ChE 418: COMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Sample No. 1: Methods of Projection using Statistical Straight Line

Activity No. 1: Exploring Excel

Come up with a solution of the following problems using Excel.
1. Project the supply using the following methods of projection and the following historical
supply. Plot the values using a bar graph showing, the historical supply, and projected supply
in one plot for each method. Identify which method produced a projected supply that has the
best fit trend with that of the historical supply.
Methods of Projection
1. Statistical Straight Line
y = a + bx
where: y = calculated value of the dependent variable, which is the variable whose value is to be
predicted
a = y-intercept of the line

b = slope of the line

x = given value of the independent variable, which is the variable in terms of which the value of
the dependent variable is to be predicted

a = (y) (x2) (x) (xy)

n x2 (x)2
b = n xy (x) (y)
nx2 (x)2
y = a + bx
2. Arithmetic Straight Line
y = a + (y 1)
where: a

= yn - yi
N-1
y 1 = value for the past year
yi

yn

= initial value or value on the first year

= final value or value on the last year

N

= number of years

3. Arithmetic Geometric Curve

y = (y-1) (1 + r)
y 1 = y / (1 + r)
where: y =

calculated value of the dependent variable, which is the variable whose

value is to be predicted

y 1 = value for the past

r

= average rate of increase

= % increase (decrease)
N1
% increase (decrease) = Current sales Prior Sales
Base Year
4. Statistical Parabolic Curve
y = a + bx + cx2
where: y = calculated value of the dependent value which is the variable whose value is to be
predicted
x=

given value of the independent variable, which is the variable in terms of which the
value of the dependent variable is to be predicted.

a = ( x4 ) ( y ) ( x2 ) ( x2y )
n ( x4 ) ( x2 )2
b = xy
x2
c = n ( x2 y ) ( x2 ) ( y )
n ( x4 ) ( x2 )2
Historical Supply
Year
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001

Supply
1,261.3
1,387.3
1,474.5
1,469.4
1,635.1
2,032.4
1,544.9
1,864.0
1,840.1
1,900.7

Sample No.2: When pure furfural (solvent) is added to a mixture containing 0.2 mass fraction
diphenylhexane and 0.8 mass fraction docosane, two separate layers can be obtained. If the
composition of the two layers are:
mass fraction
Lower layer
Upper layer

docosane
diphenylhexane
furfural
docosane
diphenylhexane
furfural

0.892
0.104
0.004
0.019
0.101
0.88

How much solvent was added to 500 kg of solution of docosane and diphenylhexane? What are
the amounts of the layers?
Activity No. 2: Arrays and Matrix
1. The spent acid from a nitrating process contains 33% sulfuric acid and 36% nitric acid and
31% water. This acid is strengthened by the addition of concentrated sulfuric acid containing
95% H2SO4 and concentrated nitric acid containing 75% HNO3. The strengthened mixed
acid is to contain 40% H2SO4 and 43% HNO3. Calculate the quantities of the spent and
concentrated acids that should be mixed together to yield 1500 kg of desired product.
2. A feed of 10000 kg of soybeans is processed in a sequence of three stages or steps. The feed
contains 35wt% protein, 27.1wt% carbohydrate, 9.4% wt % fiber and ash, 10.5 wt%
moisture, and 18.0 wt% oil. In the first stage the beans are crushed and pressed to remove
oil, giving an expressed oil stream and a stream of pressed beans containing 6% oil. Assume
no loss of other constituents with the oil stream. In the second step the pressed beans are
extracted with hexane to produce an extracted meal stream containing 0.5 wt% of oil and
hexane-oil stream. Assume no hexane in the extracted meal. Finally, in the last step the
extracted meal is dried to give a dried meal of 8 wt% moisture. Calculate:
a. kg of pressed beans from the first stage.
b. kg of extracted meal from stage 2.
c. kg of final dried meal and the wt% protein in the dried meal.
3. A mixture consisting of n-butane, isopentane, and n-pentane is to be distilled. The following
tabulation gives the composition of the streams in mole fraction:
Component
Feed
Distillate
Bottoms
n-butane
0.23
X
0.129
isopentane
0.32
Y
0.3
n-pentane
0.45
0.024
Z
Per 100 moles of feed, find the amount of the distillate and the bottom streams. Complete
the tabulation of the composition.