Problem 1: Properties of water and steam

Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics Course

Chemical Engineering Department - FTUI

Gading is a second-year chemical engineering student at UID (University of Indonesia

Depok). They were told to form groups consisting of four students and to learn
thermodynamics using a method called PBL. The instructor informed the
thermodynamics class that he will give a test on PVT and thermodynamic properties of
water and steam. The students have two weeks to learn this topic. The instructor told
the students that water is used in many biological, chemical and physical processes
known to man. Not to mention that our body consist of 70-% water by weight! There
are so many fluids to choose from, and therefore, learning the PVT and thermodynamic
properties of water seems important and fun! The students are expected to learn the
topics listed in Table 1 before they take the exam. Denni was in a group together with
Audi, Andika, and Narji who suggested that they do assignment by following the
problem-solving steps as developed by Prof. Donald Woods and suggested by their
instructor.

Table 1. Topics related to properties of water and steam

# Topics Sub-topics
1 Phases Phases of a substance, saturated condition, equilibria
between phases, (Gibbs phase rule), phase changes
along certain processes, intensive and extensive
variables, Gibbs phase rule
2 PVT data Data related to processes in our daily life, examples of
processes at constant T or P, critical point of water,
steam table and thermodynamic diagrams,

Audi suggested that after learning about topic #1, She did not forget to mention that
water is a very important fluid involved in many biological, chemical and physical
processes. She found two PVT diagrams shown below but could not be sure which
diagram represented water (H2O) in its three phases (ice, water, and water vapor).
Could you help her? Do you think the fact that ice floats in water could be used to
select the right diagram?

Audi start to collect more quantitative data. He mentioned, for example, that water
freezes at (or very close to) 0C. Andika also suggested that they are able to the
explain shape of the PVT surfaces, for example why the solid phase is very steep
compared to the surfaces of the other two phases. About the real-life behavior of water-
ice-steam system, Andika believes that the group should be able the explain the
following phenomena:

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why skaters could glide easily across ice wearing an ice-skating shoes, why shalllow
ponds are not completely filled with ice during heavy and long winter, why it takes
longer to boil eggs on Himalaya mountain compared to in the city of Jakarta (on similar
cooking utensils, amount of water, eggs, and heating conditions).

Andika suggested to learn how to read steam tables, both for the saturated and the
superheated steam sections, including doing the interpolation. The followings are
problems Narji suggested that the group solve as preparation for the exam:

(a) Determine the phase or phases in a system consisting of H 2O at the following

conditions and sketch pv and Tv diagrams showing the location of each state: (5
bar, 151.9C); (5 bar, 200C); (200C, 2.5 Mpa).
(b) A pistoncylinder device contains 0.1 m 3 of liquid water and 0.9 m3 of water vapor in
equilibrium at 800 kPa. Heat is transferred at constant pressure until the
temperature reaches 350C. What is the initial temperature of the water? Determine
the total mass of the water. Calculate the final volume. Show the process on a P-v
and p-T diagram with respect to saturation lines.
(c) Steam is contained in a closed rigid container with a volume of 1 m 3. Initially, the
pressure and temperature of the steam are 7 bar and 500 oC, respectively. The
temperature drops as a result of heat transfer to the surroundings. Determine the
temperature at which condensation first occurs, in C, and the fraction of the total
mass that has condensed when the pressure reaches 0.5 bar. What is the volume, in
m3, occupied by saturated liquid at the final state?

Narji is reponsible to explain phase diagram of a substance other than water. Help him
find out the reasons why dry ice (solid CO2) is used to keep ice cream stays cold and
not melt? Use the following PT diagram of CO 2.

Gading agree with Narji and say that Carbon dioxide gas enters a pipe at 3 MPa and
500 K at a rate of 2 kg/s. CO2 is cooled at constant pressure as it flows in the pipe and
the temperature CO2 drops to 450 K at the exit. Help him to Determine the volume flow
rate and the density of carbon dioxide at the inlet and the volume flow rate at the exit
of the pipe using (a) the ideal-gas equation and (b) the generalized compressibility
chart. Also, determine (c) the error involved in each case. (d) Explain why a compound
can follow the corresponding state of 2 parameters and the corresponding state of 2
parameters and why using the curve ln (Pr) vs Tr.

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