Interview Questions and Their Answers

Team 1
Moosa Naseer

Q.1. Intensive Vs. Extensive Variables

Ans: Intensive variables are those which do not depends upon mass of the system while
extensive variables depends on mass of the system. For example, temperature, pressure, density,
specific weight, specific volume are intensive while volume, weight, composition, mass fraction,
mole fractions are extensive variable.

Q.2. Absorption Vs. Adsorption.

Ans: Absorption is the process in which a fluid is dissolved by a liquid or a solid (absorbent).
Adsorption is the process in which atoms, ions or molecules from a substance (it could be gas,
liquid or dissolved solid) adhere to a surface of the adsorbent. Adsorption is a surface-based
process while absorption involves the entire volume of the absorbing substance.

Q.3. Mechanics Vs. Dynamics.

Ans: Mechanics involves both kinematics (motion study without force) and dynamics while
dynamics involves study of motion and its relation with forces.

Q.4. Distillation and its types.

Ans. Distillation is a process of repeated vaporization and condensation.
Types of Distillation
• Simple distillation.
• Fractional distillation.
• Steam distillation.
• Vacuum distillation.
• Air-sensitive vacuum distillation.
• Short path distillation.
• Zone distillation.

Q.5. Extractive Vs. steam distillation.

Ans. Extractive distillation involves separation based on difference of boiling point simply by
heating and no azoetrope formation. Steam distillation is used to distill compounds that are sensitive to
heat. Some organic compounds are temperature sensitive, and decompose at the temperatures required for
simple distillations; however, by using the properties of immiscible, or unmixable, liquids, distillation can
be performed at much lower temperatures

Q.6 Cavitation Vs. Surging Vs. Slugging.

Ans. Cavitation involves formation of bubbles in liquid or empty spaces in a solid body. Surging
means sudden rise and fall of a stream of fluid inside the system. Slugging means clogging of
solid or cohesive mass along wall of system or at the bottom of system.
Q.7 Stripping Vs. Rectifying Vs. Absorption.
Ans. Stripping is a physical separation process where one or more components are removed from
a liquid stream by a vapor stream. At the rectifying section, the more volatile component is
removed through contacting the rising vapour with the down-flowing liquid. Absorption involves
dissolving the vapors into the liquid.

Q.8. DCS Vs PCS

Ans. Distribution control system is a control system in which the control is distribute throughout
the system. Instead of having a central control mechanism by using a central controllers, a DCS
divides the controlling tasks among multiple distributed system. Programmable control system is
a system in which we can moniter input, output, conditions and can manage it in any way we
want.

Q.9. Bubble point Vs Dew point.

Ans. Bubble point is the temperature point at which first bubble formed inside liquid while at dew
point, first drop of liquid is formed from vapors. Do not use word “gas”. Gas have no dew point
while vapor have. Gas is supercritical fluid.

Q.10. Dew point, saturation point, wet bulb, dry bulb, isolated temperature?
Ans. Wet bulb is one of the two thermometers of a psychrometery, the bulb of which is enclosed
in wetted material so that water is constantly evaporating from it and cooling the bulb.
The dry-bulb temperature (DBT) is the temperature of air measured by a thermometer freely
exposed to the air, but shielded from radiation and moisture. At saturation point, the liquid starts
boiling. Isolated temperature is temperature that is measured by a sensor installed for a particular
component inside system.

Q.11 Cooling Tower and types.

Ans. Cooling tower is the part of industrial system where undesired heat is removed..
• Atmospheric cooling tower.
• Hybrid draft cooling tower.
• Air flow-characterized cooling tower.
• Construction-characterized cooling tower.
• Shape characterized cooling tower.
• Cooling tower based on method of heat transfer

Q.12. Summer & Winter Cooling tower working.

Ans. In winter, cooling is more efficient. Because bigger the temperature difference between the
internal heat source and the external environment where the surplus heat is dumped, the more
efficient is the process in achieving cooling.

Q.13. Saturation, relative, absolute and percentage humidity.

