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 Computational Methods for Process
Engineers
Second Edition
J.P. Mmbaga
Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering
University of Alberta

K. Nandakumar
Cain Department of Chemical Engineering
Louisiana State University

R.E. Hayes
Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering
University of Alberta

August, 2020

© All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by
any means without permission in writing from the the publisher.

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded
sources. Reasonable effort has been made to publish reliable data and
information, but the authors and publisher do not assume responsibility for the
validity of all materials and their consequences for use. The authors and
publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material
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publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been
acknowledged, please write and let us know so we may rectify in future prints.
Trademark notice: Product of corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.

MATLAB ® is a registered product of The MathWorks, Inc. 3 Apple Hill Drive

Natick, Massachusetts 01760 USA.

Published by:
ALPHA Education Press
104-2607 Ellwood Drive SW
Edmonton, AB T6X 0P7 Edmonton, AB

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Computational methods for process engineers / J.P. Mmbaga (Department of

Chemical & Materials Engineering, University of Alberta), K. Nandakumar (Cain
Department of Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University), R.E. Hayes
(Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, University of Alberta).
Names: Mmbaga, J. P., author. — Hayes, R. E. (Robert E.), author. — Nandakumar,
K. (Krishnaswamy), 1951- author.
Description: Second edition. — Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200323849 — Canadiana (ebook) 20200323881 —
ISBN 9781989024065 (softcover) — ISBN 9781989024072 (Kindle) — ISBN
9781989024089 (EPUB)
Subjects: LCSH: Chemical engineering – Mathematics.
Classification: LCC TP149 .M63 2020 — DDC 660.01/51dc23
Contents
List of Tables

