CHAPTER 4

MASS BALANCE

MASS BALANCE FUNDAMENTAL

Law of Mass Conservation

Chemica Material out = Material in + Generation

l
Consumption Accumulation
reaction
s
Steadystate
process

Material out = Material in

MASS BALANCE CALCULATION

FLOWCHART
Start

Overall system assumptions

Choice of calculation basis
Manual calculation

End

Scale up/down calculation

Manual and simulation balance
comparison
Overall mass balance

OVERALL SYSTEM ASSUMPTIONS

No leakage

Reaction in
reactor and
RD only

Closed
system

No
accumulatio
n

Not
considering
mass of
catalyst

CHOICE OF CALCULATION BASIS

Carbon monoxide: Methanol

= 3:20
(Novita et al., 2015)

100 kmol/h
carbon
monoxide

666.67 kmol/h
methanol

MASS BALANCE OF CSTR , R-101

Assumption and consideration.

1.Based on Reutermann and Kieczka, (2005), at reactor operating conditions of 80C

and 45 bar, 95% of carbon monoxide will be converted in the hydrolysis process to
produce methyl formate.
2.It is assume that the reaction of methyl formate production by methanol
carbonylation follows the stoichiometric coefficients of the balanced equation.
[3]
Based on the Eq. [3],
1 mol of CO reacted = 1 mol of MeOH reacted = 1 mol of MF produced

95% of CO is converted out of 100 kmol/h is equal to 95 kmol/h reacted, therefore:

95 kmol/h of CO reacted = 95 kmol/h of MeOH reacted = 95 kmol/h of MF produced

Component
Methanol
Carbon
monoxide
Methyl
formate
Water
Formic acid
TOTAL, kg/h

S7

S8

kmol/h
666.67

kg/h
21340.106

kmol/h
571.67

kg/h
18299.156

100

7
2801

7
140.05

95

5701.9

24141.1067

24141.1067

MASS BALANCE OF T-101 (distillation

column 1)
Assumption and consideration

1. In the study by Novita et al., (2015), 94% mole of input

methanol is being separated through bottom outlet.
2. The only component present in the bottom outlet is
methanol.
3. The other components flow out through the top outlet.

Componen

S8

S12

S9

kmol/h

kg/h

kmol/h

kg/h

kmol/h

kg/h

Methanol

571.67

18299.1567

34.3002

1097.949402

537.3698

17201.2073

140.05

140.05

95

5701.9

95

5701.9

formate
Water

Formic

Carbon
monoxide
Methyl

acid
TOTAL,
kg/h

24141.1067

6939.899402

17201.2073

MASS BALANCE OF T-102 (REACTIVE DISTILLATION COLUMN, RD).

Assumption and consideration

1.

Based on Huang et al., (2012), the amount of water to be

introduced into RD must be the same as the amount of
carbon dioxide being introduced into the CSTR for
carbonylation process.

2.

It is assume that the reaction follows the stoichiometric

coefficients of the balance equation.

[4]

3. In the study by Novita et al., (2015), the conversion of

methyl formate to formic
acid can achieved 100% conversion by using reactive
distillation column.

Compone
nt
Methanol
Carbon

S13

S15

S16

kmol/h

kg/h

kmol/h

kg/h

kmol/h

kg/h

34.3002
5

1097.949402
140.05

129.3002
5

4138.899402
140.05

95

5701.9

100
-

1800
-

5
95

90
4370.95

monoxid
e
Methyl
formate
Water
Formic
acid
TOTAL,
kg/h

6939.899402

1800

8739.899402

MASS BALANCE OF T-103 (distillation column 2)

Assumption and consideration

1. Assumed that all the formic acid and water inlet into
the T-103 will be discharge out through bottom outlet.
2. The purity of the desired product is 85 weight percent
of formic acid.
3. Due to the low boiling point of CO which is -191.5C,
it is assumed that the entire CO will flow out through
the top outlet stream of the DC.

Compon
ent
Methano
l
Carbon

S16

S19

S17

kmol/h

kg/h

kmol/h

kg/h

kmol/h

kg/h

129.3002

4138.899402

108.0148

3457.555284

21.2854

681.344118

140.05

140.05

5
95

90
4370.95

5
95

90
4370.95

monoxid
e
Methyl
formate
Water
Formic
acid
TOTAL,
kg/h

8739.899402

3597.605284

5142.294118

MASS BALANCE OF MIXER, M-101.

