Chemical Engineering Department

Graduate Student Program

Final Exam Advanced Mass Transfer Che630 - Fall 2023
Take Home Exam April 17th 2024
Examiner: Dr. M. A. El-Behlil Exam Model (A)
Question NO.1

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Question NO.2

In gas treatment plant, a tray tower is used to remove 99% of ammonia (NH3 MW-
17 kg/kg mol) in the air (MW=28.97 kg/kg mol) stream which is coming from reactor
outlet. The air stream contains 6 mol% ammonia at 30 °C and 101.325 Kpa, which
enter the tower at a flowrate of 128 kg/h-m2). The flowrate of pure water (MW=18
kg/kg mol) entering the tray is 188 kg/(h-m2), The equilibrium of the dilute stream
is represented by:

y=0.76 x

Where: y is the mole fraction of NH3 in the gas phase

And, x is the mole fraction of NH3 in the liquid phase

By assuming that the ammonia concentration is sufficiently dilute through the

tower that both operating and equilibrium curves are linear.

a) Draw a sketch of the tray tower showing the amounts of inlet and outlet
streams including the mole fractions and mole ratio of each stream.
b) Determine the number of theoretical trays (N) graphically.
c) Determine the number of theoretical trays (N) analytically using the
Kremser Brown Souders (KBS) equation.

𝒚 − 𝒎𝒙𝒐 𝟏 𝟏
𝐥𝐧 [ 𝑵+𝟏 (𝟏 − )+ ]
𝒚𝟏 − 𝒎𝒙𝒐 𝑨 𝑨
𝑵=
𝐥𝐧 𝑨
𝑳𝒐 𝑳𝑵
𝑨𝟏 = 𝑨𝑵 = 𝑨𝟏 ≠ 𝑨𝑵 𝑨 = √𝑨𝟏 𝑨𝑵
𝒎 𝑽𝟏 𝒎 𝑽𝑵+𝟏

𝑳𝒐 𝑳𝟐
𝑶𝑹 𝑨𝟏 = 𝑨𝑵 = 𝑨 = √𝑨𝟏 𝑨𝟐
𝒎 𝑽𝟏 𝒎 𝑽𝟐

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Question No. 3

Part C.
A sphere of naphthalene 2 inch in diameter is placed in air at 115° F flowing
with a velocity of 1.1 ft/sec. The vapor pressure of solid naphthalene is
0.565 mmHg and the diffusivity of naphthalene in air and at 115° F is
7.5x10-5 ft2/sec. Determine the mass transfer coefficient (kG) in
lbmol/(ft2-hr-atm) and the mass transfer flux of naphthalene to air (NA)
and the total mass evaporated (WA) in lbmol/hr in this stagnant air at
115 °F and 1 atm.

Data: Properties of air at 1 atm and 115 °F are:

Density (ρ)=0.0692 lb/ft3
Viscosity (µ)= 0.0469 lb/(ft-hr)
R=0.73 (atm-ft3)/(lbmol-°R), kG= kC/RT
NA=KG(PA1-PA2)

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Question No. 4

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Question No.5

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 Question No.6

A distillation column is separating methanol and water. The column has a

partial reboiler, a total condenser, and a saturated liquid reflux. The feed rate
is 152 Kgmole/h, and feed composition is 40 mol% methanol. The feed is a
two- phase mixture that is 60% liquid and 40% vapor and will be put into the
column at the optimum feed plate. The distillate composition is 0.92 and
bottoms is 0.08 mole fraction methanol. CMO can be assumed. Use an
external reflux ratio of L/D=0.9. Equilibrium data as a plot is supplied to you on
(Figure 2).

a) Find the value of q and plot the feed line.

b) Plot the top and bottom operating lines.
c) Find the optimum feed plate location and total number of equilibrium
stages.
d) Find the minimum number of plates for this separation.
e) Find the minimum reflux for the given separation.

(Figure 2.) Plot of VLE data for methanol and water at 1 atm (y-x in mole fraction
of methanol)

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Question No. 7

100 Kgmol/h of a bubble point liquid mixture of 75 mole% water (Mwt =18) and 25
mole % acetic acid (Mwt =60.5) is distilled continuously in a distillation tower
at a pressure of 1 atm. Distillate contains 95 mol % of light component and
bottom 95 mole % of heavy component. The reflux ratio is 2 times of minimum
reflux ratio (R =2 Rmin).
a) Determine the amounts of distillate (D) and bottom product (B) in kgmol/hr.
b) Determine the number of theoretical stages and optimum feed stage location.
c) Determine the minimum number of stages graphically and using Fenske
equation.
d) Calculate the amount of steam required for heating the re-boiler if the steam
pressure is 0.4 Mpa ( ∆H steam = 2133.9 kJ/kg).
e) Calculate the amount of cooling water required for the total condenser, the
cooling water is preheated by 20 °C (CP cooling-water = 4.184 kJ/kg – K).

Equilibrium data water acetic acid at 1 atm (mole fractions)

x 0 0.0055 0.053 0.125 0.206 0.297 0.510 0.649 0.803 0.959 1.00
y 0 0.0112 0.133 0.240 0.338 0.437 0.630 0.751 0.866 0.972 1.00
Heat of evaporation at Tw for water (∆hwater)= 2214 kJ/kg
Heat of evaporation at Tw for acetic acid (∆hacetic acid)= 390 kJ/kg

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 Vapor Liquid Equilibria water (A) - Acetic
acid (B) system
XF= 0.75 , XD=0.95 XW=0.05
1

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6
YA

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1

XA

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