Principles of Chemical

Engineering

Chapter

3 Processes and Process

Variables

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Instructor: Dr. Mohammad Batiha
Email: mbatiha@ahu.edu.jo
Office hours: Mon & Wed (1 – 3)
1. MASS AND VOLUME

Solids and liquids are incompressible; density is constant with pressure

and varies slightly with temperature. However, volumes should be
changed to masses using densities, specific volumes, or specific gravities.

Volume balances do not work; if you are given information as volumes,

ALWAYS change volume to mass or moles.

For mass: Conservation law for mass “Matter is neither created nor
destroyed”:

mA + mB = mT or mA + mB = mC + mD

For volume: There is no generalized conservation law:

1. For gases, VA + VB ≠ VT
2. For liquids, VA + VB = VT 2
Converting Solid and Liquid Volumes to Mass

Density (ρ) is defined as mass (m) per unit volume (V) of a substance:

Densities of gases depend on pressure and temperature. Densities of

solids and liquids do not change significantly with pressure but change
with temperature.

Specific volume (v = 1/ρ) is the volume occupied by a unit mass of a

substance.

Specific gravity (SG) is the ratio of the density (ρ) of a substance to the
density (ρref) of a reference substance at a specific condition.

SG 3
The specific gravity of gases frequently is referred to air, but may be
referred to other gases. The reference substance for liquids and solids is
normally water at 4ºC:

When referring to specific gravity, the temperature at which each density is

measured. Thus,

SG

This can be interpreted as the specific gravity when the substance of

interest is at 20ºC and the reference substance (water) is at 4ºC.

If temperatures are not stated, assume ambient temperature and 4ºC,

respectively
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2. FLOW RATE

Flow rate is the rate at which a material (gas, liquid or solid) is transported
in a process stream

mass
Mass flow rate = m =
time

volume
Volume flow rate = V =
time

m m
Density =  = =
V V

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3. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION

3.1 Moles and Molecular Weight

Atomic weight is the mass of an atom on a scale that assigns 12C (the
isotope of carbon whose nucleus contains 6 protons and 6 neutrones) a
mass of 12.

Mole is the amount of a species whose mass in grams is numerically

equal to its molecular weight; one mole of any species contains
6.02 x 1023 (Avogadro’s number) molecules of that species.

Moles can also be expressed as kg-moles or lb-moles, e.g. 27 kg of

aluminum is equivalent to 1 kg-mole, and 1 lb-mole of magnesium sulfate
has a mass of 120.4 lb.

Molecular Weight (kg/kmol, g/mol or lbm/lb-mole) is the sum of the

atomic weights of the atoms that constitute a molecule of the compound.
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To convert the number of moles to mass, we make use of the molecular
weight (MW):

If the molecular weight of H2O is 18, then:

1 gmol contains 18 g of H2O (MW = 18 g/gmol)
1 kmol contains 18 kg of H2O (MW = 18 kg/kmol)
1 lbmol contains 18 lbm of H2O (MW = 18 lbm/lbmol)

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Example 1: How many of each of the following are contained in 100 g
of CO2 (MW = 44.01)?
(1) mol CO2. (2) lb-moles CO2.
(3) mol C. (4) mol O.
(5) mol O2. (6) g O.
(7) g O2. (8) molecules of CO2.
Solution:

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3.2 Mass and Mole Fractions and Average Molecular Weight

In a mixture of two or more components, the composition may be

expressed in terms of mass or mole fractions as:

The percent by mass of A is 100 xA, and mole percent of A is 100 yA.

For liquids and solids, it will always be assumed that the composition is on
a mass basis unless otherwise stated. For gases, it will be assumed to be
in molar basis.

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Example 2: A solution contains 15% A by mass (xA = 0.15) and 20
mole% B (yB = 0.2).
Solution:

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A set of mass fractions may be converted to an equivalent set of mole
fractions by:

(a) Assuming as a basis of calculation a mass of the mixture (e.g., 100

kg or 100 lbm).

(b) Using the known mass fractions to calculate the mass of each
component and converting these masses to moles.

(c) Taking the ratio of the moles of each component to the total number of
moles.

