Machine Problem No.

6
MATERIAL BALANCES WITH RECYCLE STREAMS

Objective

1. To perform mass balance using using MS Excel

Problem Statement

Ethyl chloride is manufactured in an integrated process. Ethane reacts with chlorine to make ethyl

chloride and hydrogen chloride, and ethylene reacts with hydrogen chloride to form ethyl chloride.

C2 H6 + Cl 2 C2 H5 Cl + HCl

C2 H4 + HCl C2 H5 Cl

The process is fed with three streams: ethane, ethylene and chlorine. The ethane and ethylene streams

have the same molar flow rate, and the ratio of chlorine to ethane plus ethylene is 1.5. The ethane/ethylene

stream also contains 1.5% acetylene and 1.5% carbon dioxide. The feed streams are mixed with an ethylene

recycle stream and go to the first reactor (chlorination reactor) where the ethane reacts with chlorine with a 95%

conversion per pass. The product stream is cooled and ethyl chloride is condensed and separated. Assume that

all the ethane and ethyl chloride go out in the condensate stream. The gases go to another reactor

(hydrochlorination reactor) where the reaction with ethylene takes place with a 50% conversion per pass. The

product stream is cooled to condense the ethyl chloride, and the gases (predominantly ethylene and chlorine) are

recycled. A purge stream takes off a fraction of the recycle stream (1%). Complete the mass balance for this process.

Ducusin, Cester Gale A.

Page 1
 Machine Problem No. 6
MATERIAL BALANCES WITH RECYCLE STREAMS

Results and Discussion

The process flow chart based from the problem and stream conditions was shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Process Flow chart and stream conditions

It is necessary to calculate the mass balance for the entire process for this problem. It is needed to

choose the basis for every problem because this might account for the essential information throughout the

process. The basis 100 moles of stream A was used in this problem so that we can solve for the amount of the

other streams easily. The mass of the stream A and B were the same. Therefore, stream B has 100 moles also.

From the second condition, the ratio of the chlorine fed into the mixer with the ethane and ethylene is 1.5.

Applying the basis, there are 184 moles in the total mixture of ethane and ethylene. The resulting chlorine fed

into the mixer was 291 moles.

By looking in Figure 1, the first unit operation was the mixer wherein streams A to C and stream D were

mixed forming stream E. Since the stream E was a recycle stream and does not yet have a value, we can assume

that stream D is just a sum of streams A to C. The compositions of the following streams in the mixer part was

shown in Table 1.

Computer Applications in CHE Page 2

 Machine Problem No. 6
MATERIAL BALANCES WITH RECYCLE STREAMS

Table 1. Mass balance around mixer excluding recycle stream D

Chlorination reactor was the next unit operation, based on Figure 1, wherein the ethane and chlorine in

C2 H6 + Cl 2 C2 H5 Cl + HCl
the stream E was converted into ethyl chloride using the reaction . 95%

conversion for this reactor was specified. The limiting reactant to produce ethyl chloride with 95% conversion

was ethane which was one of the input components to the reactor. To denote the amount of the reactant and

product consumed and produced, a new stream 1 was introduced. For stream 1, we denote a negative sign for

the used reactants while positive sign for the produced products. The resulting stream from the chlorination

reactor, denoted as stream F, was the sum of stream E and A. The composition of each streams in the

chlorination reactor was as shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Mass balance around chlorination reactor

The next unit operation was the condenser where the stream F was cooled and the ethane and ethyl

chloride were condensed and separated. The condensate stream was stream G wherein it was assumed that all

Computer Applications in CHE Page 3

 Machine Problem No. 6
MATERIAL BALANCES WITH RECYCLE STREAMS

the ethane and ethyl chloride were completely removed. The resulting stream after condensation, denoted as

stream H, contained all the other components of stream F excluding ethane and ethyl chloride. The composition

of each streams in the condenser was as shown in Table 3.

Table 3. Mass balance around first condenser

After the condenser the next unit operation was the hydrochlorination reactor wherein the ethyle was

C2 H4 + HCl C2 H5 Cl
converted into ethyl chloride using hydrochloric acid using the reaction . The

conversion in this reactor was 50%. Based from the input stream to the reactor, denoted by stream H, the

limiting reactant to produce ethyl chloride with 50% conversion was hydrochloric acid. Another reaction

stream, denoted as stream 2, was introduced to denote the amount of the reactant and product consumed and

produced, respectively, with respect to the reaction stoichiometry. The resulting stream from the

hydrochlorination reactor, denoted as stream I, was the sum of stream E and 1. The composition of each streams

in the hydrochlorination reactor was as shown in Table 4.

Table 4. Mass balance around hydrochlorination reactor

Computer Applications in CHE Page 4

 Machine Problem No. 6
MATERIAL BALANCES WITH RECYCLE STREAMS

Another condenser was introduced to condesed the ethyl chloride in the stream I and seperated from the

gases. The condensate stream was stream J where all the ethyl chloride in the stream I was removed. The

resulting stream, denosted as stream K, contained all the other components in stream J excluding the ethyl

chloride. The composition of each streams in the second condenser was as shown in Table 5.

Table 5. Mass balance around second condenser

The resulting stream K was recycled back into the condenser and purged to take off 1% of the whole

stream. The purge stream, denoted as stream D, constituted 1% of the stream K while the recycle

stream,denoted as stream D, had 99% of the stream K. As a recall, the stream D was introduced to the mixer to

be mixed with the fresh feed streams. Hence, this result to an iterative calculations. A prompt regarding circular

calculation that might calculate the values incorrectly was notified. To correct this, the iterative calculation was

checked in the Options-Formulas of the MS Excel . The result of the iterative calculation was shown in Table

6. The values initially calculated before the recycle stream was introduced was change due to the addition of the

recycle stream that significantly affects the mass balance around the process.

Table 6. Mass balance around the whole process flow chart

Computer Applications in CHE Page 5

 Machine Problem No. 6
MATERIAL BALANCES WITH RECYCLE STREAMS

Conclusion

The objective of the machine problem was successfully accomplished. Chemical Engineering

calculations application was involved in this activity. A complete mass balance around the whole process

including recycle and purge stream was calculated using the MS Excel . The basics of the material balances

and reaction stoichiometry was also utilized to identify the amounts of each components in each streams. The

calculation for material balance for a process with recycle was easily solved using MS Excel by iterative

calculation to simplify the calculations.

References

1. Himmelbau, David M., Riggs, James B. (2004). Principles of Chemical Engineering, 7 th edition. Pearson

Education, Inc.

Computer Applications in CHE Page 6