CHEMICAL ENGG.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS-

1. How can a chemical production engineer improve the process with respect to yield & quality? Recycle stream is one way to improve the purity/quality and thereby also the yield of product. This is generally most useful in distillations. 2. What is Chemical engineering? Chemical engineering is the branch of engineering that deals with the application of physical science (e.g. chemistry and physics), and life sciences (e.g. biology, microbiology and biochemistry) with mathematics, to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms. In addition to producing useful materials, modern chemical engineering is also concerned with pioneering valuable new materials and techniques - such as nanotechnology, fuel cells and biomedical engineering. Or It can be defined as : Chemical engineering is the application of science, in particular chemistry and fluid physics, along with mathematics and economics to the process of converting raw materials or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms.

3. Explain the third law of thermodynamics. The third law states that 'As a system approaches absolute zero, the entropy of the system approaches a minimum value'.

4. What is entropy? Entropy is a measure of disorderliness. It explains the system's closeness to equilibrium.

5. What is Gibbs free energy? It is the available energy or the greatest amount of mechanical work done by a system at constant temperature and pressure.

6. At what temperature does water have maximum density? At 4 deg C the density of water is 1000 kg/cu.m.

7. What is an isochoric process? It is a thermodynamic process at constant volume. Also called isovolumetric process. 8. What is a CSTR and what are its basic assumptions? Continuous Stirred tank Reactor. Assumptions are steady state, constant density, constant temperature, one irreversible first-order reaction.

9. List the advantages and disadvantages of a PFR. Advantages: Continuous operation, high conversion rate, less cost for operation. Disadvantages: temperature gradients, high maintenance cost.

10.Explain the functioning of a three-way catalytic converter. Carbon monoxide oxidation, Nitrogen oxide reduction, uncombusted hydrocarbon oxidation.

11. Explain global warming from a common man's and an engineer's perspective. In a common man's perspective, the increase in world temperatures is global warming. In an engineer's perspective, it is the average temperature increase in the surface temperature of the earth, mainly due to increased concentration of greenhouse gases. The greenhouse gases capture the heat radiated by the earth, inside the atmosphere, enabling the increase in temperature.

12.What is carbon sequestration? A technique for capturing carbon dioxide for a long term in order to reduce its effects on global warming.

13. What are the greenhouse gases in earth's atmosphere? Water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone, methane, nitrous oxide and CFC.

14. Define octane number. It is the resistance to detonation of a fuel in a spark ignition engine compared to the isooctane-n-heptane mixture.

15. Explain the working of a spray condenser A spray condenser is used for the condensation of humid water vapor by direct contact with water. The inlet water is at a temperature less than the dew point of air in the chamber.

16. How does a cyclone separator work? It works as gas-solid separation equipment using vortex formation.

17. Define viscosity. Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's resistance to shear stress.

18. What is critical radius of insulation? The critical radius of insulation is the thickness of an insulation that does not affect the convection resistance. It is the ratio of the thermal conductivity of the insulator to the convection heat transfer coefficient.

19. What is a black body? An ideal object that absorbs all electromagnetic radiations.

20. What is the effect of pressure in the Distillation Operation? It is also said that when the vapor pressure of the liquid component equals the atmospheric pressure, boiling occurs; can anyone give me an example for this type of Distillation? if pressure increases then the quantity of distillate get less and if we decrease the pressure then the quantity of vapor increases but if the difference in boiling point is less than bottom product also goes to distillate and we get impure product

21. You have two layer of material to provide insulation. They have heat transfer co-efficient (k1>k2).How will you obtain better insulation? The material which has lower thermal condutivity should be insulated first or the insulation should increase order of k to get effective insulation. By applying higher insulation layer at lower surface & lower at upper surface, Q/A=K1*(dT/dX) Q/A=K2*(dT/dX) K1(DT)1+K2DT2=Q/A*X FOR(q/A) MAX. d(Q/A)/dX=0

22. Difference between Distillation and Fractionation? Distillation is differ from fractionation, separation of liquids on their boiling points is known as distillation. Separation of liquids on their boiling points, if the boiling points of liquids differ in 10 to 20 degree celsius, fractionating column is used to retain low boiling liquid due to small difference in their boiling points, is know an fractionation. Distillation is separation of one volatile component from a mixture of two or more components. Fractionation is separation of many components from a mixture.