List of Figures
Preface - 1st Edition

Preface - 2nd Edition

Acknowledgements
1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Classification of chemical process models
1.3 Lumped parameter, steady state models
1.3.1 Example of a stagewise separation process
1.3.2 Process flow sheet simulation
1.3.3 Example of a multicomponent flash
1.3.4 Example of a phenomenalogical model
1.3.5 Example of reactors in series
1.4 Lumped parameter, dynamic models
1.4.1 Example of cooling a molten metal
1.4.2 Ozone decomposition
1.5 Distributed parameter, steady state models
1.5.1 Heat transfer through a tappered fin
1.5.2 Axial dispersion model
1.6 Distributed parameter, dynamic models
1.6.1 Heat transfer through a tappered
1.7 Putting it all together - Overview
1.7.1 Mathematical models and Physical laws
1.7.2 Mathematical models, numerical approximations and
errors.
1.7.3 Algorithms
1.7.4 Errors in numerical computation
 1.8 Summary
2 Single nonlinear algebraic equation
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Bisection method
2.3 Regula-falsi method
2.4 Newton’s method
2.5 Secant method
2.6 Müller’s method
2.7 Fixed point iteration
2.8 Error analysis and convergence acceleration
2.8.1 Convergence of the bisection method
2.8.2 Convergence of fixed point iteration method
2.8.3 Aetkins method for convergence acceleration
2.8.4 Convergence of the Newton’s scheme
2.9 Deflation technique
2.10 Software tools
2.10.1 MATLAB
2.11 Summary
2.12 Exercise problems
3 Review of Linear Algebra
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Matrix notation
3.2.1 Review of basic operations
3.3 Matrices with special structure
3.4 Determinant
3.4.1 Laplace expansion of the determinant
3.5 Vector and matrix norms
3.6 Condition of a Matrix
3.7 Direct methods
3.7.1 Cramers rule
3.7.2 Matrix inverse
3.7.3 Gaussian elimination
3.7.4 Thomas algorithm
3.7.5 Gauss-Jordan elimination
 3.7.6 Gaussian elimination - Symbolic representaion
3.7.7 LU decomposition
3.8 Iterative methods
3.8.1 Jacobi iteration
3.8.2 Gauss-Seidel iteration
3.8.3 Successive over-relaxation (SOR) scheme
3.9 Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization procedure
3.10 The eigenvalue problem
3.10.1 Left and right eigenvectors
3.10.2 Bi-orthogonality
3.10.3 Power iteration
3.10.4 Inverse iteration
3.10.5 Shift-Inverse iteration
3.11 Summary
3.12 Exercise Problems
4 Systems of nonlinear algebraic equations
4.1 Newton’s method
4.1.1 Convergence test
4.2 Summary
4.3 Exercise Problems
5 Functional approximations
5.1 Approximate representation of functions
5.1.1 Series expansion
5.1.2 Polynomial collocation
5.2 Approximate representation of data
5.2.1 Approximation accuracy
5.3 Curve fitting
5.3.1 Least-squares approximation
5.4 General non-linear regression and linearization
5.4.1 Linearization
5.5 Difference operators
5.5.1 Operator algebra
5.5.2 Newton forward difference approximation
5.5.3 Newton backward difference approximation
 5.6 Inverse interpolation
5.7 Lagrange polynomials
5.8 Newton’s divided difference polynomials
5.9 Piecewise continuous functions - splines
5.10 Exercise problems I
5.11 Numerical differentiation
5.11.1 Approximations for first order derivatives
5.11.2 Approximations for second order derivatives
5.11.3 Taylor series approach
5.12 Numerical integration
5.12.1 Romberg integration
5.12.2 Gaussian quadratures
5.13 Summary
5.14 Exercise Problems II
6 ODEs - IVP
6.1 Model equations and initial conditions
6.1.1 Higher order differential equations
6.2 Taylor Series Methods
6.2.1 Explicit Euler scheme
6.2.2 Midpoint method - A modification of Eulers method
6.2.3 Implicit Euler scheme - Backward Euler
6.2.4 Modified Euler - Heun’s Method
6.2.5 Stability limits
6.2.6 Stiff differential equations
6.3 Runge-Kutta Methods
6.3.1 Explicit schemes
6.3.2 Euler formula revisited
6.3.3 A two-stage (v = 2) Runge-Kutta scheme
6.3.4 A fourth order Runge-Kutta scheme
6.3.5 Semi-implicit & implicit schemes
6.3.6 Semi-Implicit forms of Rosenbrock
6.4 Multistep methods
6.4.1 Explicit schemes
6.4.2 Implicit schemes
6.4.3 Automatic stepsize control
 6.5 Summary
6.6 Exercise Problems
7 Boundary value problems
7.1 Finite difference method
7.1.1 Linear boundary value problem with constant
coefficients
7.1.2 Linear boundary value problem with variable
coefficients
7.1.3 Nonlinear boundary value problems
7.1.4 Parallel shear flow with constant dynamic viscosity
(Newtonian fluid)
7.1.5 Parallel shear flow with velocity-dependent dynamic
viscosity (non-Newtonian fluid)
7.2 Shooting method fundamentals
7.3 Shooting method – linear and nonlinear problems
7.3.1 Linear problems
7.3.2 Nonlinear problems
7.4 Summary
7.5 Exercise Problems
8 Partial differential equations
8.1 Definitions
8.2 Elliptic Equations
8.2.1 Backward differentiation
8.2.2 Central derivatives and fictitious points
8.3 Parabolic equations
8.3.1 Fully-discrete methods
8.3.2 Semi-discrete methods
8.4 Hyperbolic equations
8.5 Summary
8.6 Exercise Problems
A MATLAB
A.1 Introduction
A.1.1 Introduction
A.2 Starting a MATLAB session
 A.3 MATLAB basics
A.3.1 Using built in HELP, DEMO features
A.3.2 Data entry, line editing features of MATLAB
A.3.3 Linear algebra related functions in MATLAB
A.3.4 Root finding
A.3.5 Curve fitting
A.3.6 Numerical integration, ordinary differential equations
A.3.7 Basic graphics capabilities
A.3.8 Producing printed output of a MATLAB session
A.3.9 What are m-files?
A.3.10 Programming features
B Number representation, significant figures and errors
B.1 Number Representation
B.1.1 Fixed point system
B.1.2 Floating point system
B.2 Significant figures
B.3 Mathematical operations
B.3.1 Multiplication and Division
B.3.2 Addition and Subtraction
B.3.3 Multistep calculations
B.3.4 Multiplication / Division combined with Addition /
Subtraction
B.4 Rounding and chopping
B.5 Taylor series expansion
B.6 Truncation errors
B.6.1 Big Oh notation
B.7 Error propagation
B.8 Exercise problems
Bibliography
List of Tables
2.1 Example of fixed point iteration
2.2 Feed composition & equilibrium ratio of a natural gas mixture
2.3 Gas mixture for problem P2.2 ,C3: Propane, C4: n-Butane, C5:
n-Pentane
3.1 Loss of precision and need for pivoting
5.1 Convergence of P 2 n +1 (x ), defined in (5.3), to erf(x ) at
selected values of x .
5.2 Steam saturation temperature vs. pressure.
5.3 Some non-linear relations and their transformed linear forms
5.4 Example of a inverse interpolation (tabular form).
5.5 Natural gas composition (mol basis).
5.6 Data for ρC P vs. T
5.7 Temperature ranges
5.8 Vapour pressure for CO 2 .
5.9 Finite difference approximations for the first derivative at x i , f ′
(x i ).
5.10 Finite difference approximations for the second derivative at x i
, f ′′ (x i ).
A.1 List of MATLAB help topics
A.2 General purpose MATLAB commands
A.3 Linear algebra related functions in MATLAB
A.4 Graphics related function in MATLAB
A.5 Program control related help topics
List of Figures
1.1 Scheme of things - a personal perspective
1.2 A typical chemical process
1.3 Three stage separation process
1.4 Linear and nonlinear equilibrium model stages.
1.5 Process flow sheet simulation.
1.6 Multicomponent, isothermal flash process.
1.7 Reactors in series
1.8 Heat transfer from a molten metal.
1.9 Heat transfer through a fin. (a) planar, (b) cylindrical
1.10 Tubular reactor with axial dispersion
1.11 A sphere suspended in an environment at T ∞
1.12 Force balance on a suspended object
1.13 Approximation of the first derivative
1.14 MATLAB script for analytical solution
1.15 Comparison of numerical and analytical solutions
1.16 Pseudo code for numerical computation of velocity
1.17 MATLAB script for numerical solution
1.18 Solution of the falling object with different step sizes
2.1 Graph of f (x ) = sin (x )
2.2 Graphs of some simple functions
2.3 Graphical representation of some simple root finding algorithms
2.4 MATLAB implementation of the bisection algorithm
2.5 The cubic polynomial function f (x ) = x 3 − x 2 + x − 1, defined
as a MATLAB function
2.6 Regula-Falsi iterative steps
2.7 MATLAB implementation of the Regula-Falsi method.
2.8 The derivative of polynomial function f (x ) = x 3 − x 2 +x − 1,
defined as a MATLAB function
2.9 MATLAB implementation of Newton’s method.
2.10 An example where Newton’s method fails to converge.
2.11 Newton’s iterative steps
 2.12 MATLAB implementation of the secant method
2.13 Secant iterative steps
2.14 Graphical representation of Müller’s scheme
2.15 MATLAB implementation of Müller’s method.
2.16 Graphical representation of fixed point scheme: a)
convergence, b) divergence, c) divergence.
2.17 MATLAB implementation of the fixed point iteration method.
2.18 Graphical illustration of mean value theorem
2.19 Graphical illustration deflation technique
2.20 MATLAB implementation of the deflation technique as to find
all the roots of y 1 (x ) = x 3 + 4x 2 +x − 6.
2.21 Plot of f (V ) vs. V for Chlorine gas at T = 313K , 2atm
2.22 Stage separation process
2.23 Turbulent flow in a parallel pipe
2.24 Flow through an orifice meter
3.1 MATLAB implementation of the matrix determinant algorithm.
3.2 MATLAB implementation of Cramer’s rule.
3.3 MATLAB implementation of the matrix adjoint.
3.4 MATLAB implementation of the matrix inverse.
3.5 MATLAB implementation of inverse of an upper triangular matrix
3.6 Naive Gaussian elimination scheme
3.7 MATLAB implementation of Gaussian elimination without
pivoting
3.8 Thomas algorithm
3.9 MATLAB implementation of Thomas algorithm
3.10 MATLAB implementation of LU decomposition algorithm
3.11 MATLAB implementation of Gauss-Seidel algorithm
3.12 Illustration of Gram-Schmidt algorithm
3.13 MATLAB implementation of power iteration
3.14 Laminar flow in a pipe network
3.15 Distillation column for problem P3 . 17.
3.16 Two column distillation train for problem P3 . 18.
4.1 MATLAB implementation of Newton’s method in higher
dimensions.
4.2 The MATLAB function cstrF .
 4.3 The MATLAB function cstrJ .
4.4 Turbulent flow in a pipe network.
5.1 The error distribution, e (x,n ) = | erf(x ) − P 2 n +1 (x )| , for
different levels of truncation.
5.2 MATLAB implementation illustrating the steps associated with
approximating erf(x ) using a polynomial function.
5.3 Plot of data from Table 5.2.
5.4 Interpolation and curve fitting.
5.5 Structure of a Newton forward difference table for m equally
spaced data points.
5.6 Example of a Newton forward difference table.
5.7 Structure of Newton backward difference table for five equally-
spaced data points.
5.8 Example of a Newton backward difference table
5.9 Example of a inverse interpolation (graphical form).
5.10 MATLAB implementation of the Lagrange interpolation formula
given by equation (5.18).
5.11 Divided difference table for four unequally-spaced data points.
5.12 Fitting data using a single polynomial vs. using (cubic) splines.
5.13 Different forms of spline interpolation.
5.14 MATLAB function that applies different interpolation schemes
to 2010 Canada-US exchange rate information (source: Bank of
Canada).
5.15 Output from exchange _rate.m .
5.16 Discretizing the interval between x = a and x = b for purposes
of estimating ∫ a b f (x )dx .
5.17 MATLAB function that uses trapz to estimate ∫ 0 10 cos(x )dx .
5.18 Output from trapz _example.m .
5.19 MATLAB function that contrasts trapezoidal and Simpson’s rule
integration.
5.20 Illustration of Romberg integration.
6.1 Solution of y’ = y using Explicit Euler with different step sizes
6.2 The midpoint method - slope manipulation
6.3 MATLAB implementation of the Modified Euler scheme using a
fixed point iteration method for the iterative solve with the initial
guess provided by Explicit Euler.
6.4 Heun’s method
6.5 Spring and dash pot model
6.6 The comparison of explicit and implicit Euler method using
different step sizes
6.7 MATLAB code (script) for solving ODE using explicit and implicit
Euler method
6.8 Backward Euler (implicit) MATLAB code
6.9 Graphical depiction of RK4 slopes
6.10 MATLAB function that contrasts a fourth order Runge-Kutta
(RK4) scheme with explicit Euler.
6.11 Output from rk4 _euler.m for two different choices of the
time step, h .
6.12 MATLAB function that solves the lumped parameter, dynamic
model from Chapter 1. Parameter values are chosen arbitrarily
(provided, of course, that A _2 > A _1 , T1 _init > T2 _init ,
etc.)
6.13 Output from crucible.m
6.14 MATLAB implementation of the three-term Adams-Bashforth
scheme (as applied in solving dy∕ dt = 2y 2 , y (0) = − 1).
6.15 Output from ab3example.m
6.16 Stepsize control strategies for multistep methods
6.17 MATLAB implementation of ozone decomposition model
6.18 Results of ozone decomposition model shows a stiff system
behavior
6.19 Functions for solving the Van der Pol equation for various μ
using ode45 .
6.20 Graphical output from vdp1.m .
6.21 Heat exchange tank cascade
7.1 One dimensional finite difference grid consisting of equally-
spaced data points.
7.2 MATLAB function that solves for the temperature distribution in
a fin of constant cross-sectional area, A , and having a constant
thermal conductivity, k .
7.3 Output from fin1.m for the following values of Bi: 0.1, 1, 10,
100 and 1000.
7.4 MATLAB function that solves (7.14) using finite differences and a
(homogeneous) Neumann right-hand side boundary condition.
7.5 MATLAB function that solves (7.14) using finite differences and a
(homogeneous) Dirichlet right-hand side boundary condition.
7.6 Output from fin2 and fin3 for the following values of Bi: 0.1
(upper pair of curves) and 10 (lower pair of curves).
7.7 Parallel shear flow driven by a combination of a pressure
gradient and a translating upper boundary.
7.8 MATLAB function that solves the parallel shear flow problem
specified by equation (7.19).
7.9 Output from channel1 .
7.10 MATLAB function that solves the parallel shear flow problem
specified by equation (7.25).
7.11 Output from channel2 .
7.12 MATLAB function that solves the Blasius boundary layer
equations (7.28).
7.13 Output from blasius selecting as input beta0=0.332 .
7.14 MATLAB script that solves equations (7.29) and (7.30) and
computes the launch speed associated with a peak softball elevation
of 5.2 m.
7.15 MATLAB functions associated with the script softball .
7.16 The trajectories associated with softballs launched from angles
of 24. 7 ∘ and 45 ∘ .
7.17 Solution by shooting method
7.18 MATLAB code which produced the shooting solution in Figure
7.17
7.19 Parallel flow in a channel with a y -dependent temperature
variation.
8.1 A rectangular domain with prescribed boundary conditions.
8.2 The discretized domain pertinent to Figure 8.1.
8.3 The discretized domain for Example 8.1.
8.4 The discretized domain for Example 8.2.
8.5 MATLAB code for MOL solution
8.6 Output of MOL example
8.7 Slab with 10 sections
x
B.1 Taylor function approximations to e
Preface - 1st Edition
Revolutionary advances in hardware and software technology have
made computer aided design and analysis a standard tool in
engineering practice. While this puts a lot of power at the hands of
the end user, in order to use them wisely and interpret the results
correctly, the users are expected to have a sound knowledge of the
relationship between the physical world and the mathematical model
and that between the mathematical model and the numerical
approximation.

