UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science

ECH51
Material Balances
First In-class Exam (Practice Exam)
(No solutions provided)

Prof. Brian G. Higgins

Winter 2008

Given for Exam:

Total Mass Balance

HtL

r V +

HtL

r Hv - wL n A = 0

(1)

Species Mass Balance (no reactions)

HtL

rA V +

HtL

rA HvA - wL n A = 0, A = 1, 2, , N

(2)

ECH51PracticeExam1_08.nb

Problem 1
One method for continuously depositing a thin liquid coating on a moving web is known as slot die coating. A
schematic of the process is shown below in cross-section. In slot die coating, the liquid is forced through a slot of
thickness d and flows onto a vertical web moving at a constant speed U0 . The width of the slot die in the zdirection, measured normal to the figure, is W.

Figure 1
In a steady operation all the feed liquid to the slot die is picked up by the web moving at constant speed U0 (see
the Fig 1). At the entrance to the slot die (0 z W, 0 y d) the velocity profile u(y) across the slot is given
by
v HyL = 6 Vavg B

F
(3)
d
d
and this profile is shown in the Figure 1. Variations of the velocity v(y) across the width W of the slot can be
ignored. In steady operation all the liquid to the slot is picked up by the moving web.
y

(i) Select an appropriate control volume and construct the macroscopic balance that will allow you to determine
the thickness b of the liquid film on the moving web during steady operation.
(ii) If far downstream on the moving web all the liquid in the coated film of thickness b moves at the velocity of
the web U0 , determine the thickness of the coated film. Take the width of the coated film to be W.
(iii) If the gap d of the feed slot changes by 10%, by how much will the final film thickness b of the coated film
change?

ECH51PracticeExam1_08.nb

Problem 2
Liquid acetone (C3 H6 O, species A) is fed (Stream #1) a rate of 0.400 m3 /min into a heated evaporator, where it
evaporates into a nitrogen stream that enters the evaporator as Stream #2. The gas mixture leaving the evaporator
Stream #3 is diluted by another nitrogen stream(Stream#4) flowing at a measured rate of 419 m3 HSTPL/min. The
combined gases (Stream #5) are then compressed together and leave the compressor at a total pressure of 5550
mm Hg and temperature of 325C (Stream #6). The partial pressure of acetone in the exit stream (Stream #6) is
pA = 501 mm Hg. The ambient pressure is 763 mm Hg. A schematic of the flow is shown below

Figure 2

(i) What are the molar flow rates of N2 and acetone in the stream leaving the compressor (Stream #6)?
(ii) What is the volumetric flow rate of nitrogen entering the evaporator (Stream #2) if the temperature and
pressure of this stream are 27C and 1238 mm Hg ?
Data given:
1 mol =0.0224 m3 HSTPL , rA = 0.791 g cm3 , A = 58.0 g mol

Problem 3
The flowchart of a steady-state process to recover crystalline potassium chromate ( K2 CrO4 ) from an aqueous
solution of this salt is shown in Fig 1. The feed stream (#1) is 4500 kg/hr of a solution that is one third K2 Cr04
by mass. It is mixed with a recycle stream #6 and then fed to an evaporator unit.
The vapor stream #3 leaving the evaporator is pure water. The liquid stream #4 leaving the evaporator contains
49.4% by mass K2 CrO4 . It is fed into a crystallizer/filter where it is cooled (causing crystals of K2 CrO4 to come
out of solution) and then filtered. Stream #5 leaving the crystallizer/filter unit is a filter cake suspension consisting of the filter cake (pure K2 CrO4 crystals) and some residual solution that contains 36.4% K2 CrO4 by mass.

The mass flow rate of the filter cake suspension is m5 = mcrys + mres where mcrys is the mass flow rate of filter

cake and mres is the mass flow rate of the residual solution in the filter cake suspension. The flow rate mcrys
accounts for 90% of the total mass of stream #5. The solution that passes through the filter ( stream #6) is
recycled back to the evaporator; it contains 36.4% by mass K2 CrO4 .

ECH51PracticeExam1_08.nb

Figure 3
Calculate the rate of evaporation, the rate of production of crystalline K2 CrO4 , the feed rates to the evaporator
and crystallizer, and the recycle ratio (mass flow rate of recycle)/(mass flow rate of fresh feed)

Problem 4
Titanium dioxide, TiO2 is a white pigment used in the paint and paper industries. A new pigment plant processes
an intermediate stream consisting of TiO2 precipitate suspended in an aqueous salt solution (stream #1). The salt
removal is to be accomplished by washing the precipitate with pure water (stream #2). The raw pigment stream
(#1) contains 40% by mass of TiO2 , 20% by mass salt, and the rest water. The washed pigment stream (#4) is
upon settling, projected to consist of about 50% (by mass) TiO2 solids and it is determined that the wash water
utilization should be 6 lb H2 O lb feed. The process is designed so that stream #4 produces 4000 lb/h dry
product (TiO2 + salt) that contains on a water free basis, at most 100 parts per million (1 ppm=mass fraction of
10-6 ) of salt. Determine the compositions and flow rates of all streams. A schematic of the process is shown in
Figure 4.

Figure 4

Problem 5
A ternary mixture of benzene, ethylbenzene, and toluene is fed to a distillation column at a rate of 100 kmol/hr.
The composition of the mixture in % moles is 74 % benzene, 20 % toluene, and 6 % ethylbenzene. The distillate
flows at a rate of 75 kmol/hr. The composition of the distillate in % moles is 97.33 % benzene, 2 % toluene, and
the rest is ethylbenzene. Find the molar flow rate of the bottoms stream and the mass fractions of the three
components in the distillate and bottoms stream.