23. what is unit operation? Unit operation involves all types of operations carried out in chemical and process industries which do not involve any chemical reaction. Hence the chemical properties of the substance do not change however the physical properties may change. Examples are Size reduction operation, Different type of separation operations and heat transfer operations Chemical engineering unit operations consist of five classes: 1. Fluid flow processes, including fluids transportation, filtration, solids fluidization 2. Heat transfer processes, including evaporation, condensation 3. Mass transfer processes, including gas absorption, distillation, extraction,adsorption, drying 4. Thermodynamic processes, including gas liquefaction, refrigeration 5. Mechanical processes, including solids transportation, crushing and pulverization, screening and sieving Chemical engineering unit operations also fall in the following categories:
y y y

Combination (mixing) Separation (distillation) Reaction (chemical reaction) Chemical engineering unit operations and chemical engineering unit processingform the main principles of all kinds of chemical industries and are the foundation of designs of chemical plants, factories, and equipment used 23. What is Unit Process and Unit Operations? How they are different from one another? The process which involves chemical reaction is called unit process like chemical reactions, chemisorption, nitration, where as the process which involves only physical change is called as unit operation like distillation, physical adsorption etc.

24. What is the basis of choosing the shell side and tube side fluid? The most corrosive fluid will be taken on tube side for ease of replacement on corrosion. in heat exchanger simply fluid which to be heat/cooled pass through tube and fluid is used to for a media for heating or cooing used in shell .

25. Why we use Flaring in the crude oil refining industry? dude...its Flaring, not flairing.... 1) While refining crude oil we get non condensable gases like C1 and C2 which are not economical if condensed using extensive pressurising and cooling processes in Refineries. So we divert these gases to Flare. 2) In the process of refining we sometimes get our equipment over pressurised, this over pressure is released through safety valves to the Flare. 3) We also get some toxic gases like H2S in the process of refining, we divert these to Flare. 4) During shutdown and startup of the process plants, to stabilise the plant we also divert some non condensables, over pressure to the Flare to control pressure in various columns and equipments and also to sefely dispose purged gases after combusting them at the stack top Crude oil has many chemical components in it, i.e. Natural Gas, LPG, Gasoline, Diesel, if you can see there, the fraction of those components is different, sometime gasoline is higher, and sometime diesel. the flaring is used to burn Natural Gas which is very small fraction in crude oil and not economical to store as it must use compressor. Furthermore the flaring of NG can burn poisonous gas contained in crude oil

26. When salt is added to water, what happens to its freezing point? For pure substances, there is no change in their freezing point, due to addition of impurities, freezing point decreases

27. As Bernaulli's theorem is applied on fluids, so can we apply it on gases also? Yes it can be applied. That's why one can measure flow rate of gases across an orifice meter.

28.Why do we place hydrogen cylinder horizontal position rahter than vertical position?

29. What is corrosion? Which is the most important material used for metallic coating?

30. What is Turkey Red Oil? Where it is used and How it can be formed? Turkey Red Oil is also known as Sulfated Castor Oil. It is the only oil that will completely disperse in water. The oil is expressed from the seed. Sulfated castor oil is created by adding sulfuric acid to castor oil, and is considered the first synthetic detergent. Turkey Red Oil has a distinct and heavy scent. It is a surfactant and therefore makes a wonderful base for a bath oil as it mixes well with water, producing a milk bath. 31. Why Iron Carbide diagram can be established upto 6.67% only? What are structure beyond 6.67% carbon? The iron-iron carbide diagram is only upto 6.67%, because beyond that percentage structure remains the same so we do not study further.

32. Why do we place hydrogen cylinder horizontal position rahter than vertical position? Cylinders carrying toxic substances, such as sulphur dioxide, must only be transported vertically.

Cylinders containing acetylene must always be kept and transported in an upright position.Horizontally transporting acetylene cylinders may cause the gas within the container to become unstable and cause an explosion. Liquefied and compressed gas cylinders must never be transported horizontally. Cylinders carrying flammable substances, such as IPG, hydrogen gas and ethylene, which are explosive and flammable risks, must only be stored and transported vertically. Inert gas and refrigerated liquid cylinders, such as those carrying argon and nitrogen, are liable to leak if placed horizontally, causing drowsiness, asphyxiation, unconsciousness and even death.

33. What are the major characteristics of a metal which distinguishes itself from any other metal? its melting point, stability and rigidity.

34. How does Chromium improve property of Steel when added as an alloy element? Chromium is a very good corrosion resistant element, when it is added ad as an alloying element, especially in steel to form stainless steel, it acts as a corrosion resistant material, so improves its life (fatigue)

35. Explain the designing of distillation column Distillation coloumn separates different refinary products into its fractions according to their boiling points. A distillation coloumn has different chambers, and low boiling point fractions come into lower side of coloumn and higher boiling point fractions come into upper side of coloumn. It is constructed in increasing order of boiling points from below to upper side of coloumn.

