1

EXAMPLE
Consider a gas mixture that consists of 3 kg of O2, 5 kg of N2, and
12 kg of CH4. Determine (a) the mass fraction of each component,
(b) the mole fraction of each component, and (c) the average molar
mass and gas constant of the mixture.

Solution
(a) The total mass of the mixture is
mm = mO2 + mN2 + mCH4 = 3 + 5 + 12 = 20 kg
The mass fraction of each component is thus

(b) To find the mole fractions, we need to determine the mole

numbers of each component first:

Thus

and

(c) The average molar mass and gas constant of the mixture are
determined from their definitions,

Or

Also

Example
An insulated tank that contains 1 kg of O2 at 15C and 300 kPa is
connected to a 2-m3 uninsulated tank that contains N2 at 50C and
500 kPa. The valve connecting the two tanks is now opened, and the
two gases form a homogeneous mixture at 25C. Detremine the
final pressure in the tank.

Solution

The volume of the O2 tank and mass of the nitrogen are:

V1,O2

1 kg 0.2598 kJ/kg K
mRT1

0.25
m

P
300 kPa
1 O

m N2

PV

1 1

RT
1 N

500 kPa 2 m3

0.2968 kJ/kg K 323 K

10.43 kg

Vtotal V1,O2 V1,N 2 0.25 m3 2.0 m 3 2.25 m 3

Also

m O2 1 kg

N O2

m N2 10.43 kg

m O2
M O2

N N2

1 kg

0.03125 kmol
32 kg/kmol
m N2
M N2

10.43 kg

0.3725 kmol
28 kg/kmol

N m N O2 N N 2 0.03125 0.3725 =0.40375 kmol

Thus
NRu T
0.40375 kmol 8.314 kJ/kmol K 298 K
Pm
444.6 kPa

3
2.25 m
1 N
VVtotal
2

10

Example
An insulated rigid tank is divided into two compartments by a
partition. One compartment contains 7 kg of oxygen gas at 40C
and 100 kPa, and the other compartment contains 4 kg of nitrogen
gas at 20C and 150 kPa. Now the partition is removed, and the two
gases are allowed to mix. Determine (a) the mixture temperature
and (b) the mixture pressure after equilibrium has been established.

Properties: The constant-volume specific heats of N2 and O2 at room

temperature are cv,N2 = 0.743 kJ/kg K and cv,O2 = 0.658 kJ/kg K.
11

Solution
We take the entire contents of the tank (both compartments) as the
system. This is a closed system since no mass crosses the boundary
during the process. We note that the volume of a rigid tank is
constant and thus there is no boundary work done.
(a) Noting that there is no energy transfer to or from the tank, the
energy balance for the system can be expressed as

the final temperature of the mixture is determined to be

12

(b) The final pressure of the mixture is determined from the idealgas relation
where

13

and

Thus

14

EXAMPLE - P-v-T Behavior of Nonideal Gas Mixtures

A rigid tank contains 2 kmol of N2 and 6 kmol
of CO2 gases at 300 K and 15 MPa. Estimate
The volume of the tank on the basis of (a) the
ideal-gas equation of state, and (b) Kays rule.
Solution
(a) When the mixture is assumed to behave as an ideal gas, the
volume of the mixture is easily determined from the ideal-gas
relation for the mixture:

since Nm = NN2 + NCO2 = 2 + 6 = 8 kmol.

15

(b) To use Kays rule, we need to determine the pseudocritical

temperature and pseudocritical pressure of the mixture by using
the critical-point properties of N2 and CO2 from Table A1.
However, first we need to determine the mole fraction of each
component:

16

17

Example
Avolumeof0.3m3ofO2at200Kand8MPaismixedwith0.5m3
ofN2atthesametemperatureandpressure,formingamixtureat
200Kand8MPa.Determinethevolumeofthemixture,using(a)
theideal-gasequationofstate,and(b)Kaysrule.

