UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

CH26B Process Dynamics and Control I
Midterm Examination: Tuesday, March 21/00, 8:00 to 10:00 AM.
Answer Questions 1 and 2, and EITHER Question 3 OR Question 4.
N.B. Calculators may be used in this examination. They must be silent, cordless and
non-programmable. Calculators will be examined to ensure that they comply with
these requirements.
1.

[20 marks]

(a) Find the Laplace transform of

f (t ) 5 cos( 4 t ) e t 5 t

(b) Find the inverse transform y(t) corresponding to

y (s)

(c) Let
f ( s)

s 1
s s2 6s
3

s4
s ( s 1) ( s 2) ( s 3)

f (t ).
Compute the final value of f (t ), i.e. lim
t
(d) Let
f (s)

( s 1) ( s 1)
s ( s 3) ( s 4)

Compute the final value of f (t ).

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2. [40 marks] Two cylindrical tanks operate in series in a noninteracting mode as shown
in Fig. Q2.
Figure Q2 - Tanks in series.
q(t)

9 ft.
h 1 (t)

TANK 1

q 1 (t)

9 ft.
h 2 (t)
q 2 (t)
TANK 2

The initial steady-state fluid flowrate is q s q1s q2 s 10 ft 3 / min, producing the

steady-state tank levels h1s 6 ft and h2 s 8 ft. The cross-sectional area A of each
tank is 20 ft2. It may be assumed that the Tank 1 outlet flowrate is linearly related to the
head of liquid, i.e. q1 (t ) h1 (t ) / R1 , and similarly that q 2 (t ) h2 (t ) / R2 .
An operator decides to dump an extra 50 ft3 of fluid into Tank 1 over a very short period
of time.
(a) Does Tank 1 overflow?
(b) Does Tank 2 overflow?
(c) If Tank 2 does overflow, when does it stop overflowing?

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3. [40 marks] Consider the continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) depicted below:

q,
,
C A 0 (t ),
CB0 (t )
V , ,
C A (t ),
CB (t )

q,
,
C A (t ),
CB (t )

Figure Q3 - Continuous stirred-tank reactor.

The inlet stream concentrations of components A and B expressed in units of kg/m 3 are
C A 0 (t ) and C B 0 (t ), respectively. Component A reacts irreversibly with a specific rate
constant k to form product, component B:
k
A B

The rate of reaction is nth order with respect to reactant A. Hence, the mass rate of
disappearance of A in the CSTR is given by k V (C A (t )) n . It may be assumed that the
densities and volumetric flowrates of the inlet and outlet streams are constant at
kg/m 3 and q m 3 /s, respectively.
(a) Derive an expression which describes the time domain response of the outlet product
concentration C B (t ) to a step change of magnitude M in the inlet concentration
C B 0 (t ). The inlet and (hence) outlet concentrations of reactant A are held fixed at their
initial steady-state values.
(b) Write a differential equation which describes the behaviour of the outlet reactant
concentration C A (t ) in response to changes in the inlet concentration C A0 (t ).
(c)
Linearize the relationship developed in 3(b) via first-order Taylor series
approximation.
(d) Solve the linear differential equation derived in 3(c) to obtain an expression for the
response of the outlet reactant concentration C A (t ) to a step change of magnitude M in
C A 0 (t ).

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4. [40 marks] You have been asked to design a response test for the purpose of
modelling the mixing dynamics of a reaction vessel in a chemical plant. The fluid in the
vessel is fairly well agitated, has a constant holdup of about 18,000 ft 3, and a flowrate
through the vessel of 900 ft3/min at normal operating conditions.
Your supervisor has suggested that you approach this problem by adding a dye tracer to
the vessel inlet stream and collecting 20 samples of the outlet stream at 2 minute intervals
thereafter. The samples are to be taken to the plant laboratory, where the concentration of
tracer in each can be measured on a bench colourimeter. The dye costs about $10 per
pound and the sensitivity of the colourimeter is such that the lowest detectable
concentration of dye is 0.001 lbm/ft3.
(a) What is the minimum mass of dye required if the tracer is to be added in step
fashion?
(b) What is the minimum mass of dye required if the tracer is to be injected as an ideal
impulse?
(c) Which of the two response test methods ((a) or (b)) is more cost effective?

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