Ans. (Search it yourself)
Q.14 Molecularity and Order of reaction.
Ans. Molecularity is number of molecules involved in a elementary reaction, while order of
reaction is number of molecule involved in any reaction, elementary or non-elementary.

Q. 15 Order and Power of Equation.

Ans. The order is the highest numbered derivative in the equation, while the power is the
highest degree to which a derivative is raised.

Q.16 Total number of dimensionless numbers.

Ans. The dimensionless numbers that can be formed by any combination of given variables.
Like, we have diameter and height. They form a dimensionless group, h/D.

Q.17 Basic dimensionless number of HT, MT and Transport phenomenon.

Ans. Mass transfer: Nuslet number Sherwood number, Peclet number, Reynold number, Prandtl
number.
Heat transfer: Fourier number, Biot number
Transport Phenomena: Still not studied

Q.18. Basic laws of heat transfer and mass transfer.

Ans. Mass transfer has Fick’s law of diffusion and heat transfer have Fourier’s law of conduction,
Newton’s law of cooling, Law of radiation.

Q.19. Taylor series, Laplace transformation.

Ans. A Taylor Series is an expansion of a function into an infinite sum of terms while Laplace
transform is an integral transform of a differential function into an arithmetic and algebraic
function.

Q.20. Rankine cycle and all other thermodynamics cycles.

Ans, See thermodynamics book, chapter no 8, 9. We see rankine cycle, vapour compression cycle,
carnot cycle, vapour absorption cycle, cascade vapour compression system, Braton cycle, diesel
engine cycle, air-standard otto cycle

Q.21. Refrigeration and evaporation phenomenon.

Ans. Refrigeration involves maintenance of temperature below than that of surrounding while
evaporation involves conversion of liquid into vapor from surface of liquid.

The answers of these questions vary and depends on your personality? Earch your
personality and define it in words?
Q. 41.Why we select you?
Q.42. Which things make you superior?
Q.43 How you see your future in this organization?
 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS “ CHEMICAL ENGINEERING”
ABDUL REHMAN 2018-CH-50 abdulrehman522178@gmail.com

Q. Why we select you?

Ans. I feel that I have the necessary soft skills to back my technical knowledge in chemical
engineering from which your organization will benefit from.

Q. Which things make you superior?

Ans. The fact that I have acquired technical knowledge conceptually and have the soft skills
like effective communication, presentation skills, people management to back it up makes
me a good prospect for your organization.

Q. How you see your future in this organization?

Ans. I shall keep a learning attitude and with time and adequate experience, shall be good
enough for higher posts, if I keep on being a smart employee along with being a hard
working one.

Q. What are the laws of thermodynamics?

Ans. Zeroth law of thermodynamics: It helps in explaining the concept of temperature by

stating that if two systems are in thermal equilibrium with a third system, then the two
systems are in equilibrium with each other.

1st law of thermodynamics: The increase in internal energy of the closed system is equal to
the total energy added to the system.

2nd law of thermodynamics: In a natural thermodynamic process, the sum of entropies for
interacting thermodynamic processes increases.

3rd law of thermodynamics: The entropy of a perfect crystal of any pure substance
approaches zero as the temperature approaches absolute zero.

Q. Adsorption Vs. Absorption.

Ans. Adsorption is a surface-based process while absorption involves the entire volume of
absorbing substance. In adsorption, the particles adhere to adsorbent’s surface while in
absoption, complete dissolving takes place.

Q. Distillation and its types.

Ans. It is a separation technique where components get separated by repeated vaporization

and condensation. Types include steam distillation, column distillation, fractional distillation,
etc.
Q. Mechanics and Dynamics.

Ans. Mechanics is the study of motion without any attention to the forces causing that
motion while dynamics is the study of motion as well as the forces causing that motion.

Q. Bubble point and Dew point.

Ans. Bubble point is the temperature at which the 1st bubble forms inside a liquid whereas
dew point is the temperature corresponding to the actual partial pressure of vapours where
1st drop condenses from vapours.