The text is intended for both senior level undergraduate and first
year graduate students without comprehensive numerical
background. Motivation for the text has grown from the authors
need to provide a text which covers both advanced features of
numerical methods and specific applications in the process
engineering field.
Preface - 2nd Edition
The second edition of this text continues with the emphasis given in
the first edition and is targeted to both senior level undergraduate
and first year graduate students without comprehensive numerical
background. Motivation for the text has grown from the authors
need to provide a text which covers both advanced features of
numerical methods and specific applications in the process
engineering field.

The computational tools available for numerical computation range

from paper and pencil, to desktop computers up to super-
computers. In this text, MATLAB is used as the computing
environment due to its widespread availability to students and
engineers. Computational methods presented in MATLAB are easy to
read and understand and its graphical capabilities provide
convenient method to present engineering results.

In writing the second edition, the authors have had the opportunity
to improve both content and presentation of material, covering
additional examples and end-of-chapter problems as well as
additional coded examples. The text takes a broader view of
presentation under the following chapters:

Chapter 1 sets the groundwork for the rest of the book with
introductory examples and model development steps.
Introduction to computation and programming with MATLAB is
achieved, coupled with appendix A and B. Taylor series
approximation as well as fundamental theorems for number
representation and basic definitions are presented.
Chapter 2 deals with finding the roots of non-linear equations
for functions of single variables as well as numerical
acceleration. Both bracketing and open methods are explored.
Chapter 3 deals extensively with topics from linear algebra.
Direct elimination methods, including LU factorization of
matrices are explored. Numerical methods for finding
eigenvalues and eigen vectors, as well as iterative methods of
Jacobi, Gauss Seidel as well as succesive relaxation techniques
are extensively explored.
Chapter 4 deals with nonlinear functions of several variables.
The multi-dimensional Newton method is emphasized.
Chapter 5 covers numerical methods for functional
approximations. Part I of the chapter covers polynomial as well
as piecewise interpolation. Least-squares approximation of data
is investigated and the development of difference equations
using difference operators is presented. Part II of the chapter
deals with methods for numerical differentiation and integration.
Several Newton-Cotes integration formula (based on evenly
spaced nodes) and the Gaussian quadrature rules (based on
optimally selected points) are explored.
Chapter 6 treats the numerical methods for solving ordinary
differential equations, beginning with basic techniques such as
Euler, Runge Kutta and multistep methods. The methods are
then extended to cover the solution of system of first order
ODE’s and the concepts of stiffness and stability are introduced.
Chapter 7 presents finite difference methods and shooting
methods for the solution of linear and nonlinear boundary value
problems. A number of practical examples from fluid mechanics
and heat transfer are solved.
Chapter 8 introduces finite-difference methods for solving
elliptic, parabilic and hyperbolic equations. The method of lines
is also introduced with examples.
Acknowledgements
No major work can be developed in vacuum. It is neccesary to
acknowledge previous published works which have influenced the
development of this text. A number of authors have influenced our
learning in this field, including Amundson (1966), Finlayson (1980),
Hoffmann (1992), Rao (2002) and Chapra (2005).

Previous course instructors who have taught the subject in the

department, specifically Dr. Carolina Diaz-Goano and Dr. Jos Derksen
are acknowledged. Special thanks to Dr. Petr Nikrityuk for giving
useful and insightful comments on the manuscript. We would also
like to thank Dr. Rajab Litto for re-doing some of the graphs and all
assistants and TA’s who have worked on various numerical problems
during KN’s tenure at the department of chemical and materials
engineering, University of Alberta.

The original manuscript for this book was developed from lecture
notes by KN over the last 25 years, with the aim of introducing the
computing facilities at the department of chemical and materials
engineering. The notes were later expanded and elaborated by JPM
and REH.

Notwithstanding any efforts made by others, all errors and omissions

in this text remain the sole responsibility of the authors.

JPM KN REH
Chapter 1
The physical, mathematical and computational models
To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a
Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in
the palm of your hand, And Eternity in
an hour

— WILLIAM BLAKE

1.1 Introduction
In the Trekkie language, the prime directive of a process engineer should be to explore and understand
physical and chemical processes involved in converting raw materials into useful products. The
engineer uses this knowledge in designing, constructing and operating chemical process plants. This
definition is as arbitrary as anything else that one might propose. In fact, if one substitutes the word
process in the above definition with any other (such a mechanical or electrical) it would remain equally
valid. This is because the basic principles and the scientific methodology we use to uncover such
principles remain the same in any field of engineering or science. A broader, although highly personal,
view of the our attempt to understand the physical world, describe it in the language of mathematics,
and finally investigate its consequence by means of analytical, graphical or numerical methods is shown
in Figure 1.1 .

Figure 1.1: Scheme of things - a personal perspective

A mathematical model is at best an approximation to the physical world. Such models are constructed
based on certain conservation principles and/or empirical observations. Those curious about the nature
of the physical laws should read a delightful little book by Feynman (1967) on the character of physical
laws. As a matter of convenience mathematical models can be classified as linear or non-linear, steady-
state or dynamic, lumped or distributed . Examples to illustrate each type of model are provided later
in this chapter. In general, non-linearity is found to occur quite naturally and frequently in nature; it is
also very dificult to analyse non-linear models without the aid of a computer.