Assumption and consideration

1. It is assumed steady state flow where the output
flow rate and the compositions are the sum of
the all the inputs streams.

Component
Methanol

Input, S11

Input, S21

kmol/h

kg/h

kmol/h

kg/h

kmol/h

kg/h

537.3698

17201.207

108.0148

3457.55528

666.67

21340.106

3
Carbon

Output, S7

140.05

100

2801

Water

Formic acid

monoxide
Methyl
formate

TOTAL, kg/h

17201.2073

Component

Input, S3
kmol/h
kg/h
-

Methanol
Carbon
monoxide
Methyl
formate
Water
Formic acid
TOTAL, kg/h

3597.605284
Input, S6
kmol/h
kg/h
21.28535
681.34411

95

2660.95

6
-

2660.95

681.344116

24141.1067

SCALE UP/DOWN OF PRODUCTION

RATE
15,000 ton/y 1000 kg/ton 1y/330days 1day/24h =
1893.9393 kg/h
By using basis calculation of carbon monoxide equal to 100
kmol/h, the production will be 5142.294118 kg/h.
Scale factor = Desired production rate / Current production
rate
= 1893.9393 kg/h / 5142.294118 kg/h
= 0.36831

Stream

Mass flow rate, kg/h

Before scale down

After scale down

2660.95

980.0545

2660.95

980.0545

2660.95

980.0545

681.344116

250.9459

681.344116

250.9459

681.344116

250.9459

24141.1067

8891.4110

24141.1067

8891.4110

17201.2073

6335.3767

10

17201.2073

6335.3767

11

17201.2073

6335.3767

12

6939.899402

2556.0343

13

6939.899402

2556.0343

14

1800

663.3263

15

1800

663.3263

16

8739.899402

3218.9923

17

5142.294118

1893.9393

18

5142.294118

1893.9393

19

3597.605284

1325.0340

20

3597.605284

1325.0340

21

3597.605284

1325.0340

OVERALL MASS BALANCE

S1
S4

Overall system

S1
8

S1
4

Input = Output
S1 + S4 + S14 = S18
(980.0545 + 250.9459 + 663.3263) kg/h =
1893.9393 kg/h
1894.3267 kg/h = 1893.9393 kg/h

Mass flow rate, kg/h

Stream

Manual calculation

ASPEN PLUS calculation

Error, %

980.0545

978.935

0.114

980.0545

978.935

0.114

980.0545

978.935

0.114

250.9459

252.236

0.514

250.9459

252.236

0.514

250.9459

252.236

0.514

8891.4110

8890.638

0.009

8891.4110

8890.638

0.009

6335.3767

6335.295

0.001

10

6335.3767

6335.295

0.001

11

6335.3767

6335.295

0.001

12

2556.0343

2555.342

0.027

13

2556.0343

2555.342

0.027

14

663.3263

662.746

0.087

15

663.3263

662.746

0.087

16

3218.9923

3218.089

0.028

17

1893.9393

1893.937

0.001

18

1893.9393

1893.937

0.001

19

1325.0340

1324.153

0.066

20

1325.0340

1324.153

0.066

21

1325.0340

1324.153

0.066

REFERENCES
Gunardson, H., (1998). Industrial Gases in Petrchemical Processing. Marcel
Dekker, Inc. New York, pg 240.)

Huang, H. P., Lee, M. J., Lee, H. Y., & Chen, J. H. (2012). Formic Acid
Manufacturing System and Method of Manufacturing Formic Acid. US Patent
No. 2012/0123157 A1.

Novita, F. J., Lee, H.-Y., & Lee, M. (2015). Self-heat recuperative dividing wall
column for enhancing the energy efficiency of the reactive distillation process
in the formic acid production process. Chemical Engineering and Processing:
Process Intensification, 97, 144152. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.cep.2015.09.007

Reutermann, W., & Kieczka, H., (2005). Formic Acid. Ullmans Encyclopedia of
Industrial Chemistry. 7th Ed. Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Towler, G., and Sinnott, R., (2008). Chemical Engineering Design: Principles,
Practice and Economics of Plant and Process Design. Elsevier Inc.