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Methane and oxygen react in the presence of a catalyst to form formaldehyde. In a parallel reaction, methane is oxidized to carb

Nezavi [6.7K]

Answer:

$y_{CH_4}^2=\frac{5mol/s}{100mol/s}=0.05\\y_{O_2}^2=\frac{3mol/s}{100mol/s}=0.03\\y_{H_2O}^2=\frac{47mol/s}{100mol/s}=0.47\\y_{HCHO}^2=\frac{43mol/s}{100mol/s}=0.43\\y_{CO_2}^2=\frac{2mol/s}{100mol/s}=0.02$

Explanation:

Hello,

a. On the attached document, you can see a brief scheme of the process. Thus, to know the degrees of freedom, we state the following unknowns:

- $\xi_1$ and $\xi_2$ : extent of the reactions (2).

- $F_{O_2}^2$ , $F_{CH_4}^2$ , $F_{H_2O}^2$ , $F_{HCHO}^2$ and $F_{CO_2}^2$ : Molar flows at the second stream (5).

On the other hand, we've got the following equations:

- $F_{O_2}^2=50mol/s-\xi_1-2\xi_2$ : oxygen mole balance.

- $F_{CH_4}^2=50mol/s-\xi_1-\xi_2$ : methane mole balance.

- $F_{H_2O}^2=\xi_1+2\xi_2$ : water mole balance.

- $F_{HCHO}^2=\xi_1$ : formaldehyde mole balance.

- $F_{CO_2}^2=\xi_2$ : carbon dioxide mole balance.

Thus, the degrees of freedom are:

$DF=7unknowns-5equations=2$

It means that we need two additional equations or data to solve the problem.

b. Here, the two missing data are given. For the fractional conversion of methane, we define:

$0.900=\frac{\xi_1+\xi_2}{50mol/s}$

And for the fractional yield of formaldehyde we can set it in terms of methane as the reagents are equimolar:

$0.860=\frac{F_{HCHO}^2}{50mol/s}$

In such a way, one realizes that the output formaldehyde's molar flow is:

$F_{HCHO}^2=0.860*50mol/s=43mol/s$

Which is equal to the first reaction extent $\xi_1$ , therefore, one computes the second one from the fractional conversion of methane as:

$\xi_2=0.900*50mol/s-\xi_1\\\xi_2=0.900*50mol/s-43mol/s\\\xi_2=2mol/s$

Now, one computes the rest of the output flows via:

- $F_{O_2}^2=50mol/s-43mol/s-2*2mol/s=3mol/s$

- $F_{CH_4}^2=50mol/s-43mol/s-2mol/s=5mol/s$

- $F_{H_2O}^2=43mol/s+2*2mol/s=47mol/s$

- $F_{HCHO}^2=43mol/s$

- $F_{CO_2}^2=2mol/s$

The total output molar flow is:

$F_{O_2}+F_{CH_4}+F_{H_2O}+F_{HCHO}+F_{CO_2}=100mol/s$

Therefore the output stream composition turns out into:

$y_{CH_4}^2=\frac{5mol/s}{100mol/s}=0.05\\y_{O_2}^2=\frac{3mol/s}{100mol/s}=0.03\\y_{H_2O}^2=\frac{47mol/s}{100mol/s}=0.47\\y_{HCHO}^2=\frac{43mol/s}{100mol/s}=0.43\\y_{CO_2}^2=\frac{2mol/s}{100mol/s}=0.02$

Best regards.