A numerical model is an approximation to the mathematical model. Although the importance of

mathematical modelling in chemical engineering was recognized since the early 1920s, it was the text
by Bird et al. (1960) on Transport Phenomena that has proved to be the major inspiration in exploring
the link between the physical world and the mathematical one for transport processes involving
momentum, heat and mass transfer. Since then, a number of outstanding texts have appeared that
explore this relationship for reaction and equilibrium processes as well. While such studies form the
core of chemical engineering curriculum, the importance of sharpening our mathematical abilities, and
the need to incorporate these as part of the curriculum was recognized and aided by the appearance of
early text books by Amundson (1966) and Jenson & Jeffreys (1963). These dealt specifically with
mathematical applications of chemical engineering. The texts by Lapidus (1962) and Rosenbrock
(1966) served a similar purpose in introducing digital computational methods in the analysis of
chemical processes.

We are now at a new threshold; computers have become quite pervasive. Significant advances have
been made in our ability to analyse non-linear systems. The advances in both the hardware and
software technology have been revolutionary. As a result of these advances, computer aided design
and analysis has become a standard tool as evidenced by the success of several commercial packages
such as ASPEN PLUS, PROCESS, HYSIM, VMGSim (steady state process simulators), FLOW3D, ANSYS
FLOW DYNAMICS, STAR CCM+, COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS (fluid dynamics simulators), HCOMP,
IMPULSE, OLGA, STONER SPS (multiphase and transient pipeline flow simulators) etc. In addition to
such simulators that are specific for certain classes of problems, general purpose mathematical tools
such as MATLAB (for matrix linear algebra functions), Mathematika and MAPLE (for symbolic
computation) provide easy access to a vast array of mathematical functions and the ability to process
them both symbolically and numerically. Such packaged tools tend to accomplish the following:

(i) codify the most advanced algorithms,

(ii) assemble a vast database (in the case of physical properties) and knowledge base in the case of
mathematical functions (in MAPLE and Mathematika) and
(iii) make these accessible to the end user through an intuitive interface.

While this puts a lot of power at the hands of the end user, in order to use them wisely and interpret
the results correctly, the users are expected to have a sound knowledge of the relationship between
the physical world and the mathematical model and that between the mathematical model and the
numerical approximation. One is well served to remember the cliche garbage in, garbage out!

In this text we examine the link between the mathematical and the numerical model. There are a lot of
computational tools available to engineers. A basic introduction to MATLAB can be found in Appendix A.
MATLAB is used throughout in illustrating various algorithms.

1.2 Classification of chemical process models

In modelling chemical processes, one is interested in tracking material and energy of process streams
from the raw material stage to the finished product state. The state of a stream is characterized by the
concentration of the various species that it carries and its temperature, pressure and flow rates.
Applying the laws of conservation of mass, energy and momentum allows us to track changes in the
state of the system. Typically, we subject the raw material streams to either physical treatment to add
or remove chemical species exploiting such property differences as density, solubility, volatility,
diffusivity etc. (transport and equilibrium processes ) or, chemical treatment to alter the chemical
structure (reaction processes ). Figure 1.2 shows a typical sequence for processing raw material from
feed to product.

Figure 1.2: A typical chemical process

If the state variables are assumed to be independent of time and spatial position, then we often have a
lumped parameter, steady state model resulting in a set of coupled algebraic equations. If they are
assumed to have no spatial variation, but are time dependent, then we have lumped parameter,
dynamic models which result in ordinary differential equations of the initial value type. If there is no
time dependence, but there is a spatial variation and that too restricted to one dimension (for reasons
of symmetry or scale), then we have ordinary differential equations of the boundary value type. If both
spatial and time dependence are important, then we end up with partial differential equations, which
are further classified into parabolic, elliptic and hyperbolic equations. The classification outlined in this
paragraph are illustrated with specific examples in the next sections. The examples are drawn from
transport, equilibrium and reaction processes . The objective is to sensitize you to the model building
process in the hope that you would begin to appreciate the relationship between the physical world
and the mathematical model that represents it.

1.3 Lumped parameter, steady state models

1.3.1 Example of a stagewise separation process

Consider a stagewise separation process shown in Figure 1.3 . Suppose we wish to process a gas
stream at a rate of V kmole/s containing a pollutant at a mole fraction of y 4 . We wish to remove the
pollutant by scrubbing it with a solvent in a counter-current 3-stage separation device. The liquid rate
is, say, L kmole/s and it contains a pollutant concentration of x 0 (which may be zero for a pure solvent
stream). Only the pollutant transfers from the gas phase to the liquid phase and we make use of the
solubility differences between the inert carrier gas and the pollutant. So far we have made an attempt
to describe a physical world. Is the description adequate to formulate a mathematical model? How do
we know that such a model should result in a steady state, lumped parameter model? The answer is
no, we dont! We need to further define and refine the problem statement. For a process engineer this
is the most important step viz. understand the objective of the task and the nature of the process (the
physical world) to formulate a mathematical model. Let us continue with the description of the
problem.
 Figure 1.3: Three stage separation process

The state variables in this problem are (L,V, x 0 ,x 1 ,x 2 ,x 3 ,y 1 , y 2 ,y 3 ,y 4 ). By focusing only the
steady state operation, we remove the dependence of state variables on time. Such a model cannot
clearly answer any questions concerning start up or shutdown of this process. Next, we assume that in
each stage the gas and liquid are mixed thoroughly so that there is no spatial variation of concentration
within the equipment. This is the so-called lumped parameter approximation.

We further assume that the streams leaving a stage are in thermodynamic equilibrium. This implies
that for a given inlet streams, no matter what we do inside the process equipment, the exit
concentrations cannot be changed as they have reached an invariant state. To state it another way,
there is a unique relationship, y = f (x ), between the exit concentrations of each stage and this
relationship could be determined in a laboratory and entered into a database. Often this relation is
expressed as, y = Kx where K is called the equilibrium ratio; at extremely low concentration range K
may be assumed to be a constant (results in a linear model), while at higher concentrations the
equilibrium ratio may itself be a function of concentration, K (x ) (results in a non-linear model). While
experience and experimentation suggest that such relationships do exist, study of equilibrium
thermodynamics takes this one step further in attempting to construct predictive models for the
function, y = f (x ) by examining the equilibrium process at a molecular level. Let us continue with the
assumption that the equilibrium model is given by
(1.1)
where we have introduced the subscript i to indicate the equilibrium relationship is valid for each stage
of the separation process. This yields us three equations, but recall that the state of this 3-stage
separation train is described by 10 variables: (L,V,x 0 ,x 1 ,x 2 , x 3 ,y 1 ,y 2 ,y 3 ,y 4 ). At this stage we ask
ourselves if there are other laws or principles that this system should obey. Conservation laws such as
mass, momentum and energy conservation should come to mind. In the present case our objective has
been narrowly focused on tracking the concentration of the pollutant in each of the three stages. In
particular we have not concerned ourselves with flow and heat effects. Let us speculate briefy what
these effects might be! Heat transfer effects might include heat of absorption, while flow effects will
include imperfect mixing in a stage. The later in fact has serious consequence in negating two of our
earlier assumptions: viz. lumped parameter system implying concentration is spatially uniform in each
stage and the exit streams are in thermodynamic equilibrium. Nevertheless, we still proceed with the
assumption of perfect mixing; a model description that takes into accounts such realities often
becomes intractable. Neglecting heat and flow effects, we have only mass conservation principle.
Applying this for the pollutant species around each of the three stages, we obtain,

Stage 1: V (y 2 − y 1 ) = L (x 1 − x 0 )
Stage 2: V (y 3 − y 2 ) = L (x 2 − x 1 ) (1.2)
Stage 3: V ( y 4 − y 3 ) = L ( x 3 − x 2 )
Note that in each of these equations, the left hand side represents the amount of pollutant that has
been removed from the gas phase and the right hand side represents the same amount of material
absorbed into the liquid phase. Now we have a total of six equations, but still ten variables. Hence we
conclude that we have four degrees of freedom. This implies that we can choose four of the variables
and the remaining six variables must be determined by satisfying the six equations.

