36 Reactive Energy Balances
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, you should be able to:
Explain heats of reaction as well as endothermic and exothermic reactions
Determine the standard heat of reaction given other heats of reaction or heats of formation (Hess’s Law)
Analyze energy balances involving reactive systems
What happens in reactions in terms of chemical bonds?
Bonds can be formed and broken. Breaking bonds takes energy and forming bonds releases energy.
- If more energy is released in forming bonds than absorbed in breaking bonds, then the reaction is exothermic.
- If more energy is absorbed in breaking bonds than released in forming bonds, then the reaction is endothermic.
Example: Chemical Bonds
Consider the simple reaction of the formation of water from hydrogen and oxygen:
Image from すじにくシチュー / CC0
The formation of bonds takes energy while the breakage of bonds releases energy
In this reaction:
-
2 H-H bonds are broken
-
1 O-O bonds are broken
-
4 H-O bonds are formed
Heat of Reaction
Heat of Reaction
In exothermic reactions,
In endothermic reactions,
Heats of reaction are directly proportional to the amount of reactants or products in a reaction.
Example: Formation of Nitrogen
Consider the formation of nitrogen dioxide
The formation of 1 mole of
The formation of 2 moles of
Heat of reactions for a reaction in the forward direction is *equal to the negative heat of reaction* for the backward reaction.
Consider the formation of hydrogen chloride (or the corresponding decomposition):
Exercise: Heat of Reaction
Consider the oxidation of ammonia taking place in an isothermal and constant pressure reactor:
where the heat of reaction is
The ammonia is fed into the reactor at
Solution
Step 1: Find the limiting reactant by finding the smallest reactant extent if all of a reactant is consumed.
Step 2: Multiply the reaction extent by the
Hess’s Law
Some reactions may be difficult to reproduce in a laboratory setting. Instead, for analyzing a certain overall reaction, we may break the reaction down in multiple steps:
For example, say we want to find the standard heat of reaction for the following hypothetical reaction:
If this reaction is difficult to carry out in a laboratory, we might break it up into 2 reactions, that are easier to carry out and where we can determine specified standard heats of reaction:
Reaction 1:
with Reaction 2:
with
We can combine reactions 1 and 2 to obtain our desired reaction by subtracting reaction 2 from reaction 1:
We obtain our desired reaction:
Therefore, the heat of reaction of the desired reaction will be:
Exercise: Hess’s Law
Consider the formation of chlorine trifluoride from chlorine monofluoride and fluorine:
Data on the following reactions are available:
Number | Reaction | |
---|---|---|
1 | -49.4 | |
2 | 214.0 | |
3 | 236.2 |
What is the
Solution
Step 1: Determine what reaction will give us
Since
Step 2: Determine what reaction will give us
Since
Step 3: Determine what reaction will give us
Since
Step 4: Add the reactions up to ensure that the desired reaction is obtained:
Step 5: Add up all the manipulated heat of reactions to obtain the desired
Heat of Reaction Method for Analyzing Energy Use in a Process
Now let’s try applying the heat of reaction to determine energy use in a process, where reactants and products are coming in and exiting at a given temperature. The following process path is taken for the heat of reaction method, where the reference state is at
Generally,
In this process path, the enthalpy calculations are done in three steps:
- Temperature change: calculate the
using the heat capacities. The temperature change will be the difference between the inlet temperature of the reactants and the standard or reference temperature ( in this case). - Reaction enthalpy: calculate the enthalpy of the reaction
. This can be done using Hess’s Law or the Heat of Formation method (discussed below). - Temperature change: calculate the
using the heat capacities. The temperature change will be the difference between the outlet temperature of the products and the standard or reference temperature ( in this case).
The calculated enthalpy changes for each step are then added to obtain
Example: Heat of Reaction Method for Energy Use
Consider a propane combustion chamber, where
The following information is provided:
The values listed under each compound are specific enthalpies in kJ/mol
Temperature ( |
||||
25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
100 | 2.24 | 2.19 | 2.90 | 2.54 |
300 | 8.47 | 8.12 | 11.58 | 9.57 |
1000 | 32.47 | 30.56 | 48.60 | 37.69 |
How can we solve the system’s energy balance?
