Summary

The principle of conservation of mass is employed by chemical engineers to perform the material balance computations on process units and plants. These computations involve the overall material balance and the balances for components present in the system. Molecular species (compounds) are conserved and hence serve as components in nonreacting systems, whereas for reacting systems, component balances involve atomic species. The material balance computations involve the simultaneous solution of linear algebraic equations, as illustrated by various examples in this chapter. Solution procedures using built-in capabilities of Excel and Mathcad were shown. Similar capabilities are offered by many other software systems, and choice of the particular tool to be used depends on its accessibility and availability to the user. The complexity of computational needs for performing material balances on multiple units and entire processes was also described. A chemical engineer will learn to use the tools for performing such comprehensive computations in the sophomore-level course on material and energy balances.