One can also write an overall balance, taking all three stages as one group:
 (1.3)

This, however, is not an independent equation since summing equations (1.2) produces equation (1.3).
This will be used later in introducing concepts of linear independence and rank of matrices in Chapter 3
.

Specifications: a 3-stage linear system

Let us assume that we pick the four variables associated with the inlet streams to be specified, viz.
(L,V,x 0 ,y 4 ). Defining S = L∕KV (a known value) and eliminating variables (y 1 ,y 2 ,y 3 ) from equations
(1.2) we get the following system of three equations

(1.4)

in the unknowns (x 1 ,x 2 ,x 3 ). This can be represented in compact matrix form as:

(1.5)
where T represents the tridiagonal matrix

and

First variation: n-stage separation sequence

Once we have expressed the mathematical model in a symbolic, matrix form as in equation (1.5), we
can generalize the model to any number of stages. Suppose there are n stages, then we merely have,

Figure 1.4: Linear and nonlinear equilibrium model stages.

where a i = − S,d i = (1 + S ),c i = − 1. Efficient algorithms for solving such system will be developed
in Chapter 3 .

Second variation: nonlinear equilibrium model

Instead of assuming the equilibrium ratios, K in equation (1.1 ) to be constant as in Figure 1.4 a, if
they are found to be dependent on concentrations x , then we have a nonlinear system of equations.
One can then interpret the K (x ) values to be the slopes of the chord as shown in Figure 1.4 b, which
is no longer a constant, but depends on x . This implies that, S (x ) = L∕K (x )V and hence T becomes a
function of x . Thus the elements in T cannot be determined without knowing the solution x . An
intutive approach to resolving this dilemma in solving such systems, T (x )x = b might be to make an
initial guess for x old and use this guess to evaluate, K (x old ), S (x old ) and hence T (x old ) and obtain a
new solution for x new by solving the linearized system, T (x old )x new = b . One can repeat this
procedure until the difference between the new and the old values of x becomes vanishingly small.
Although there are numerous variations on this scheme, a large class of non-linear problems are solved
within the conceptual frame work (i) estimating an initial guess (ii) devising an algorithm to improve
the estimate and (iii) checking for convergence of the result.

Third variation: alternate specification

In all of the previous cases we considered the inlet streams to be specified viz. (L,V,x 0 ,y 4 ). This
would be typical for performance analysis problems where the output of an existing process is desired,
given its inlet conditions. A design engineer, who gets into this game at an earlier stage, might face an
alternate problem. For example, environmental regulations might dictate that the exit concentration of
the pollutant y 1 be below a certain acceptable level. Thus the four degrees of freedom might be used
up in specifying (V,x 0 ,y 4 ,y 1 ). Assuming once again a linear equilibrium model (K constant), the
system of equations (1.2) in the unknown set (L,x 2 ,x 3 ) can be written as:

f 1 (L,x 2 ;V,y 1 ,x 0 ) := V (Kx 2 − y 1 ) − L (y 1 ∕K − x 0 ) =0

f 2 (L,x 2 ,x 3 ;V,y 1 ,x 0 ) := KV (x 3 − x 2 ) − L (x 2 − y 1 ∕K ) =0 (1.6)
f 3 (L,x 2 ,x 3 ;V,y 4 ) := V (y 4 − Kx 3 ) − L (x 3 − x 2 ) =0
In spite of assuming a linear equilibrium model, the above set of equations are non-linear! Why?
Although the mathematical model has remained the same for various specifications, we have a nice
tridiagonal matrix structure for some specifications while no such structure exists for others.

1.3.2 Process flow sheet simulation

Consider the flow sheet shown in Figure 1.5 . It is an extremely simple unit consisting of a reactor and
a separator. We are given the mole fractions of components in the recycle stream and the exit stream
from the reactor. We are asked to determine the molar rates of CO and H 2 in the inlet stream, the
recyle rate R and the product rate, P . In analysing this problem we setup a series of material balance
equations. Focusing on the reactor loop (loop 1) shown in dashed line in Figure 1.5 , we can write the
following three component material balance equations:
 Figure 1.5: Process flow sheet simulation.

or

or

or

Note that the O balance equation is redundant and in the language of linear algebra, these three
equations do not form a linearly independent set of equations. So we proceed to construct additional
equations by examining material balance around the full flow sheet (loop 2). These give rise to:

These five equations can be arranged in a matrix form as,

(1.7)

Recognizing the redundancy between the first and third equations and also combining equations four
and five to eliminate P , we can write the above set in an alternate form as

(1.8)

1.3.3 Example of a multicomponent flash

Next, we examine a model for a multicomponent, isothermal flash process. This also results in a
lumped, steady state model description. It is also an example of how a potentially large system system
of algebraic equations can be reduced to a single equation in one unknown through clever
manipulations. Thus root finding algorithms could be used efficiently to solve this system. A sketch of
the process is shown in Figure 1.6 . A feed stream of known flow rate, F , composition (mole fractions),
{ z i | i = 1⋯ N } , temperature, T F and pressure, P F is flashed into a drum maintained at a
temperature and pressure of (T,P ), respectively. Under right conditions, the feed will split into a vapor
phase and a liquid phase. The objective is to predict the flow rate and compositions of the vapor, (V,y i
) and the liquid (L,x i ) phases. Each exit stream contains (N +1) unknowns. The assumptions are that
the process is operating under steady conditions, perfect mixing takes place inside the drum (lumped
approximation) and the exit streams are in thermodynamic equilibrium. The model equations are as
follows:

Figure 1.6: Multicomponent, isothermal flash process.

Thermodynamic : Vapur Liquid Equilibrium (VLE) -(empirical model)

(1.9)
Component material balance -(mass conservation)
(1.10)

Overall material balance

(1.11)
Mole fraction constraints
(1.12)

A simple count indicates that we have written down (2N + 3) equations for the (2N + 2) unknowns;
but it is easy to verify that summing equations (1.10 ) over all components and using the mole fraction
constraint, results in equation (1.11 ). Thus, equation (1.11 ) is not an independent one. Although
these equations could be solved as a system of nonlinear algebraic equations, a much more efficient
scheme is to eliminate all, except one variable and reduce the system into a single equation. First
eliminate y i from equation (1.10 ) using (1.9 ) to obtain
(1.13)
Rearrange equation (1.12 ) as,

(1.14)
Combine the last two equations as,

(1.15)

Eliminate L from above equation using (1.11 ) and define ψ = V∕F to get the final form of the flash
equation as:

(1.16)

This is the so-called Rachfold-Rice flash equation. It is a single equation in one unknown, viz. ψ . In
general, the number of roots that a nonlinear equation posses cannot be known a priori. A possible
sketch of the function is shown in Figure 1.6 b. Since ψ is defined as the fraction of feed that appears
as vapor, (V/F), the physical world dictates that it must lie between (0, 1) and it is sufficient if the
search for the root is limited to this range. The flash equation (1.16 ) may posses other roots outside
the range of interest (0, 1). Such roots are valid mathematical solutions of the problem, they are not
physically relevant.

1.3.4 Example of a phenomenalogical model

In the previous two examples, models were built based on conservation laws. Models based on
empirical observations are also quite common. The Pressure-Volume-Temperature (PV T ) behavior of
gases, for example, could be modeled by the ideal gas law viz. PV = nRT . A more refined model,
called the Peng-Robinson equation of state is used widely in chemical engineering literature. It is given
by the following equations:
(1.17)

where
a (T ) = 0. 45724 α (T r ,ω )

b = 0. 0778
α 1∕2 =1+m
m = 0. 37464 + 1. 54226ω − 0. 26992. 2ω 2
Here T c ,P c are the critical temperature and pressure of the component and ω is the accentric factor.
These are properties of a component.