Q. Order and Power of an equation.

Ans. Order is the highest numbered derivative of an equation while power is the highest
degree to which a derivative is raised.

Q. Molecularity and Order of reaction.

Ans. Molecularity is the number of molecules taking part in an elementary reaction while
order of the reaction is the number of molecules taking part in the rate determining step.

…………………………………………………………………………………………
 Interview Questions
Anam Babar
Q.1.What is osmosis and reverse osmosis?
Ans. Osmosis is a special case of diffusion in which the molecules are water and the concentration
gradient occurs across a semi permeable membrane. In reverse osmosis, pressure is exerted on the side
with the concentrated solution to force the water molecules across the membrane to the fresh water
side.
Q.2.What is split fraction and split ratio?
Ans. Split ratio is the ratio of gas flows through the column and split line. While the split fraction is the
method of partial fractions allows us to split the right hand side of the equation into the left hand side
linear factors in denominator. This method is used when the factors in the denominator of
the fraction are linear (in other words do not have any square or cube terms etc).
Q.3.What are the laws of thermodynamics?
Ans. There are four laws of thermodynamics:
• Zero law of thermodynamics: If two systems are each in thermal equilibrium with a third system,
they are in thermal equilibrium with each other. This law helps define the concept
of temperature.
• First law of thermodynamics: When energy passes, as work, as heat, or with matter, into or out
from a system, the system's internal energy changes in accord with the law of conservation of
energy. Equivalently, perpetual motion machines of the first kind (machines that produce work
with no energy input) are impossible.
• Second law of thermodynamics: In a natural thermodynamic process, the sum of
the entropies of the interacting thermodynamic systems increases. Equivalently, perpetual
motion machines of the second kind (machines that spontaneously convert thermal energy into
mechanical work) are impossible.
• Third law of thermodynamics: The entropy of a system approaches a constant value as the
temperature approaches absolute zero. With the exception of non-crystalline solids (glasses) the
entropy of a system at absolute zero is typically close to zero.
Q.4.What is the selection criteria of controller?
Ans. Controller Selection Criteria
Characteristics Relay/timer PLC
Hardware cost Lowest Medium
Program memory n/a High
Ease of use Easiest Medium
Flexibility Very low High
Q.5.what is control loop and significance?
Ans. A control loop is the fundamental building block of industrial control systems. It consists of all the
physical components and control functions necessary to automatically adjust the value of a measured
process variable (PV) to equal the value of a desired set-point (SP). It includes the process sensor, the
controller function, and the final control element (FCE) which is all required for automatic control.
Q.6.What is the relationship between rate of reaction and size of catalyst?
Ans.A catalyst is a substance that accelerates a reaction by participating in it without being consumed.
Catalysts provide an alternate reaction pathway to obtain products. They are critical to many
biochemical reactions. They will be examined further in the section “Catalysis.”
Q.7.What is emissivity, black body, gray body?
Ans.Emissivity: The emissivity of the surface of a material is its effectiveness in emitting energy as
thermal radiation. Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation and it may include both visible
radiation (light) and infrared radiation, which is not visible to human eyes.
Black body: A black body or blackbody is an idealized physical body that absorbs all
incident electromagnetic radiation, regardless of frequency or angle of incidence. A white body is one
with a "rough surface [that] reflects all incident rays completely and uniformly in all directions.
Gray body: A gray body is one whose absorptive does not vary with temperature and wavelength of
incident radiation.
Q.8.What is pinch technology and its upper condition?
Ans The term “Pinch Technology” was introduced by Linnhoff and Vredeveld to represent a new set of
thermodynamically based methods that guarantee minimum energy levels in design of heat exchanger.
In practice, during the pinch analysis of an existing design, often cross-pinch exchanges of heat are
found between a hot stream with its temperature above the pinch and a cold stream below the pinch.
Removal of those exchangers by alternative matching makes the process reach its energy target.
Q.9.What are the reactor types?
Ans There are two types, the Magnox (named from the magnesium alloy used to clad the fuel elements)
and the advanced gas-cooled reactor (AGR). Both types use carbon dioxide as the coolant and graphite
as the moderator. The Magnox uses natural uranium as fuel, while the AGR uses enriched uranium.
Q.10.What is approach and range of HE?
Ans Approach of HE: This term refers to the temperature difference between the leaving process fluid
and the entering service fluid. If air is cooled from 300 F to 100 F using 90 F cooling water, the air
temperature approaches the water by 10 F (100 – 90 = 10). ... 15 F for water cooled heat exchangers.
Range of HE: Shell and tube heat exchangers are typically used for high-pressure applications (with pressures
greater than 30 bar and temperatures greater than 260 °C).
 Asra Hameed
Chemical engineering
Interview questions
Q.1 The types of heat exchanger, direct and indirect contact and its further
types with 2 examples?

