Solution

OmegaEduPack Material and Heat Balance Simulator

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Aim of Material and Heat Balance Simulator

The purpose of this simulator is to learn about material and heat balances which are a principle and basis of chemical engineering through the combustion reaction of butane and the recovery of combustion heat.

Using this simulator will enable learning about:

  • The concept of mass balance by the combustion reaction of butane
  • A method for analyzing operation data by air-fuel ratio change experiments
  • The basics of heat balance from the data around the steam generator
  • Unit conversion of physical data to be used for the heat balance
Target Process

This is a process in which butane fuel is mixed to air and combusted in a burner, and the combustion gases emitted from the burner are used for heat recovery in a steam generator.
Butane is supplied at a constant flow rate, and it is possible to change the air flow rate in the air-fuel ratio setter. Combustion in the burner consumes an amount of oxygen of the air correlated to the introduced amount of butane. The air-fuel ratio setting device has an automatic and manual mode. In the automatic mode, the air flow rate is controlled to maintain a set air-fuel ratio. In the manual mode, the air flow rate itself can be set.
In the steam generator, the combustion gases from the burner go through the hot side, and the cold side is supplied with the boiler feed water by a cascade control of level and flow rate to generate steam.

Exercise Contents
  • Find the theoretical amount of air required for complete combustion of butane and find the flow rate of each component in the combustion gases.
  • Make sure that a complete combustion occurs for an air flow rate determined when the air-fuel ratio control is in manual mode.
  • When the set air flow rate slightly increases, make sure that the oxygen concentration in the combustion gas rises.
  • Put the air-fuel ratio control in the automatic mode and measure and plot the concentration of oxygen in the combustion gases and the temperature of the gases by slightly increasing the setting of the air-fuel ratio. Consider what kind of phenomena occurs for a large air-fuel ratio.
  • Check the mass balance of water around the steam generator.
  • Find the latent heat of vaporization of steam from a steam table to calculate the quantity of heat exchanged in the steam generator from the evaporation rate.
  • Check the flow rate of the combustion gases passing through the steam generator, and their inlet and outlet temperatures in the simulator.

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