We define T r = T∕T c as the reduced temperature, and Z = PV∕RT as the compressibility factor. Equation
(1.17 ) can be rearranged as a cubic equation in Z as follows:
(1.18)
where A = aP∕R 2 T 2 and B = bP∕RT . For the class of problems where the pressure and temperature
(P,T) are given and the material is identified ( i.e. , T c ,P c ,ω are known), the coefficients (A, B) in
equation (1.18 ) can be calculated and hence the cubic equation can be solved to find the roots, Z .
This allows the determination of the volume (or density) from Z = PV∕RT .

1.3.5 Example of reactors in series

An example from chemical reaction engineering process that gives rise to a system of nonlinear
equations is that of a continuously stirred tank reactor in series. A sketch is shown in Figure 1.7 .
Consider an isothermal, irreversible second order reaction.
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 CHAPTER XXVI
EDMONTON—THE GATEWAY TO THE
NORTHWEST

Come with me to Edmonton, the capital and second largest city

of Alberta. It is built on high bluffs on both sides of the Saskatchewan
River, and we can see standing out against the landscape the great
steel girders of the Canadian Pacific “high level” bridge, which joins
the north and south sections of the city. Edmonton has between
sixty-five and seventy thousand people. It is noted for its factories
and wholesale houses and as a distributing point for the Northwest.
There are several meat packing houses here, and the city’s
creameries supply forty per cent. of the entire output of butter in the
province. It owns its own street railway, and its water, light, power,
and telephone systems. It is an important educational centre, and in
the University of Alberta has the farthest north college on the
continent. It has eight hundred acres of parks and golf links
belonging to the municipality.
The city is not far from the site of a Hudson’s Bay Company fort
built in 1795. Near by was a trading post of the Northwest Fur
Company, its one time rival. When, in 1821, the two companies were
amalgamated, a new fort was erected. This was called Edmonton,
which was the name of the birthplace of the Hudson’s Bay official in
charge. You remember how the English town figures in John Gilpin’s
famous ride:

To-morrow is our wedding day,

And we will then repair
Unto the Bell at Edmonton
 All in a chaise and pair.

My sister and my sister’s child,

Myself and children three
Will fill the chaise, so you must ride
On horseback after we.