Ans. A heat exchanger is a device used to transfer heat between two or more
fluids. In other words, heat exchangers are used in both cooling and heating
processes.

Types:

• Shell and tube heat exchanger.

• Plate heat exchangers.

• Plate and shell heat exchanger.

• Adiabatic wheel heat exchanger.

• Plate fin heat exchanger.

• Pillow plate heat exchanger.

• Fluid heat .

Indirect contact heat exchangers:

In this type of heat exchangers, the fluid streams remain separate, and the heat
transfer takes place continuously through a separating wall. There is no direct
mixing of the fluids because each fluid flows in separate fluid passagess.

1. Shell and tube heat exchanger:

A Shell and Tube Exchanger consists of a number of tubes mounted inside a
cylindrical shell. Two fluids can exchange heat, one fluid flows over theoutside of
the tubes while the second fluid flows through the tubes. The fluids can be single
or two phase and can flow in a parallel or a cross/counter flow.

2. Air cooled heat exchanger:

Air Cooled Heat Exchangers consist of bundle of tubes, a fan system and
supporting structure. Air is either sucked up through the tubes bya fan mounted
above the bundle (induced draught) or blown through the tubes by afan mounted
under the bundle (forced draught).

Direct contact heat exchangers;

In this type of heat exchangers, the two fluids are not separated by a wall. Here,
closer temperature approaches are attained and the heat transfer process is also
accompanied by a mass transfer.

1. Scraped surface exchanger:

Scraped Surface Exchangers consist of a jacketed vessel which the fluid passes
through and a rotating scraper which continuously removes deposit from the inside
walls of the vessel. These units are used in the food and pharmaceutical industry in
process where deposits form on the heated walls of the jacketed vessel.

2. Static Regenerators

Static regenerators or fixed bed regenerators have no moving parts except for
valves. In this case the hot gas passes through the matrix for a fixed time period at
the end of which a reversal occurs, the hot gas is shut off and the cold gas passes
through the matrix. The main problem with this type of unit is that both the hot
and cold flow are intermittent. To overcome this and have continuous operation at
least two static regenerators are required or a rotary regenerator could be used.

Q.2 Difference between cooler, heat exchanger, chiller and cooling tower?
Ans.

Chillers:

Basically, Chillers absorbs heat from the coolant, which is fully contained within
the cooling method. Usually, it transfers the heat to the surrounding air in the
cooling process.

Cooling Towers:

In this technology, a condenser is used that discharges water to cooling towers and
removes the heat. Hence, this process is done via air-liquid in combination with
spraying water on the surfaces. With the help of its fans, the heat is transferred to
the air passing in the cooling tower.

Heat exchanger

A heat exchanger is a device designed to efficiently transfer or "exchange" heat

from one matter to another. When a fluid is used to transfer heat, the fluid could be
a liquid, such as water or oil, or could be moving air. The most well known type of
heat exchanger is a car radiator.

Q.3 Reactor types?

Ans.