Solution
(a)Treatingthemixtureasanidealgas,

(b)First,weneedtodeterminetheZandthemolenumbersofeach
componentatthemixturetemperatureandpressure,

Themolefractionsare

Then

Exercise
1.Arigidtankcontains2kmolofN2and6kmolofCH4gasesat200
Kand12MPa.Estimatethevolumeofthetank,using(a)theidealgasequationofstate,and(b)Kaysrule.
Note:CriticaltemperaturesandpressuresofofN2andCH4are:
Tcr,N2=126.2K,Tcr,CH4=191.1K
Pcr,N2=3.39MPa,Pcr,CH4=4.64MPa

Example
An air-conditioning system is to take in outdoor air at 10C and 30
percent relative humidity at a steady rate of 45 m3/min and to
condition it to 25C and 60 percent relative humidity. The outdoor
air is first heated to 22C in the heating section and then humidified
by the injection of hot steam in the humidifying section. Assuming
the entire process takes place at a pressure of 100 kPa, determine
(a) the rate of heat supply in the heating section, and
(b) the mass flow rate of the steam required in the humidifying
section.
Properties: The constant-pressure specific heat of air at room
temperature is cp = 1.005 kJ/kg K, and its gas constant is Ra =
0.287 kJ/kgK. The saturation pressure of water is 1.2281 kPa at
10C, and 3.1698 kPa at 25C. The enthalpy of saturated water
vapor is 2519.2 kJ/kg at 10C, and 2541.0 kJ/kg at 22C.
25

Solution
We take the system to be the
heating or the humidifying
section, as appropriate. We
note that the amount of water
vapor in the air remains
constant in the heating
section but increases in the
humidifying section.

26

(a) Applying the mass and energy balances on the heating section
gives

The psychrometric chart offers great convenience in determining the

properties of moist air. However, its use is limited to a specified
pressure only, which is 1 atm (for the one given in the appendix). At
pressures other than 1 atm, either other charts for that pressure or the
relations developed earlier should be used. In this example, we use
the applicable relations, as follows:

27

since 2 = 1.

28

Then the rate of heat transfer to air in the heating section becomes

(b) The mass balance for water in the humidifying section is

29

Cooling with Dehumidification

Thespecifichumidityofairremainsconstantduringasimplecoolingprocess,
butitsrelativehumidityincreases.Iftherelativehumidityreachesundesirably
highlevels,itmaybenecessarytoremovesomemoisturefromtheair,thatis,
todehumidifyit.Thisrequirescoolingtheairbelowitsdew-pointtemperature.

30

Example
Air enters a window air conditioner at 1 atm, 30C, and 80 percent
relative humidity at a rate of 10 m3/min, and it leaves as saturated
air at 14C. Part of the moisture in the air that condenses during the
process is also removed at 14C. Determine the rates of heat and
moisture removal from the air.
Properties: The enthalpy of saturated liquid water at 14C is 58.8
kJ/kg (Table A4). Also, the inlet and the exit states of the air are
completely specified, and the total pressure is 1 atm. Therefore, we
can determine the properties of the air at both states from the
psychrometric chart to be

31

Solution
We take the cooling section to
be the system. We note that the
amount of water vapor in the air
decreases during the process
due to dehumidification.

32

Applying the mass and energy balances on the cooling and

dehumidification section gives

Therefore, this air-conditioning unit removes moisture and heat

from the air at rates of 0.131 kg/min and 511 kJ/min, respectively. 33

Example - Balancing the Combustion Equation

Onekmolofoctane(C8H18)isburnedwithairthatcontains
20kmolofO2.AssumingtheproductscontainonlyCO2,
H2O,O2,andN2,determinethemolenumberofeachgasin
theproductsandtheairfuelratioforthiscombustion
process.

34

Solution
Thechemicalequationforthiscombustionprocesscanbewrittenas
wherethetermsintheparenthesesrepresentthecompositionofdryair
thatcontains1kmolofO2andx, y, z, and w representtheunknownmole
numbers ofthegasesintheproducts.Theseunknownsaredetermined
byapplyingthemassbalancetoeachoftheelements-thatis,by
requiringthatthetotalmassormolenumberofeachelementinthe
reactantsbeequaltothatintheproducts:

Thus
35

Theairfuelratio(AF)isdeterminedbytakingtheratioofthemassofthe
airandthemassofthefuel,

36

Example
Ethane(C2H6)isburnedwith20percentexcessairduring
acombustionprocess.Assumingcompletecombustion
andatotalpressureof100kPa,determine(a)theair-fuel
ratioand(b)thedew-pointtemperatureoftheproducts.

