace is 12.803
tons

Material and energy balance around a reforming furnace

Reforming furnace

The temperature inside reforming furnace is found to be 1200 oC, and it’s increased
via the combustion of LPG. The amount of energy required for this duty is calculated
using the following equation:

dH iron=m∗Cp∗dT

By integrating the previous equation, we get :

∆ H iron=18846.15∗¿
10
∆ H iron=9.02∗10 cal

∆ H iron =3 77237605 . 7 kJ

The amount of heat produced from the combustion of LPG:

∆Hcomb = m * Calorific value

The calorific value of LPG is found to be 55000 kJ per each Kg of LPG combusts
The amount of LPG required is :

m = (∆Hcomb / Calorific value )

m = 377237605.7/ 55000

m = 6858.9 Kg

m = 6.859 tons

So, the amount of LPG required in the reforming furnace for is 6.859 tons

Now the amount of off gases can be determined from the chemical reactions of the
combustion of the LPG

The LPG is 40% propane (C3H8) and 60% butane (C4H10), and the combustion
produced CO2 and H2O

The chemical reactions are :

C 3 H 8 +5 O2 → 3 CO2 + 4 H 2 O

C 4 H 10+(13/2)O2 → 4 CO2 +5 H 2 O

The molecular weight of LPG is :

Mw = 0.40*(12*3+8*1) +0.60*(12*4+10*1)

Mw = 52.4 kg/kmol

Number of moles of LPG used in blast furnace is :

nLPG = 12.803*1000/52.4

nLPG = 244.33 kmol

The chemical reactions are assumed to be complete combustion reactions, due to the
excess amount of air.

For the first reaction ( The propane combustion reaction)

The number of moles of CO2 produced is :

CO2 moles = 0.4*244.33*3

CO2 moles = 293.196 kmol = 12900.624 Kg

The number of moles of H2O produced is :

H2O moles = 0.4*244.33*4

H2O moles = 390.928 kmol = 7036.704 Kg

The number of moles of O2 required is :

O2 moles = 0.4*244.33*5

O2 moles = 488.66 kmol = 15637.12 Kg

For the second reaction ( The butane combustion reaction)

The number of moles of CO2 produced is :

CO2 moles = 0.6*244.33*4

CO2 moles = 586.392 kmol = 25801.248 Kg

The number of moles of H2O produced is :

H2O moles = 0.6*244.33*5

H2O moles = 732.99 kmol = 13193.82 Kg

The number of moles of O2 required is :

O2 moles = 0.6*244.33*6.5

O2 moles = 952.887 kmol = 30492.38 Kg

The following table shows the summation of total mass in and out:

Material In (kg) Out (kg)

LPG 12803 -
O2 46129 -
CO2 - 38701
H2O - 20229
SUM. 58932 58930

From the previous calculation, the consumption of LPG in the blast furnace is 12.803
tons

The amount of energy required for the reform of iron

∆Hiron = 18846.15∗¿

¿ 189801311.538 kcal=794128687.5 kJ

The amount of heat caused by the combustion of LPG:

 ∆Hcomb = m * 55000

The amount of LPG that required

m = 794128687.5/55000=14438.70341 kg=14.44 tonn

The total amount of required LPG

m = 14.44 + 24.63 = 39.07 tonn