716 Chapter 14 Chemical and Phase Equilibrium
14.68 Apply the result of Problem 14.84 to determine the num-
ber of degrees of freedom for the gas phase reaction:
14.69 For a gas–liquid system in equilibrium at temperature T
and pressure p, Raoult’s law models the relation between the
partial pressure of substance i in the gas phase, p
i
, and the mole
fraction of substance i in the liquid phase, y
i
, as follows:
where p
sat,i
(T ) is the saturation pressure of pure i at tempera-
ture T. The gas phase is assumed to form an ideal gas mixture;
p
i
y
i
p
sat,i
1T 2
CH
4
H
2
O
S
d
CO 3H
2
thus, p
i
x
i
p where x
i
is the mole fraction of i in the gas phase.
Apply Raoult’s law to the following cases, which are
representative of conditions that might be encountered in
ammonia–water absorption systems (Sec. 10.5):
(a) Consider a two-phase, liquid–vapor ammonia–water
system in equilibrium at 20C. The mole fraction of
ammonia in the liquid phase is 80%. Determine the
pressure, in bar, and the mole fraction of ammonia in the
vapor phase.
(b) Determine the mole fractions of ammonia in the liquid and
vapor phases of a two-phase ammonia–water system in
equilibrium at 40C, 12 bar.
Design & Open Ended Problems: Exploring Engineering Practice
14.1D Using appropriate software, develop plots giving the
variation with equivalence ratio of the equilibrium products of
octane–air mixtures at 30 atm and selected temperatures rang-
ing from 1700 to 2800 K. Consider equivalence ratios in the
interval from 0.2 to 1.4 and equilibrium products including,
but not necessarily limited to, CO
2
, CO, H
2
O, O
2
,O,H
2
,N
2
,
NO, OH. Under what conditions is the formation of nitric oxide
(NO) and carbon monoxide (CO) most significant? Discuss.
14.2D Spark-ignition engine exhaust gases contain several air
pollutants including the oxides of nitrogen, NO and NO
2
, col-
lectively known as NO
x
. Additionally, the exhaust gases may
contain carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned or partially
burned hydrocarbons (HC).
(a) The pollutant amounts actually present depend on engine
design and operating conditions, and typically differ sig-
nificantly from values calculated on the basis of chemical
equilibrium. Discuss both the reasons for these discrepan-
cies and possible mechanisms by which such pollutants are
formed in an actual engine.
(b) For spark-ignition engines, the average production of pol-
lutants upstream of the catalyst, in g per mile of vehicle
travel, are nitric oxides, 1.5; hydrocarbons, 2; and carbon
monoxide, 20. For a city in your locale having a popula-
tion of 100,000 or more, estimate the annual amount, in
kg, of each pollutant that would be discharged if automo-
biles had no emission control devices. Repeat if the
vehicles adhere to current U.S. government emissions
standards.
14.3D The Federal Clean Air Act of 1970 and succeeding Clean
Air Act Amendments target the oxides of nitrogen NO and
NO
2
, collectively known as NO
x
, as significant air pollutants.
NO
x
is formed in combustion via three primary mechanisms:
thermal NO
x
formation, prompt NO
x
formation, and fuel NO
x
formation. Discuss these formation mechanisms, including a
discussion of thermal NO
x
formation by the Zeldovich mech-
anism. What is the role of NO
x
in the formation of ozone? What
are some NO
x
reduction strategies?
14.4D The amount of sulfur dioxide (SO
2
) present in off gases
from industrial processes can be reduced by oxidizing the SO
2
to SO
3
at an elevated temperature in a catalytic reactor. The
SO
3
can be reacted in turn with water to form sulfuric acid that
has economic value. For an off gas at 1 atm having the molar
analysis of 12% SO
2
, 8% O
2
, 80% N
2
, estimate the range of
temperatures at which a substantial conversion of SO
2
to SO
3
might be realized.
14.5D A gaseous mixture of hydrogen (H
2
) and carbon monox-
ide (CO) enters a catalytic reactor and a gaseous mixture of
methanol (CH
3
OH), hydrogen, and carbon monoxide exits. At
the preliminary process design stage, a plausible estimate is
required of the inlet hydrogen mole fraction, the temper-
ature of the exiting mixture, T
e
, and the pressure of the exiting
mixture, p
e
, subject to the following four constraints: (1)
0.5 0.75, (2) 300 T
e
400 K, (3) 1 p
e
10
atm, and (4) the exiting mixture contains at least 75% methanol
on a molar basis. Obtain this estimate.
14.6D When systems in thermal, mechanical, and chemical equi-
librium are perturbed, changes within the systems can occur
leading to a new equilibrium state. The effects of perturbing the
system considered in developing Eqs. 14.32 and 14.33 can be
determined by study of these equations. For example, at fixed
pressure and temperature it can be concluded that an increase in
the amount of the inert component E would lead to increases in
n
C
and n
D
when (
C
D
A
B
) is positive, to
decreases in n
C
and n
D
when is negative, and no change when
0.
(a) For a system consisting of NH
3
,N
2
, and H
2
at fixed pres-
sure and temperature, subject to the reaction
investigate the effects, in turn, of additions in the amounts
present of NH
3
,H
2
, and N
2
.
(b) For the general case of Eqs. 14.32 and 14.33, investigate
the effects, in turn, of additions of A, B, C, and D.
2NH
3
1g2 N
2
1g2 3H
2
1g2
y
H
2
y
H
2
,