37

Solution
ThecombustionproductscontainCO2,H2O,N2,andsomeexcess
O2only.Thenthecombustionequationcanbewrittenas
whereath isthestoichiometriccoefficientforair.Wehaveaccountedfor
the20percentexcessairbyusingthefactor1.2ath instead of ath forair.
Thestoichiometricamountofoxygen(athO2)isusedtooxidizethefuel,
andtheremainingexcessamount(0.2athO2)appearsinthecombustion
productsasunusedoxygen.
Thecoefficientath isdeterminedfromtheO2balancetobe
Substituting,

38

Theairfuelratioisdeterminedbytakingtheratioofthemassoftheair
tothemassofthefuel,

(b)Thedew-pointtemperatureoftheproductsisthetemperatureat
whichthewatervaporintheproductsstartstocondenseastheproducts
arecooledatconstantpressure.Thedew-pointtemperatureofagasvapormixtureisthesaturationtemperatureofthewatervapor
correspondingtoitspartialpressure.Therefore,weneedtodetermine
thepartialpressureofthewatervaporPvintheproductsfirst.Assuming
ideal-gasbehaviorforthecombustiongases,wehave

Thus,
39

Example - Reverse Combustion Analysis

40

Solution
Notethatweknowtherelativecompositionofthecombustionproducts,
butwedonotknowhowmuchfuelorairisusedduringthecombustion
process.However,theycanbedeterminedfrommassbalances.
Foridealgases,thevolumefractionsareequivalenttothemole
fractions.Considering100kmolofdryproductsforconvenience,the
combustionequationcanbewrittenas

The unknown coefficients x, a, and b are determined from mass

balances,

(TheO2balanceisusedtocheckthevaluesobtainedfromtheothermass
balances.)

41

Substituting,

Thecombustionequationfor1kmoloffuelisobtainedbydividingthe
aboveequationby1.36,

(a)Theairfuelratioisdeterminedbytakingtheratioofthemassoftheair
tothemassofthefuel,

42

(b)Tofindthepercentageoftheoreticalairused,weneedtoknowthe
theoreticalamountofair,whichisdeterminedfromthetheoretical
combustionequationofthefuel,

Then,

Noticethatsomecarbonformedcarbonmonoxideeventhoughtherewas
considerablymoreoxygenthanneededforcompletecombustion.

43

(c)Foreachkmoloffuelburned,7.37+0.65+4.13+61.38+9=82.53
kmolofproductsareformed,including9kmolofH2O.Assumingthat
thedew-pointtemperatureoftheproductsisabove25C,someofthe
watervaporwillcondenseastheproductsarecooledto25C.IfNwkmol
ofH2Ocondenses,therewillbe(9Nw)kmolofwatervaporleftinthe
products.Themolenumberoftheproductsinthegasphasewillalso
decreaseto(82.53Nw)asaresult.
Bytreatingtheproductgases(includingtheremainingwatervapor)as
idealgases,Nwisdeterminedbyequatingthemolefractionofthewater
vaportoitspressurefraction,
Psat@25C

44

Example
One kmol of ethane (C2H6) is burned with an unknown amount of air
during a combustion process. An analysis of the combustion
products reveals that the combustion is complete, and there are 3
kmol of free O2 in the products. Determine (a) the airfuel ratio and
(b) the percentage of theoretical air used during this process.
Solution
(a)The combustion equation in this case can be written as

Substituting

45

The air-fuel ratio is determined by taking the ratio of the mass of

the air to the mass of the fuel,

(b) To find the percent theoretical air used, we need to know the
theoretical amount of air, which is determined from the
theoretical combustion equation of C2H6,

Or, applying the x + y/4 formula, ath = 2 + 6/4 = 3.5.

Then

46