Types Of Reactors

1. Continuous stirred tank reactor.

2. Packed bed reactors.

3. Tubular reactor or plug flow reactor.

4. Moving bed reactor.

5. Fluidized bed reactor.

Q.4 Control loop and its significance?

Ans. A control loop is the fundamental building block of industrial control

systems. It consists of all the physical components and control functions necessary
to automatically adjust the value of a measured process variable (PV) to equal the
value of a desired set-point (SP). It includes the process sensor, the controller
function, and the final control element (FCE) which are all required for automatic
control.

Q.5 Selection criteria of controller

Ans. Controller selection criteria:

1. Integration with current installed base.

2. Integration with business systems' capabilities and limitations.

3. Availability of support, training, and spares.

4. Product lifecycle and obsolescence.

5. Standards compliance.

6. Environmental considerations.

7. Robust design and architecture.

8. Reliability and scalability.

Q.6 Laws of thermodynamics?

Ans. Laws of thermodynamics

The four laws of thermodynamics define fundamental physical quantities

(temperature, energy, and entropy) that characterize thermodynamic systems at
thermal equilibrium. The laws describe how these quantities behave under various
circumstances, and preclude the possibility of certain phenomena (such as
perpetual motion).

The four laws of thermodynamics are:

 • Zeroth law of thermodynamics: If two systems are each in thermal
equilibrium with a third system, they are in thermal equilibrium with each
other. This law helps define the concept of temperature.

• First law of thermodynamics: When energy passes, as work, as heat, or with

matter, into or out from a system, the system's internal energy changes in
accord with the law of conservation of energy. Equivalently, perpetual
motion machines of the first kind (machines that produce work with no
energy input) are impossible.

• Second law of thermodynamics: In a natural thermodynamic process, the

sum of the entropies of the interacting thermodynamic systems increases.
Equivalently, perpetual motion machines of the second kind (machines that
spontaneously convert thermal energy into mechanical work) are impossible.

• Third law of thermodynamics: The entropy of a system approaches a

constant value as the temperature approaches absolute zero. With the
exception of non-crystalline solids (glasses) the entropy of a system at
absolute zero is typically close to zero.

Q.7 Pinch technology and its upper condition?

Ans. The term “Pinch Technology” was introduced by Linnhoff and Vredeveld to
represent a new set of thermodynamically based methods that guarantee optimum
energy requirements in design of heat exchanger networks. The application of
Pinch technology to study industrial process is called Pinch Analysis.

The conditions in heat transfer in heat exchanger are like:

1) No temperature crossover should be done: since in a heat exchanger, a hot

stream can’t be cool down below the cold stream inlet temperature nor the cold
stream can be heated up above the hot stream temperature.

2) In reality the hot stream can be cooled down to a temperature defined by the
‘temperature approach’ of the heat exchanger. The temperature approach is the
minimum allowable temperature difference (DTmin) in the stream temperature
profiles. The temperature level at which DTmin is observed in the process is
referred to as “pinch point”.
Q.8 Osmosis and reverse osmosis?

Ans. Osmosis is the spontaneous net movement of solvent molecules through a

selectively permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration, inthe
direction that tends to equalize the solute concentrations on the two sides.

Reverse osmosis:

Reverse osmosis (RO) is a water purification technology that uses a

semipermeable membrane to remove ions, molecules and larger particles from
drinking water. In reverse osmosis, an applied pressure is used to overcome
osmotic pressure, a colligative property, that is driven by chemical potential
differences of the solvent, a thermodynamic parameter.

Q.9 Meters used for

1. Humidity: Hygrometer

2. Air pressure: Barometer

3. Open channel flow: Rotameter

4. Closed channel flowrate: Calorimetric flowmeter

5. Pressure : Ditot tube

6. Drop in pressure: Differntial pressure meter

7. Temperature : Thermometer
Q.10 Catalyst size and reaction rate relationship?

Ans. By decreasing the size of the catalyst the reaction rate will increase. As by
decreasing the size of the catalsy the surface area will increase and the reaction will
speed up.
 Interview Questions
Made By Anam Shahzadi (2017-Ch-15)

Q.24 Difference between cooler ,HE , chiller ,cooling tower:

Ans: chiller: it utilize compressor, evaporator heat exchanger and condenser heat exchanger. The condenser
heat exchanger is the major component that rejects heat from the chiller to air.