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Example 3: A mixture of gases has the following composition by mass:
O2 16% (xO2 = 0.16 g O2/g total)
CO 4%
CO2 17%
N2 63%
What is the molar composition?
Solution:

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The average molecular weight of a mixture is the ratio of the mass of a
sample of the mixture (mt) to the number of moles of all species (nt) in the
sample.

or

where yi mole fraction of the each component in the mixture.

xi mass fraction of the each component in the mixture.
Mi molecular weight of the each component in the mixture.

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Example 4: Calculate the average molecular weight of air from its:
(1) molar composition of 79% N2 and 21% O2 and
(2) composition by mass of 76.7% N2 and 23.3% O2.
Solution:

(1)

(2)

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Example 5: Mixture contains 10 mole% C2H5OH, 75 mole % C4H8O2,
15 mole% CH3COOH. Calculate:
(a) Mass fractions of each component in the mixture.
(b) Average molecular weight of the mixture?
(c) Mass (kg) of a sample containing 25 kmol of C4H8O2?
Solution:

(a)

(b)
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(c)
3.3 Concentration

Methods of expressing concentration include:

(1) The concentration of a component of a mixture or solution is the
quantity of this component per unit volume of the mixture.
• Mass Concentration is the mass of a component per unit volume
of the mixture (g/cm3, lbm/ft3, kg/in3,…)
• Molar Concentration is the number of moles of the component per
unit volume of the mixture (kmol/m3, lb-moles/ft3,…)
• Molarity of a solution is the value of the molar concentration of the
solute expressed in gram-moles solute/liter solution (e.g., 2-molar
solution of A contains 2 mol A/liter solution)

(2) Parts per million (ppm) and parts per billion (ppb) – normally used
for expressing concentration of extremely dilute solutions.

(3) Partial pressure is a method to express gas mixture concentration.

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Example 6: A 0.5-molar aqueous solution of sulfuric acid into a
process unit at a rate of 1.25 m3/min. The specific gravity
of the solution is 1.03. Calculate:
(1) mass concentration of H2SO4 in kg/m3.
(2) mass flow rate of H2SO4 in kg/s.
(3) mass fraction of H2SO4.
Solution:

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3.4 Parts per million (ppm) and parts per billion (ppb)

ppm and ppb are normally used for expressing concentration of extremely
dilute solutions. The definitions may refer to mass ratios (for liquid) or mole
ratios (for gases) and signify how many parts (grams, moles) of the
species are present per million or billion parts (grams, moles) of the
mixture. If yi is the fraction of component i, then

Air containing 15 ppm SO2 (using molar basis) means that every million
moles of air contains 15 moles of SO2, or the mole fraction of SO2 in the
air is 15 ×10-6.

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4. PRESSURE

Pressure is ratio of a force to the area on which the force acts. Pressure
units are force units divided by area units (e.g., N/m2 or Pascal (Pa),
dynes/cm2, lbf/in2 or psi).

Absolute Pressure (Pabs): Pressure measured relative to a fixed

reference point of zero pressure (vacuum).

Gauge Pressure (PG): Pressure measured relative to the atmosphere

pressure (relative pressure). Many pressure measurement devices
measure only gauge pressure.

Pabs = PG + Patm

Note: When using English units, absolute pressure and gauge pressure
are designated as psia and psig, respectively.

Patm = 1 atm = 760 mm Hg = 101.325 x 103 N/m2 (Pa) 24

= 14.7 psi = 29.92 in Hg = 33.91 ft H2O
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5. TEMPERATURE

The most commonly used temperature scales are Celsius (°C), Fahrenheit
(°F), Kelvin (K) and Rankine (°R). Temperature is the average kinetic
energy possessed by the substance

Relative Temperature Scale – Celsius and Fahrenheit. The zero value is

preset at some arbitrarily defined level.
T(ºF) = 1.8 × T(ºC) + 32
T(ºC) = [5/9] × [T(ºF) – 32]

Absolute Temperature Scale – Kelvin and Rankine. A temperature scale

on which a reading of zero coincides with the theoretical absolute zero
(zero entropy configuration)
T(K) = T(ºC) + 273.15
T(ºR) = T(ºF) + 459.67

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