CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

1.3 PROCESS VARIABLES

To design or analyze a process, we need to know the amounts,

compositions, and condition of materials entering, leaving, and
within the process.

The quantities used to describe a process are called process

variables. These must be measured or computed.

The process variables concerned are;-

1. Mass and volume
2. Flowrate
3. Chemical composition
4. Pressure
5. Temperature

1.3.1 Mass and volume

There are a number of definitions and tools used to specify the

amounts of material entering and leaving processes.

Density

Density is the mass per unit volume of a substance [

kg , g , Ibm 3 ], typically symbolized by the Greek letter rho (
m 3 cm 3 ft
). Density has both a value and units.
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CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

Density is used to relate mass and volume of a substance.

Mass = (Density) (Volume)
m = V

Specific Volume

The specific volume of a substance is the volume per unit mass,

the inverse of the density.

SV  1


Specific Gravity

The specific gravity is the ratio of the density,  of a substance to

the density ref of a reference substance at a specific condition.

Because specific gravity is a ratio, it is often treated as a

dimensionless quantity.

Usually the reference substance for solids and liquids is water at 4

degrees Celsius.

Example 1:

You have a drum containing 8.00 liters of toluene. What is the

mass of the liquid? Given

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CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

1.3.2 Flow Rates

1. Generally, ‘flowrate’ is used to know how much material is

coming into or out of the process.
 the mass flow rate, mass per time
 the volumetric flow rate, volume per time
 the molar flow rate, moles per time

The symbols for mass and molar flow rates are typically ms or ns,
sometimes with a dot overhead. The dot is often used to mark a
"rate" (per unit time).

Volumetric flowrates are indicated by V, Q, or F.

Usually, the volumetric flow rate is the easiest to measure. It can

then be converted to mass flow rate using the density:

Most industrial flow measurement devices really measure the flow

velocity. The volumetric flow rate is then calculated from the
velocity and the cross-sectional area of the pipe:

2. Flowrate measurement

A flowmeter is a device mounted in a process line that provides a

continuous reading of the flow rate in the line. Two
commonly used flowmeters;-

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CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

(a) Rotameter

•Rotameter is a typical area meter

•Consists of gradually tapered glass mounted vertically in a frame with the

large end up.

•Fluid flows upward through the tapered tube and suspends freely a float
(which is submerged in the fluid)

• Float is the indicating element, and the greater the flow rate, the higher
the float rides in the tube.

•The tube is marked in divisions, and the reading of the meter is obtained
from the scale reading at the reading edge of the float, which is taken at the
largest cross section of the float.

•A calibration curve must be available to convert the observed scale reading

to flow rate.

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CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

(b) Orifice meter

•Reduction of cross-section of the flowing stream in passing through orifice

increases the velocity head at the expense of pressure head

•Reduction of pressure between taps is measured using manometer

1.3.3 CHEMICAL COMPOSITION

1. The atomic weight, of an element is the mass of an atom on a

scale that assigns 12C (the isotope of carbon whose nucleus
contains 6 protons and 6 neutrons) a mass of exactly 12.

2. The molecular weight of a compound is the sum of the

atomic weights of the atoms that constitute a molecule of the
compound.

Example 2: atomic weight oxygen (O) = 16.0

 the molecular weight oxygen (O2) = 16.0 +16.0 = 32.0

3. Moles

A Mole is a measure of quantity of substance or the number of

particles.
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CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

A gram-mole (mol, gmol) of a species is the amount of a species

whose mass in grams is numerically the same as its molecular
weight.

To simplify engineering problems, we will also use kilogram-

moles (kgmol) and pound-moles (lbmol, mole). These are defined
the same way but using different mass units.

Example 3: Carbon Dioxide (CO2) has a molecular weight of 44,

so 1 mol of CO2 contains 44 grams.

Example 4: Carbon Monoxide (CO) has a molecular weight of 28,

1 mol of CO therefore contain 28g, 1 Ib-mol contains 28 Ibm, 1
ton-mol contains 28 tons.

If the molecular weight of a substance is M, then there are M

kg/kmol, M g/mol, and M Ibm/Ib-mol of this substance. The
molecular weight may thus be used as a conversion factor that
relates the mass and the number of moles of a quantity of a the
substance.

Example 5:

34 kg of ammonia (NH3: M=17.0) is equivalent to

(34 kg NH3 x 1 kmol NH3) / 17 kg NH3 = 2.0 kmol NH3

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CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

Example 6:

How many moles in 72 pounds of ammonium nitrate?

(N=14.0, H=1.0, O=16.0)

The molecular weight of NH4NO3 is 14+4+14+ (3*16)=80.

