Microsoft Excel offers a great aid to various professions such as in chemical

engineering. Microsoft Excel can be used for different calculations in

Thermodynamics, Chemical Reaction Engineering, Material Balances, Fluid
Mechanics, etc.
THERMODYNAMICS
Thermodynamics is the branch of science that deals with energy relations.
Surely, there are a lot of computations in this field where Microsoft Excel can be a
big help.
An example for the application of Microsoft Excel in Thermodynamics is on
the different equations of states. Solving equations of states allows us to find the
specific volume of a gaseous mixture of different substances at a given temperature
and pressure. The importance of equations of state is that it makes it possible for
chemical engineers to design the chemical plant, components geometry and cost,
by knowing the specific volume of the fluid.
Earlier in this course, we were able to create an Excel solver regarding the
Ideal Gas Law. The example that will be presented is an application of Microsoft
Excel in one of the Equation of State: the Van der Waals Equation.
Van der Waals equation of state is the first generalization of the ideal gas law.
It is given by the formula:

( P+ va ) ( vb)=RT
2

The constants a and b are given by:

27 R2 T c2
a=
64 P c

b=

RTc
8 Pc

In this equation, the b accounts for the excluded volume (a second molecule
cannot use the same space already used by the first molecule), and a accounts for
the interaction force between two molecules. This extension is just a first step,
however, because it will not be a good approximation at extremely high pressures.
Example 1

What is the molar volume of n-hexane at 660K and 91bar according to the
van der Waals equation?
For this problem, we will use Microsoft Excels functions VLOOKUP and GOAL
SEEK.