For a half century afterward Edmonton was an important trading

and distributing point for all western Canada. Furs were sent from
here down the Saskatchewan to York Factory on Hudson Bay, and
supplies were packed overland to the Athabaska and taken by canoe
to the head waters of that stream. Some were floated down the river
to Lake Athabaska, thence into Great Slave Lake, and on into the
Mackenzie, which carried them to the trading posts near the Arctic.
Big cargoes of goods are still shipped by that route every year, and
hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of furs are brought back over
it to Edmonton, to be sent on to New York or London.
After the transfer of this northern territory from the Hudson’s Bay
Company to the Canadian government, the town grew steadily. Its
first real land boom occurred in 1882, when it was rumoured that the
Canadian Pacific would build through here on its way to the
Yellowhead Pass over the Rockies. The excitement caused by this
rumour was short lived, however, as the officials decided to cross the
mountains by the Kicking Horse Pass farther south. It was not until
1891, or almost ten years later, that the Canadian Pacific built a
branch line to Strathcona, just across the river. A year later
Edmonton was incorporated as a town, and in 1898 its growth was
greatly stimulated by its importance as an outfitting post for the
thousands of gold seekers who made their way to the Klondike by
the overland route.
 Four fifths of the coal reserves in the Dominion
are in Alberta. In addition to the big producing mines,
there are many “country banks,” where the settlers
can come and dig out the coal for themselves.
 Throughout central Alberta are many dairies that
supply the creameries of Edmonton and other towns.
Butter is sent from here to the Northwest and Yukon
territories, and is even shipped to England by way of
the Panama Canal.
 In 1904, when its population was ten thousand, Edmonton
became a city and the capital of Alberta. It was then a typical frontier
town of the New West. Its main thoroughfare was a crooked street
laid out along an old Indian trail, and its buildings were of all shapes,
heights, and materials. The older structures were wooden and of one
story, the newer ones of brick and stone and often four stories high.
The town was growing rapidly and the price of business property
was soon out of sight. A fifty-foot lot on Main Street sold for twenty
thousand dollars, and there was a demand for land in the business
section at four and five hundred dollars per front foot.
That year the Canadian Northern transcontinental line reached
Edmonton, and four years later the Grand Trunk Pacific was put
through. In 1913 the Canadian Pacific completed the bridge uniting
the northern part of the city with its former terminus across the river
at Strathcona, which had been made a part of Edmonton the year
before. In addition to these three transcontinental lines, Edmonton
now has railway connection with every part of central and southern
Alberta, as well as a road built northwesterly along the Lesser Slave
Lake to the Peace River district. The trains run over that route twice
a week; they are equipped with sleeping cars and a diner for most of
the way.
The location of Edmonton is much like that of St. Louis. The city
is on a large river in the midst of a farming region almost as rich as
the Mississippi Valley. It is in the northern part of the wheat belt, and
the surrounding country is adapted to mixed farming as well as
wheat growing. It produces enormous crops of oats, barley, and
timothy. I have seen wheat near here so tall that it almost tickled my
chin, and oats and timothy as high as my head. The land will raise
from seventy-five to a hundred and twenty-five bushels of oats to the
acre, and an average of forty bushels of winter wheat. The farmers
are now growing barley for hogs; they say that barley-fed pork is
better than corn-fed pork. They also feed wheat to cattle and sheep.
Indeed, when I was at Fort William I was told that thousands of
sheep are fattened there each winter on the elevator screenings.
I am surprised at the climate of Edmonton. For most of the winter
it is as mild as that of our central states. The weather is tempered by
the Japanese current, just as western Europe is affected by the Gulf
Stream. The warm winds that blow over the Rockies keep British
Columbia green the year round and take the edge off the cold at
Edmonton and Calgary.
Edmonton is an important coal centre, with thirty mines in its
vicinity. Indeed, Alberta’s coal deposits are estimated to contain
1,000,000,000,000 tons, which is one seventh of the total supply of
the world. It is eighty per cent. of Canada’s coal reserves. Coal is
found throughout about half of the province from the United States
boundary to the Peace River, and is mined at the rate of about five
million tons a year. Half of the product is lignite, about two per cent.
anthracite, and the remainder bituminous. Nova Scotia is a close
second in the coal production of the Dominion, and British Columbia
ranks third.
Because of the long haul across the prairies, Alberta coal cannot
compete in eastern Canada with that from the United States. Even
the mines of Nova Scotia are farther from Canada’s industrial
centres than is our Appalachian coal region. Cape Breton is more
than a thousand miles from Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, and
about two thousand miles from Winnipeg. Scranton, Pennsylvania,
on the other hand, is only four hundred miles from Toronto, and
Pittsburgh but three hundred and sixty-seven. Consequently, Alberta
coal supplies little more than the local demand.
Of the three hundred mines in operation, only about seventy are
important. Many of the others, some operated by only one man, are
known as “country banks.” In these the coal is dug out by the
farmers, who often drive thirty miles or more to one of the “banks.” At
some places bunk houses and stables have been erected to provide
shelter for settlers who cannot make the round trip in one day.
Alberta ranks next to Ontario in the production of natural gas,
which is found chiefly about Medicine Hat and in the Viking field,
which supplies Edmonton. Oil in small quantities is produced south
of Calgary, and new wells are being drilled in the southeastern part
of the province near the Saskatchewan border, and even north of
Peace River.
 The Peace River Valley, the southernmost part of which is four
hundred miles above Montana, is the northern frontier of Alberta. It
has been opened up largely within the last ten years. Across the
British Columbia line, part of the valley has been set aside as the
Peace River Block, where the settlement is controlled by the
Dominion government.
The basin of the Peace River consists of a vast region of level or
rolling land, much of which is thickly wooded with fir, spruce, pine,
tamarack, and birch. The forests are full of moose, deer, and bear,
and the beaver, lynx, marten, and muskrat are trapped for their furs.
There are vast stretches of rich black loam that produce annually
about a million bushels of wheat, three or four million bushels of
oats, and almost a million bushels of barley. Considering the latitude,
the winter climate is moderate, and in summer there is almost
continual daylight for the space of three months.
This district is dotted with settlements along the route of the
railway from Edmonton. It has telephone and telegraph connections
with southern Alberta, and a half dozen weekly newspapers are
published in its various towns. There are all together a hundred or
more schools. The largest settlement is Grande Prairie, near the
British Columbia border, but the oldest is the town of Peace River,
which lies in a thickly wooded region on the banks of the Peace. It is
two hundred and fifty miles northwest of Edmonton. The trip, which
was formerly over a wagon trail and took two or three weeks, can
now be made by rail in twenty-six hours.
Steamboats ply up and down Peace River for hundreds of miles,
the route downstream to Fort Smith being used by many trappers
and prospectors bound for the far Northwest. The trip takes one past
the historic old post of Fort Vermilion, two hundred and fifty miles
beyond Peace River town. To the northeast of Vermilion is said to be
a herd of wood buffalo, probably the last of their species roaming
wild.
A shorter route from Edmonton to the Northwest, and one that
has grown in popularity since oil has been found along the
Mackenzie, is down the Athabaska River, through Great Slave Lake,
and down the Mackenzie to Fort Norman, the trading post for the oil
region.
Let us imagine ourselves taking a trip over this route, which
penetrates to the very heart of the Northwest Territories. The train
leaves Edmonton only once a week. It usually starts Tuesday
morning, and we should reach “End of Steel,” on the bank of the
Clearwater River, the following day. Here we take one of the little
motor boats that push along the freight scows carrying supplies to
the trading posts during the open season, and chug down that
stream for twenty miles to its junction with the Athabaska at Fort
McMurray.
At Fort McMurray we take a steamer and go down the
Athabaska and across the lake of that name. The river loses its
identity when it empties into the lake, the river that joins Lake
Athabaska and Great Slave Lake being known as the Slave. The
latter stream at times flows through land soaked in oil. This “tar
sand,” as it is called, has been used as paving material in Edmonton,
and is said to have outlasted asphalt. It is probable that when better
transportation facilities are available it will be commercially valuable.
Just before reaching Fort Smith, halfway between Lake
Athabaska and Great Slave Lake, we leave our boat and ride in
wagons over a portage of fifteen miles. Fort Smith is just across the
Alberta boundary. It is the capital of the Northwest Territories. Here
the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is all-powerful, and it must be
satisfied that the traveller going farther north has food and other
essentials sufficient for his trip. In this land, where supplies are
brought in only once a year, no chances are taken on allowing
inexperienced prospectors to become public burdens.
Two hundred miles north of Fort Smith we reach Great Slave
Lake, the fourth largest inland body of water on the North American
continent. It is almost three hundred miles long, and the delta that is
being pushed out at the mouth of the Slave River may some day
divide the lake into two parts. Great Slave Lake is drained by the
mighty Mackenzie, down which we float on the last lap of our
journey. This river is as long as the Missouri, and carries a much
larger volume of water. It is like the mighty waterways of Siberia.
We are several days going down the Mackenzie to Fort Norman.
Fifty-four miles north of here, and only sixty miles south of the arctic
circle, is the first producing oil well in the Northwest Territories. The
well was the cause of a miniature “oil rush” to this land that is frozen
for nine months of the year. At this time no one knows how much oil
there is here. The region may never be of any greater importance
than it is now, or it may be another mighty oil field such as those in
Oklahoma and Texas. But even if oil is found in paying quantities it
will be many years before its exploitation will be commercially
profitable. The nearest railway is twelve hundred miles away, and the
river boats are of such shallow draft that they cannot carry heavy
freight. A pipe line to Prince Rupert or Vancouver would mean an
expenditure of almost one hundred million dollars, and to make such
a line pay it would be necessary to produce thirty thousand barrels of
oil daily.
In the meantime, prospectors have come in from at directions,
travelling overland as well as by river. One man made the fifteen-
hundred-mile trip from Edmonton with a dog team, and others have
mushed their way over the mountains from the Klondike. Two
aviators of the Imperial Oil Company attempted to fly to Fort
Norman. They were obliged to land several hundred miles to the
south and both planes were smashed. However, by using the
undamaged parts of one plane they were able to repair the other,
except for a propeller. They finally collected a pile of sled runners
from a near-by trading post, stuck them together with glue made by
boiling down a moose hide, and with a hunting knife carved out a
pair of propellers that enabled them to fly back the eight hundred
miles to Peace River.
On every hand I hear stories of how the vast Canadian
Northwest is being opened up. Edmonton is at the gateway to the
valleys of the Peace, the Athabaska, and the Mackenzie rivers, and
each year sees more settlers penetrating the remote areas that once
knew the white man only through the traders of the Hudson’s Bay
Company. Arthur Conan Doyle has caught the spirit of this new
Northwest in his “Athabaska Trail”:

I’ll dream again of fields of grain that stretch from sky to sky,
And the little prairie hamlets where the cars go roaring by,
Wooden hamlets as I saw them—noble cities still to be——
To girdle stately Canada with gems from sea to sea.

* * * * *
I shall hear the roar of waters where the rapids foam and tear;
I shall smell the virgin upland with its balsam-laden air,
And shall dream that I am riding down the winding woody
vale,
With the packer and the pack horse on the Athabaska Trail.
 CHAPTER XXVII
THE PASSING OF THE CATTLE RANGE