4. Mass and Mole Fractions and Average Molecular Weight

Process streams consist of mixtures of liquid or gases, or solutions

of one or more solutes in a liquid solvent.

The following terms may be used to define the composition of a

mixture of substances, including a species A.

Mass fraction, xA= mass of A/ total mass

Mole fraction, yA=moles of A/ total moles

The mass percent of A is 100 xA

The mole percent of A is 100 yA

The numerical value of a mass or a mole fraction does not depend

on the mass units in the numerator and denominator as long as
these units are the same.

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CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

Example 7:

Mass fraction of benzene C6H6 in a mixture is 0.25, it can be

defined as xC6H6 0.25 kg C6H6/kg total or 0.25 g C6H6/g total or
0.25 Ibm C6H6/Ibm total

4.1 A set of mass fraction can be converted to an equivalent set of

mole fractions by
(a) assuming the basis of calculations a mass of the mixture
(100 kg, 100 Ibm)
(b) using the known mass fraction and calculate the mass
of each component in the basis quantity
(c) taking the ratio of the moles of each component to total
number of the moles.

5. The average molecular weight

The average molecular weight (or mean molecular weight) of a

mixture , M (kg/kmol, Ibm /Ib-mole) 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.

5.1. If yi is the mole fraction of the ith component of the mixture

and Mi is the molecular weight of the component,
M  y M  y M  ...   y M
1 1 2 2 i i

6. Concentration

6.1 The mass concentration of a component of a mixture or

solution is the mass of this component per unit volume of the
mixture (g/cm3, Ibm/ft3, kg/in3).
6.2 The molar concentration of a component is the number of
moles of the component per unit volume of the mixture
(kmol/m3, Ib-moles/ft3).
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CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

1.3.4 PRESSURE

1. A pressure is a force (P) per area.

2. Pressure units are force units divided by area units

(N/m2 (Pascal,Pa), dynes/cm2, Ibf/in2).

3. Hydrostatic pressure

Think of a column of fluid of height h and cross sectional area A.

The fluid has a density rho. The pressure P at the base of the
column is by definition the force exerted on the base divided by the
area A; that force is the weight of the column plus any force acting
on the top.
P  Po  gh

4. Head

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CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

5.1 Observed that a column of fluid produces a pressure, so

that the height of the column is an indicator of the pressure
produced.
5.2 This principle is the basis of one of the traditional methods of
measuring pressure: the manometer.
5.3 When pressure is expressed in terms of a height of fluid, it
is called fluid "head". Usually, water or mercury is used.

4.4 Head units are mostly used for very low pressures and
expressed as "mm Hg" or "in H2O".

4.5 Converting between force/area and head units is simple. You

use the fluid weight term from the hydrostatic pressure equation:

5. Atmospheric pressure, Absolute pressure and Gauge pressure

5.1 Air is a fluid -- so the air above the earth exerts a hydrostatic
pressure on the surface. This is atmospheric pressure. If you look
at the hydrostatic pressure equation, you can see that the pressure
exerted will depend on the height of the column and the density of
the air. At sea level the pressure is

It will decrease as the altitude increases.

5.2 For most measurements, it is more practical to measure with

respect to atmospheric pressure.
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CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

For example, to use a manometer, you may attach one end to the
pressure source to be measured and leave the other open to the
atmosphere.

5.3 This is so common that pressures measured in this way are

designated gauge pressure. If absolute pressure is to be measured,
it is necessary to evacuate one end of the manometer so that the
fluid works against vacuum.

Thus, a "closed end" manometer measures absolute pressure, while

an "open end" manometer measures gage pressure.

5.4 Pressures less than atmospheric are "vacuums". Common

practice is to state negative gage pressures as positive vacuum.

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CLD 10502 – Chemical Process Principle

5.5 Pressure measurement tools;-

 Manometer – used under 3 atm

 Bourdon gauge –used from vacuum until 7000 atm

1.3.5 Temperature

1. The temperature of a substance in a particular state of

aggregation (solid, liquid, or gas) is a measure of the average
kinetic energy possessed by the substance molecules.

2. Units;-

 Rankine
 Celcius
 Fahrenheit
 Kelvin

3. Conversion among units:

 T(K) = T(°C)+ 273.15
 (°R) = T(°F)+ 459.67
 (°R) = 1.8 T(K)
 (°F) = 1.8 T(°C)+ 32

4. Temperature measurement tools;-

1. Thermometer
2. Thermocouple
Normally in industries they use electrical resistance of conductor
and transform data onto in dimension of temperature

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