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Chemical Engineering
GATE 1993

Time
Allowed: 3 Hour Maximum Marks: 200 SECTION A: 80 Marks SECTION B: 120 Marks.
Time: 3 hr. (No negative marking for wrong answers)
Q Marks Q Marks
Section A Section B
1(a)(i) 1 11(a) 4
1(a)(ii) 1 11(b) 4
1(a)(iii) 1 11(c) 4
2(a) 2 12 12
2(b) 2 13(a) 6
3(a) 2 13(b) 6
3(b) 2 14 12
3(c) 8 15(a)(i) 3
4(a) 8 15(a)(ii) 3
4(b) 2 15(b)(i) 2
4(c) 2 15(b)(ii) 2
5(a) 2 15(b)(iii) 2
5(b)(i) 2 16(a)(i) 3
5(b)(II) 1 16(a)(ii) 3
6(a)(i) 1 16(b)(i) 3
6(a)(ii) 1 16(b)(ii) 3
6(b) 2 17 12
6(c) 4 18(a) 6
7(a)(i) 1 18(b) 6
7(a)(ii) 1 19 12
7(b) 2 20(a) 6
7(c) 2 20(b)(i) 3
8(a) 8 20(b)(ii) 3
8(b) 4
9(a) 4
9(b) 2
10(a) 4
10(b) 8
Total 80 120

Instruc ons: For full credit, answer all ques ons. 2. There will be no nega ve marking.
Useful Data:
R (Universal gas constant) = 8.314 J/mole K.
g (Accelera on due to gravity) = 9.81 m/s2.
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 p
Sec on A (80 marks)
1.
(a) Choose the right answer(s):
(i) A bio-degradable detergent is one which, [1]
(A) is manufactured using biotechnology
(B) contains straight chain alkyl benzene
(C) contains branch chain alkyl benzene
(D) is easily decomposed by microorganisms

(ii) Hydrogena on of edible oils is done to, [1]

(A) decrease the number of unsaturated bond
(B) lower the mel ng point of oil
(C) increase the thermal conduc vity of oil
(D) enable the oil to be packed in n containers

(iii) Absorp on towers are operated under condi ons of, [1]
(A) low pressure, high temperature
(B) high pressure, high temperature
(C) high pressure, low temperature
(D) low pressure, low temperature

2.Choose the correct answer:

(a) 1000 kg of a solu on containing 50% by weight of a salt dissolved in it is cooled. 400 kg
of anhydrous salt is separated out. The solubility of the salt at the lower temperature is
kg/100 kg of water is, [2]

(A) 80
(B) 50
(C) 40
(D) 20

(b) Methane is completely burned with air. The maximum possible volume percent of
carbon dioxide (on dry basis) in the flue gases is, [2]
(A) 11.7
(B) 21.0
(C) 44.0
(D) 28.0

3. Choose the correct answer:

(a) For a centrifugal pump the posi vely suc on head is defined as, [2]
 (A) hvs + hps
(B) hvd + hpd
(C) hvs + hps - Ps
(D) hvd + hpd - Pd

hvs = velocity head at suc on

hvd = velocity head at discharge
hps = pressure head at suc on
hpd = pressure head at discharge
Ps = vapor pressure of liquid at suc on temperature
Pd = vapor pressure of liquid at discharge temperature

(b) In fluidiza on, using perfect spherical par cles, the opera ng range of the fluidiza on
velocity is [2]

(A) independent of par cle size

(B) greater for bigger par cle size
( C) greater for smaller par cle size
(D) propor onal to the square of the par cle size

(c) Match the following: [2´4=8]

The shear stress vs. velocity gradient characteris cs is shown in Fig..

(I) (A) Newtonian
(II) (B) Dilatant
(III) (C) Bingham plas c
(IV) (D) Pseudoplas c
4
(a) Match the following: [2´4=8]
 (I) Gyratory crusher (A) Shear force
(II) Hammer mill (B) A ri on
(III) Buhrstone mill (C) Compression force
(IV) Fluid energy mill (D) Impact

(b) For separa ng par cles of different densi es, the differen al se ling method uses a liquid
sor ng medium of density. [2]

(A) intermediate between those of the light and the heavy ones
(B) less than that of either one
(C) greater than that of either one
(D) of any arbitrary value

(c) At very low r.p.m (NRe less than 5), the power required for agita on is propor onal to [2]
(A) D
(B) D2
(C) D3
(D) D5
where ‘D’ is the diameter of the impellor.

5.
(a) A hot horizontal plate is exposed to air by keeping, [2]
(A) the hot surface facing up
(B) the hot surface facing down
Heat transfer to the ambient air is primarily by natural convec on. In which of the above
cases, is the heat transfer coefficient higher and why? Answer in three or four lines.