1 – Solve material balances as much as possible
This example already has the material balances solved
2 – Choose reference states for energy calculations. Like we say in the previous figure we want to calculate the changes in energy associated with bringing our reactants to our reference state, calculating the energy of the reaction at the reference state, and then the energy associated with bringing the products to their final state. We will choose reference states based on the information we have to try to make these calculations as easy as possible.
For reacting species:
Sinceis given, we will assume this is at and 1 atm (as there is nothing indicating otherwise), and we will use this as our reference state. For non-reacting species:
We can use any convenient temperature and pressure as a reference state (inlet temperature, outlet temperature, temperature in enthalpy table). With this example, the enthalpy table given uses a reference state of, and we will assume everything is at 1 atm (as no other values for pressure are given).
3 – Calculate the extent of reaction for all reactions (in this case we just have the one reaction)
4 – Prepare an inlet-out enthalpy table (this will show what enthalpies we need to calculate associated with energy changes in the reactants or products)
Substance | ||||
100 | – | – | ||
600 | 100 | |||
2256 | 2256 | |||
– | – | 300 | ||
– | – | 400 |
5 – Calculate all the enthalpies. For
6 – For
Note: The
in the formulas to calculate is given in kelvin. This doesn’t make a difference when is given as a number, as the scales for one degree of Celcius and kelvin are the same, but the temperature must be converted to kelvin when is higher power of is used in calculation.
Therefore, we have calculated all the specific enthalpy for the reactants and products:
Substance | ||||
100 | 0 | – | – | |
600 | 8.47 | 100 | 32.47 | |
2256 | 8.12 | 2256 | 30.56 | |
– | – | 300 | 48.60 | |
– | – | 400 | 81.46 |
8 – Finally, solve the energy balance
The combustion chamber releases
Heat of Formation
Formation Reaction: a reaction in which the compound is formed from its elemental constituents as they would normally occur in nature (eg.
For elemental consistituents, the energy of formation is
Standard specific heat of formation
Compound | Reaction | |
---|---|---|
Water | -285.83 | |
Methane | -74.8936 | |
Ethane | -83.82 | |
Propane | -104.68 | |
Benzene | 82.88 | |
Toluene | 50.17 | |
Oxygen | 0 | |
Nitrogen | 0 |
We can use these heats of formation and Hess’s law to find the heat of reaction for a given reaction:
Example: Heat of Formation
Consider the combustion of ethane:
where
To calculate the enthalpy using the heat of formation method, the following steps are taken:
The enthalpy of reaction using the heat of formation method is very close to the enthalpy of reaction (combustion).
Where to find Heat of Formation Data
One source of heat of formation data is the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Webbook NIST
To find the heat of formation data at this site:
1 – Look up the compound of interest
2 – Heat of formation data will be under “condensed phase thermochemistry data” (for liquids or solids) or “gas phase thermochemistry data” (for gases).
Heats of formation can also be found in Appendix E of “Introductory Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics” by J. Richard Elliot and Carl T. Lira.
Heat of Formation Method for Analyzing Energy Use in a Process
- Solve the material balance as much as possible: this can include solving for mass or molar flows using stoichiometry or mass balances
- Choose reference states for energy calculations: reference states provide a basis for enthalpy calculations. Choose reference states that make your calculations convenient or reference states that match the available data. Most data is provided at
and 1 atm, therefore this is a common reference state. - Prepare and inlet-outlet enthalpy table: this table will include all the compounds involved in the system, the inlet molar flow, the inlet enthalpy values, the outlet molar flow, and the outlet enthalpy values. Fill out the table with all the known values and number the enthalpy values accordingly.
- Calculate all the enthalpies: use process paths to calculate the enthalpies listed in the table in step 3. The enthalpy change of each compound is calculated by summing the heat of formation, enthalpy change due to temperature change in the same state (which can be calculated using the
values), and enthalpy change due to phase change when phase change is involved. - Calculate the
for the system: this is done by multiplying each molar flow by the corresponding enthalpy and using the following expression. Remember that the stoichiometric coefficients are negative for reactants and positive for products: - Solve the energy balance: determine which energy terms are present in the system and solve accordingly.