Cooling tower: They are generally used to provide cooling water to electric power generation and
mechanical purposes.

Cooler: it runs air through water , reducing the temperature through evaporation.
HE: it uses refrigerants to absorb heat, push out cold air and reduce humidity to cool the room.

Q.25 Approach Vs range of HE:

Ans: Approach: the term approach refers to the temperature difference between the leaving process fluid and
the entering service fluid.
Range: this value can range from 15 to 50% depending on the application’s susceptibility to fouling and other
application factors.

Q.27 Reactor types:

Ans: These are types of reactor
• Continuous stirrer reactor
• Packed bed reactor
• Tubular reactor or plug flow reactor
• Moving bed reactor
• Fluidized bed reactor
Q.28 Rate constant, its factors and dependence:
Ans: Rate Constant : it is a constant of proportionality relating the rate of a chemical reaction at a given
temperature to the concentration of reactant(in a unimolecular reaction) or to the product of the concentrations of
reactants.
Factors: K=A𝑒𝑅𝑇
−𝐸

An increase in temperature increase the rate constant and hence the rate. An increase in concentration increase
the rate but not the rate constant. The rate of reaction depends on the rate constant.
Dependence: A is a rate constant for a reaction depends on the nature of reactants than activation energy Ea
higher that more strong increases of the rate of a reaction when increasing a temperature is observed . it also
depends on the surface of reactants.
Q.29 Pinch technology and its upper conditions:

Ans: Pinch technology: pinch analyses is a methodology for minimizing energy consumption of the chemical
processes by calculating thermodynamic feasible energy targets and achieving them by optimizing heat recovery
system, energy supply methods and process operating conditions.
Upper limits: classical pinch analyses primarily calculates the energy costs for the heating and cooling utility.At
the pinch point, where the hot and cold streams are the most constrained large heat exchangers are required to
transfer heat between the cold and hot steams.

Q.31 Emissivity , black body, grey body:

Ans : Emissivity: The emissivity of a surface of a material is its effectiveness. In emitting energy as therml
radiation . Thermal radiations is electromagnetic radiations .
Black body: it is an idealized physical body that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiations. A black body in
thermal equilibrium has an emissivity of ⋿=1.0
Grey Body: A source with lower emissivity independence of frequency is referred to as a grey body.

Q.32 Size of a catalyst and reaction rate relationship:

Ans: the reaction rate has a direct relation with the surface area of the catalyst. Smaller the size of a catalyst,
larger will be the surface area in contact, and hence, reaction will speed up.

Q.33 Control loop and its significance:

Ans: Control loop: A control loop is the fundamental building block of industrial control systems. It consist of
all the physical components and control functions necessary to automatic adjust the value of a measured process
variable to equal the value of a desired set point.
Significance:
A good example of a control loop is the action taken when adjusting hot and cold valves to maintain the water at
desired temperature.

Q.35 Laws of thermodynamics:

Ans: Zeroth law:
If two thermodynamic systems are each in thermal equilibrium with a third, then they are in
thermal equilibrium with each other.
First law:
Energy can never be created nor be destroyed.
Second law:
‘’ Heat cannot flow itself from colder to a hotter body.’’
Third law:
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 It is impossible to reach a temperature of absolute zero.
Q.37 Osmosis Vs reverse osmosis:
Ans: osmosis is the spontaneous net movement of solvent molecules through a selectivity permeable membrane
into a region of higher solute concentration , in the direction that tends to equalize the solute concentration on the
two sides. While reverse osmosis is a process by which a solvent passes through a porous membrane in the
direction opposite to that for natural osmosis when subjected to a hydrostatic pressure greater than the osmosis
pressure.

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