(b) Choose the correct answer:

(i) Saturated steam is condensed as a film on a ver cal plate of height 50 cm. If the local
heat transfer coefficient at a distance of 50 cm from the top is 7200 W/m2°C, the
average heat transfer coefficient over the en re plate in W/m2 °C is, [1]

(A) 5400
(B) 9600
(C) 7200
(D) 14400

(ii) The capacity of a mul ple-effect evaporator, when compared with a single effect
evaporator, both opera ng with significant boiling point rise at the same terminal
temperatures and surface area in each effect equal to surface area of a single-effect
evaporator will [1]
 (A) Decrease
(B) Increase
(C) Remains the same
6.
(a) (i) What is the significance of reflux in dis lla on opera on? Explain in one or two
sentences. [1]
(ii) Choose the correct answer:
[1]
In dis lla on under minimum reflux condi ons, number of theore cal stages would be:
(A) One
(B) Minimum
(C) Infinite
(D) None of these

(b) What rela onship does any point on an opera ng me for absorp on in a packed column ,
represent? [2]

(c) Associate the following dimensionless groups, heat transfer, mass transfer and momentum
transfer, [4]
(A) Sherwood number
(B) Prandtl number
(C) Nusselt number
(D) Schmidt number
7.
(a) (i) The temperature dependence of chemical reac on rater in general can be wri en
as, K = KoTm exp(-E/RT). What is the value of m from collision theory, transi on
state theory and from Arrhenius law? [1]

(ii) Every two minutes one reactor volume of feed is being treated at specified
condi ons in a con nuous reactor. What is the space velocity? [1]

(b) Choose the correct answer: [2]

For mul ple reac ons, 2A à R; 2R à S, the number of moles of S present when the
number of moles of A and R is 0.3 and 0.5 respec vely (ini ally 2 moles of A are only present)
is,

(A) 0.125
(B) 0.175
(C) 0.535
(D) 0.350
(c) Sketch (rough diagram) exit age distribu on, E (t) and cumula ve age distribu on
func on, F (t) for plug flow and perfectly mixed flow vessels and indicate the mean
residence me and the maximum values of E (t) and F (t) in each case. [2]

8. (a) Match the following: [2

´4=8]
(I) Bimetallic Thermometer (A) Electrical Resistance Sensor
(II)Thermocouple (B) Thermal Expansion Sensor
(III)Thermister (C) Radia on Temperature Sensor
(IV)Op cal Pyrometer (D) Thermoelectric Sensor

(b) State whether the following statements are True or False:

[1´4=4]

(i) On-off controller is a special case of propor onal controller with large bandwidth
(ii) Routh test can not be used for determining stability of a controller system with
dead me
(iii) The output response of linear system to sinusoidal input is sinusoidal at all mes
(iv) Cascade control is used for processes involving one measured variable and more
than one manipulated variable

9. Fill in the blanks: [1´4=4]

(a) The important stresses induced in the shell of tall ver cal vessels are,
(A) __________________
(B) __________________
(C) __________________
(D) __________________

(b) The tensile stresses resul ng from internal pressure are, [2]
(i) _____________ expressed as ____________ and
(ii) _____________ expressed as ____________

10. Fill in the blanks: [1´4=4]

(a) A cylindrical shell under external pressure tends to ___________ as a result of
external radial pressure. The external pressure at which buckling occurs depends
upon ______________, _____________ and __________ when the length of the
shell is less than the cri cal length

(b) Match the following: [2

´4=8]
(I)Gasket (A) External support
(II)Anchor bolts (B) Flange joints
 (III)Skirt (C) Founda on
(IV)Guy wire (D) Base support
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Sec on B [120 marks]

11. Explain in not more than three to four lines.
(a) In the manufacture of Sulphuric acid why is absorp on of SO3 done in
concentrated Sulphuric acid and not in water [4]

(b) A dilute solu on (20%) of Nitric acid has to be concentrated to 80%. How is this
done in industry and why? [4]

(c) A dilute solu on of glycerin contains a soluble calcium salt as impurity. Why is the
removal of calcium essen al before concentra on of this solu on? How can this
removal be accomplished? [4]

12. Iron pyrites (FeS2 ) is burned with air in 100% excess of that required to oxidize all iron
to Fe2O3 and all sulphur to sulphur dioxide. Calculate the composi on of exit gases, if 80% of
sulphur is oxidized to sulphur trioxide and the rest to sulphur dioxide. All iron is oxidized to
Fe2O3 [12]

13.
(a) Water flows through 30 mm i.d pipe at atmospheric pressure. Pitot tube
measures the velocity of water at the center of pipe as shown in the Fig.. The
pressure difference between the impact tube and the sta c tube is 20 cm of
carbon tetrachloride (density: 1600 kg/m3 ). Calculate the volumetric flow rate
thorough the pipe in cubic meter per hour. Viscosity of water is 1 cP. [6]

(b) A piece of wood floats of an interface between layers of oil and water as shown
in Fig.19 (b). the specific gravity of wood and oil are 0.95and 0.75 respec vely.
Determine the volume frac on of wood in the water layer. [6]
14. A constant pressure filtra on test gave data that can fit an expression,
(t = seconds, V = liters ). If the resistance of filter medium is assumed unaffected with pressure
drop and the compressibility coefficient of the filter cake is 0.3. what will be the me taken for
the collec on of 3.5 litres of filtrates at a filtra on pressure twice that used in the test?
[12]

15.
(a) (i) A solid cube of side 30 cm at an ini al temperature of 1000 K is kept in vacuum at
absolute zero temperature. Calculate the me required to cool it to 500 K. The
material has the following proper es, [3]

Density = 2700 kg/m3, Specific heat = 0.9 kJ/kg. K , Emissi vity = 0.1., The Stefan-
Boltzman constant, s = 5.669 x 10-8 W/m2 K4.