Example: Heat of Formation Method for Energy Use
Let’s consider the propane combustion chamber problem we analyzed before with the heat of reaction method, and let’s see if we can get a similar answer using the heat of formation method.
1 – Solve the material balance as much as possible
This example already has the material balances solved
2 – Choose reference states for energy calculations
For reacting species: elemental species that make up reacting species at standard conditions; we will choose
at 1 atm with , , and . For non-reacting species (same as
): Use any convenient temperature (inlet temperature, outlet temperature, temperature in enthalpy table) Here, and 1 atm works because of our enthalpy table values
3 – Prepare an inlet-outlet enthalpy table
Substance | ||||
100 | – | – | ||
600 | 100 | |||
2256 | 2256 | |||
– | – | 300 | ||
– | – | 400 |
4 – Calculate all the enthalpies
Substance | |
---|---|
-103.8 | |
0 | |
0 | |
-393.51 | |
-241.835 |
Here, you assume that water forms as vapor directly in the reaction. Therefore, there is no need to account for heat of vaporization.
Substance | ||||
100 | -103.8 | – | – | |
600 | 8.47 | 100 | 32.47 | |
2256 | 8.12 | 2256 | 30.56 | |
– | – | 300 | -344.9 | |
– | – | 400 | -204.1 |
5 – Calculate $\Delta\dot{H}$ for the reactor
6 – Finally, solve the energy balance
Exercise: Heat of Formation
Consider a reactor where the following reaction reaction takes place :
The reactor uses an 0.8 kW impeller (mixer for liquids) that mixes the reactor contents. The reaction occurs at standard temperature and pressure. A feed consisting of 100 mol/s and 300 mol/s of water and
The following heats of formation are available:
Number | Reaction | |
---|---|---|
1 | 33.2 | |
2 | -285.8 | |
3 | -207.4 | |
4 | 90.2 |
How much heat must be removed from the reactor in one day for it to remain at standard temperature?
Solution
Step 1: Determine what combination of the given reactions will give the desired reaction (Hess’s Law)
For this desired reaction:
Summing all the reactions above yields:
Step 2: Add all the individual reaction enthalpies:
Step 3: Calculate the overall change in enthalpy using the extent of the reaction:
Step 4: Calculate how much work is done on the reactor by the impeller in one day:
Step 5: Perform an energy balance on the reactor
Summary of Heat of Reaction and Formation Methods
Heat of Reaction Method
where
If a phase change occurs, an additional heat term (i.e. heat of vapourization) will be added to the
term in both methods
Heat of Formation Method
where
For the same system, equating
Overall, the final
Exercise: Comparing Both Methods
Ethane and oxygen are fed into a furnace at 100 kmol/hr and 500 kmol/hr, respectively. Ethane goes through complete combustion in the furnace. Oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water exit the furnace at 150 kmol/hr, 200 kmol/hr, and 300 kmol/hr, respectively.
where the heat of reaction is:
The following data on heats of formations is available:
Compound | |
Ethane | -83.82 |
Oxygen | 0 |
Carbon Dioxide | -393.51 |
Water (liquid) | -285.83 |
Assume the reaction takes place in the furnace at standard temperature and pressure. What is the
Solution
Heat of Reaction Method
Step 1: Determine the extent of the reaction:
Step 2: Multiply the extent of the reaction by the heat of reaction for combusion
Heat of Formation Method
Step 1: Set up the heat of formation formula
Step 2: Plug in the enthalpies of formation and calculate the change in enthalpy
Compound | ||
---|---|---|
Ethane | 100 | 0 |
Oxygen | 500 | 150 |
Carbon Dioxide | 0 | 200 |
Water | 0 | 300 |
Notice that the methods aren’t exactly equal. This is due to slight differences in available enthalpy data and assumptions made regarding temperature
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