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Homework 11 – Chapter 4
4.39
Acetylene is hydrogenated to form ethane. The feed to the reactor contains 1.50 mol /mol .
a) Calculate the stoichiometric reactant ratio (mol react/mol reac) and the yield ratio (kmol
formed/kmol react).
b) Determine the limiting reactant and calculate the percentage by which the other reactant is in excess.
c) Calculate the mass feed rate of hydrogen (kg/s) required to produce 4 10 metric tons of ethane per year,
assuming that the reaction goes to completion and that the process operates for 24 hours a day, 300 days a year.
d) There is a definite drawback to running with one reactant in excess rather than feeding reactants in stoichiometric
proportion. What is it? [Hint: In the process of part (c), what does the reactor effluent consist of and what will
probably have to be done before the product ethane can be sold or used?]
Tom Bertalan, Chris Barnes, Yang He, James Robinson CHE@TomBertalan.com
CHE 254 2
Homework 11 – Chapter 4
4.47 (a‐c)
At low to moderate pressures, the equilibrium state of the water‐gas shift reaction
is approximately described by the relation
4020
0.0247 exp
a) Assume a basis of 1 mol feed and draw and label a flowchart. Carry out a degree‐of‐freedom analysis of the
reactor based on extents of reaction and use it to prove that you have enough information to calculate the
composition of the reaction mixture at equilibrium. Do no calculations.
b) Calculate the total moles of gas in the reactor at equilibrium (if it takes you more than 5 seconds you’re missing
the point) and then the equilibrium mole fraction of hydrogen in the product. (Suggestion: Begin by writing
expressions for the moles of each species in the product gas in terms of the extent of reaction, and then write
expression or the species mole fractions.)
c) Suppose a gas sample is drawn from the reactor and analyzed shortly after startup and the mole fraction of
hydrogen I significantly different from the calculated vale. Assuming that no calculation mistakes or
measurement errors have been made, what is a likely explanation for the discrepancy between the calculated
and measured hydrogen yields?
Tom Bertalan, Chris Barnes, Yang He, James Robinson CHE@TomBertalan.com