(ii) In a counter-current heat exchanger which has been in service for quite some
me, due to forma on of scale, the heat transfer rate is reduced to 85% of it’s
original value based on clean surface. Assuming that the terminal temperatures of
fluids are same in both cases and the effec ve heat transfer area does not change
appreciably due to scale forma on determine the overall fouling factor if clean
overall heat transfer coefficient is 500 W/m2 K. [3]
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(b) A pipe is 20 mm inner diameter and 30 mm outer diameter is insulated with 35

mm thick insula on. Temperature of the bare pipe is 200 C. The thermal
conduc vity of the insula ng material is 0.15 W/m°C and the convec ve heat
transfer coefficient of outside air is 3 W/m2°C. The surface temperature is 30°C.
The heat transfer resistance of the metal pipe can be neglected.

(i) Comment with reasoning about the heat transfer rates with and without
insula on [2]
 (ii) If the same insula ng material is used, what is the minimum thickness
above which there is a reduc on in heat loss as compared to the bare
pipe? [2]

(iii) For op mum design, what conduc vity of insula ng material do you
suggest for the condi ons given in the problem? [2]

16.
(a) Oxygen is diffusing in a mixture of oxygen-nitrogen at 1 std. atm, 25°C.
Concentra on of oxygen at planes 2 mm apart is 10 and 20-volume % respec vely.
Nitrogen is non-diffusing.

(i) Derive the appropriate expression to calculate the flux of oxygen. Define
units of each term clearly. [3]

(ii) Calculate the flux of oxygen. Diffusivity of oxygen in nitrogen = 1.89 ´ 10-5
m2 s-1. [3]

(b) The equilibrium water absorbed by a certain silica gel in contact with moist air
varies linearly with the humidity of air, Y = 3.4435 ´ 10-2 X, Where, X = kg water
adsorbed /kg of dry gel, Y = humidity of air, kg moisture /kg dry air. 0.5 kg of
silica gel containing 5% (dry basis) adsorbed water is placed in a collapsible vessel
in which there are 10 m3 of moist air par al pressure of water being 15 mm Hg.
The total pressure and temperature are kept at 1 std. atm. 25°C respec vely.

(i) What is the amount of water picked up from the moist air in the vessel by
the silica gel? [3]
(ii) What is the final par al pressure of water vapor in the vessel?
[3]

17. A mineral containing 20% elemental sulphur is to be leached with hot gas oil in which
sulphur is soluble to the extent of 10 parts in 100 parts of oil by weight. The oil is
recycled over the batch of ground mineral ll no farther dissolu on of sulphur
takes place. On drainage, the solid minerals retain the solu on to the extent of
one-tenth the weight of undissolved solid (sulphur and gauge). No preferen al
adsorp on takes place. Calculate the equilibrium composi ons and quan es of
the solid and liquid phases if 50 kg of oil is used for leaching 100 kg of fresh
mineral. [12]

18.
(a) The irreversible gas-phase reac on A à 3B will be carried out isothermally. The
reac on is zero order, the ini al concentra on of A is 2 mol/lit and the system
contains 40% inert The specific reac on gas constant is 0.10 mol/lit-min. Calculate
 the me required to achieve 80% conversion in a constant pressure batch
reactor. [6]

(b) At present a first order, isothermal, liquid phase reac on is being conducted in a
cascade of two equal sized mixed flow reactors to obtain 95% conversion. If a plug
flow reactor of the same total volume replaces this system, what is the increase in
the produc on rate for the same conversion [6]

19. The observed rate using a cube of 2 cm catalyst pellet is 10-8 mol/s.cm3 pellet, calculate
the value of first order reac on rate constant. The effec ve diffusivity is 0.01 cm2/s
[12]

20
(a) A first order reac on A à B is taking place in CSTR fed with A at concentra on
CAF which remain uncharged. There are likely to be some devia ons in feed rate
(F) of A. Derive linearised transfer func on between concentra on of A in the
outlet and feed rate of A assuming that volume V of reac ng mixture remains
uncharged. [6]

(b) A closed loop feedback control system consists of a second order process,

and a propor onal controller (GC (s) = KC ). The roots of

characteris cs equa on of the closed loop system are –2 and –1 in absence of
controller and roots are –1.5 ± 0.5i when KC = 4.

(i) Determine Kp, τ1, τ2 [3]

(ii) Determine limits on KC so that the response of the system to a step input is
non-oscillatory. [3]
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