The story of southern Alberta is the story of the passing of

Canada’s great cattle ranches, the reclamation of millions of acres of
dry land by irrigation, and the growth of general farming where once
the open range stretched for hundreds of miles.
From Calgary I have ridden out to visit the mighty irrigation
works of the Canadian Pacific Railway. This corporation has taken
over three million acres, or a block of land forty miles wide and
extending from Calgary one hundred and forty miles eastward. It is
divided into three sections. The central division gets its water from
the Saint Mary’s River, and the east and west divisions from the Bow
River, which does not depend upon the rainfall for its volume, being
fed by the snows and glaciers of the Rockies.
At Bassano, about eighty miles from Calgary, is the great
Horseshoe Bend dam, where the level of the Bow has been raised
forty feet. The dam is eight thousand feet long, with a spillway of
seven hundred and twenty feet. From it the water flows out through
twenty-five hundred miles of irrigation canals and ditches. This dam
has been the means by which the semi-arid lands of southern
Alberta, formerly good only for cattle grazing, have been turned into
thousands of farms, raising wheat, alfalfa, and corn, as well as fruits
and vegetables.
 The dam at Bassano is the second largest in the
world, being exceeded in size only by the one at
Aswan, which holds back the waters of the Nile. The
water stored here flows out through 2,500 miles of
irrigation canals and ditches.
 The riproaring cowboy with his bucking bronco
was a familiar figure of the old Alberta, but with the
passing of the “Wild West” he is now rarely seen
except in exhibitions known as “stampedes.”
 Among the ranch owners of the Alberta foothills is
no less a personage than the Prince of Wales, who
occasionally visits his property and rides herd on his
cattle.
The ranching industry of Alberta was at its height during the
thirty years from 1870 to 1900. With the disappearance of buffalo
from the Canadian plains, cattle men from the United States began
bringing their herds over the border to the grazing lands east of the
foothills of the Rockies. The luxuriant prairie grass provided excellent
forage, and the warm Chinook winds kept the winters so mild that
the cattle could feed out-of-doors the year round. When the high
ground was covered with snow, there were always river bottoms and
hollows to furnish shelter and feed.
The United States cattle men were followed by Canadians and
Britishers. One of the first big ranch holders was Senator Cochrane
of Montreal. He owned sixty-seven thousand acres, and most of it
cost him only a dollar an acre. There were other immense holdings,
and the grazing industry continued to grow until it extended into
southwestern Saskatchewan and included horses and sheep as well
as cattle.
 Then the homesteaders began to take up their claims. In 1902
the first tract of land for irrigation purposes was bought from the
government by the Alberta Railway and Irrigation Company, and in
1903 the Canadian Pacific Railway’s big irrigation project was
begun. In May of the same year there occurred one of the severest
snow storms in the history of the plains. It lasted for a week, and fully
half the range cattle in what was then Alberta territory perished. The
introduction of wire fences dealt another hard blow to cattle ranching.
Large herds can be run all the year round only on an open range.
There are still a few big stock men in Alberta, but they have been
crowded into the foothills west of the old original “cow” country. Small
herds pasture on the open range also in the Peace River district. As
a matter of fact, Alberta still leads the Dominion in the production of
beef and breeding cattle. It has as much livestock as ever, each
mixed farm having at least a few head. There are a half million dairy
cattle in the province.
Most of the stock raised to-day is pure bred. There are cattle
sales at Calgary every year as big as any in the United States. The
favourite animal is the Shorthorn, but there are many Polled Angus
and Galloways. The best breeding animals come from England, and
there are some ranchmen who make a specialty of raising choice
beef for the English market. Within the last ten years the cattle in
Alberta have tripled in number, and their total value is now in the
neighbourhood of one hundred and twenty-five million dollars.
On my way from Edmonton to Calgary I passed through the
famous dairying region of Alberta. The cheese industry is still in its
infancy, but the province makes more than enough butter each year
to spread a slice of bread for every man, woman, and child in the
United States. It supplies butter for the Yukon and Northwest
Territories, and is now shipping it to England via Vancouver and the
Panama Canal.
Sheep can exist on poorer pasture than cattle, and some large
flocks are still ranged in the higher foothills of southern Alberta. They
are chiefly Merinos that have been brought in from Montana. On the
small farms the homesteaders often raise the medium-fleeced
English breeds, such as Shropshires, Hampshires, and Southdowns.
Some of the ranchers are experimenting in raising the karakul
sheep, a native of Central Asia, whose curly black pelts are so highly
prized for fur coats and wraps.
Horse raising was another big industry of early Alberta. The
bronco is now almost extinct, and almost the only light-weight horse
now reared is a high-bred animal valuable chiefly as a polo pony. In
Alberta, as elsewhere in the Dominion and in the United States, the
motor car has taken the place of the horse as a means of
transportation, and nine tenths of the animals in the province to-day
are of the heavy Clydesdale or Percheron types, and used solely for
farm work.
I have gone through Calgary’s several meat packing houses, and
have visited its thirteen grain elevators, which all together can hold
four million bushels of wheat. Calgary ranks next to Montreal and the
twin ports of Fort William and Port Arthur in its grain storage
capacity. It is surrounded by thousands of acres of wheat lands, not
in vast stretches such as we saw in Saskatchewan, but divided up
among the general farming lands of the province. The city is an
important industrial centre, and in some of its factories natural gas,
piped from wells a hundred miles away, is used to produce power.
Calgary is less than fifty years old. Nevertheless, it has sky-
scrapers, fine public buildings, and wide streets and boulevards.
Many of the business buildings are of the light gray sandstone found
near by, and nearly every residence is surrounded by grounds. The
city lies along the Bow and Elbow rivers, and the chief residential
section on the heights above these streams has magnificent views of
the peaks of the Rockies, one hundred miles distant.
Like many of the big cities of Western Canada, Calgary began as
a fort of the Mounted Police. That was in 1874. Its real growth dates
from August, 1883, when the first train of the main line of the
Canadian Pacific pulled into the town. Before that time much of the
freight for the ranch lands came farther south through Macleod,
which, the old-timers tell me, was the real “cow town” of southern
Alberta. Goods were brought up the Missouri River to the head of
navigation at Benton, Montana, and thence carried overland to
Macleod in covered wagons drawn by horse, ox, or mule teams.
The cattle town of Calgary is now a matter of history, and the old
cattle men who rode the western plains when Alberta was a
wilderness have nearly all passed away. Indeed, it is hard to believe
that this up-to-date place is the frontier town I found here some years
ago. Then cowboys galloped through the streets, and fine-looking
Englishmen in riding clothes played polo on the outskirts. The
Ranchers’ Club of that day was composed largely of the sons of
wealthy British families. Many of them were remittance men who had
come out here to make their fortunes and grow up with the country.
Some came because they were ne’er-do-wells or their families did
not want them at home, and others because they liked the wild life of
the prairies. They received a certain amount of money every month
or every quarter, most of which was spent in drinking and carousing.
The son of an English lord, for instance, could be seen almost any
day hanging over the bar, and another boy who had ducal blood in
his veins would cheerfully borrow a quarter of you in the lean times
just before remittance day.
 Calgary, chief city of the prairie province of
Alberta, is less than fifty years old. Beginning as a fur-
trading and police post, it now has sky-scrapers and
palatial homes.
 At Macleod, in southern Alberta, the headquarters
of the Mounted Police are in the centre of an
important live-stock region, where, in the early days of
open ranges, cattle thieves were a constant menace.
Others of these men brought money with them to invest. One of
them, the son of Admiral Cochrane of the British navy, owned a big
ranch near Calgary on which he kept six thousand of the wildest
Canadian cattle. Every year or so he brought in a new instalment of
bulls from Scotland, giving his agents at home instructions to send
him the fiercest animals they could secure. When asked why he did
this, he replied:
“You see, I have to pay my cowboys so much a month, and I
want to raise stock that will make them earn their wages. Besides, it
adds to the life of the ranch.”
“I went out once to see Billy Cochrane,” said a Calgary banker to
me. “When I arrived at the ranch I found him seated on the fence of
one of his corrals watching a fight between two bulls. As he saw me
he told me to hurry and have a look. I climbed up beside him, and as
I watched the struggle going on beneath, I said: ‘Why, Billy, if you do
not separate those bulls one will soon kill the other.’ ‘Let them kill,’
was the reply. ‘This is the real thing. It is better than any Spanish bull
fight, and I would give a bull any day for the show.’
“We watched the struggle for more than an hour, Cochrane
clapping his hands and urging the animals on to battle. Finally one
drove his horns into the side of the other and killed it. To my protest
against this wanton waste of valuable live stock, Cochrane replied:
‘Oh! it doesn’t matter at all. We must have some fun.’”
Another famous character of old-time Calgary was Dickie Bright,
the grandson of the man after whom Bright’s disease was named.
Dickie had been supplied with money by his grandfather and sent
out. He invested it all in a ranch and then asked for a large
remittance from time to time to increase his herds. He sent home
florid stories of the money he was making and how he was fast
becoming a cattle king. Shortly after writing one of his most
enthusiastic letters he received a dispatch from New York saying that
his grandfather had just arrived and was coming out to see him. The
boy was in a quandary. He had spent his remittance in riotous living
and he had no cattle. Adjoining him, however, was one of the largest
ranch owners of the West. Dickie confided his trouble to this man
and persuaded him to lend a thousand head of his best stock for one
night.