36. Why ACTIVITY is so useful than considering PARTIAL PRESSURE in thermodynamics point of view? I think activity means activity coefficient if it is that then it it is very easy to answer your question. Generally partial pressure term is used when there is mixture means more than one compund is present in the mixture then we use partial pressure. But if non ideal liquid mixtures are there then we use fugacity coefficient and compressibility factor to describe the non ideality. To measure the extent of deviation from ideality is measure by activity coefficient

37. How can a chemical production engineer improve the process with respect to yield & quality? Recycle stream is one way to improve the purity/quality, and thereby also the yield, of product. This is generally most useful in distillations.

38. Why 'S' sub-shell has a spherical structure? Sub-shells of an atom attained their shape due to the moment of an electron, the S sub-shell is very close to the nucleus than p,d,f sub-shells, due to this attraction electon spins on its own axis, so that it looks like spherical in shape.

39. What is the solid angle? he solid angle, , is the angle in three-dimensional space that an object subtends at a point. It is a measure of how big that object appears to an observer looking from that point. For instance, a small object nearby could subtend the same solid angle as a large object far away.

40. What is the density of water at 0C? At 0c for solid 0.915g/cm3 For liquid 0.999 g/cm3

41. How does actual Capillary Action takes place? The capillary action is due to surface tension. The surface tension force is the relative action between the adhesive force to the cohesive force

42. What is the life time of FRP tank? Explain about it specifications & other details?

43. What is physical significance of chemical potential & fugacity? Like there is gravitational potential or electrostatic potential there is chemical potential. It is basically change in the internal energy of the system by addition of a new particle at constant volume and entropy. In terms of free energy, its the change in Gibbs free energy of a system by addition of a particle at constant temperature and pressure. So basically it tells you about the reactivity of a component in a phase. Transfer of molecule will always occur from high potential to low potential. Fugacity is escapability that is tendency of a particle to prefer one phase over other. The particle will be present in the phase having low fugacity (where the escapability is least). In terms of chemical potential it is the measure of how much the chemical potential of a component in a phase differs from the chemical potential in standard state, due to change in Pressure or mol fr of component. Fugacity is analogous to partial pressure when applying thermodynamics to any non ideal system for any component. For pure ideal gases fugacity --> partial pressure.

44. Explain What is Wilson Equation?

45.What is Pointage in Chemistry

46. Discuss the important properties of solvent used in LEACHING Leachng is unit operation in which a solid mixture is contacted with a liquid solvent for removal of one or more soluble constituents of solid mixture and it is also called a solid liquid extraction. The solvet used in it should be a selective solvent and should have low viscosity for it to circulate freely

47. How to design knock out drum? (Vertical KOD to remove condensate from natural gas, basic idea of books and related formulae and important notes to remember while designing it) explain me what is floudas in detail?

48. What are the basis for selecting Deaerator operating pressure and temperature? Generally deaerator is designed slight high pressure than atm. around 1.2ksc Temp is maintained at about 120-130 degree centigrade because dm water should supply at this temp process heat is recovered by circulating this dm water down stream of deaerator bfw pump is there which increases pressure up to desired value.Designing of high pre and temp shell also too much costlier 49. State and explain theorum of the great scholar Appolo Denero,Well known as Appolo Theorum.

50. What is proplan, prodyne?

51. why the efficiency of multiple effect evaporate is less then single effect evaporater If meaning is water evaporation per unit heat transfer area provided in Evaporator, Then the answer is 1. Single effect LMTD ( Log Mean Temperature Difference) is High 2. In mutiple effect evaporator Each Effect LMTD is lower

52. how to seperate water from benzene? Water and Benzene are immicible. On standing it will separate in two layer. Bottom will be benzene layer and top will be water layer. However Benzene has some solubility say 0.2W/W% water. This water can be remove from benzene by adsoption on Molecular sieve 53.What is permeation rate The Permeation Rate is a measure of the rate at which a chemical will pass through protective material, such as that used for gloves. It is generally specified as the mass of material passing through unit area in unit time. For this value to be meaningful, the thickness of the protective material must also be specified. 54.what is psa technology

Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is a technology used to separate some gas species from a mixture of gases under pressure according to the species' molecular characteristics and affinity for an adsorbent material. Special adsorptive materials (e.g., zeolites, activated charcoal, silica gel, and alumina) are used as a molecular sieve, preferentially adsorbing the target gas species at high pressure. The process then swings to low pressure to desorb the adsorbent material. Under pressure, gases tend to be attracted to solid surfaces, or "adsorb"(adsorption). The higher the pressure, the more gas is adsorbed; when the pressure is reduced, the gas is released, or desorbed (desorption). PSA processes can be used to separate gases in a mixture because different gases tend to be attracted to different solid surfaces more or less strongly. Removal of carbon dioxide (CO2) as the final step in the large-scale commercial synthesis of hydrogen (H2) for use in oil refineries and in the production of

ammonia (NH3). Refineries often use PSA technology in the removal of hydrogen (H2S) from hydrogen feed and recycle streams of hydro treating and hydro cracking units,,, Nitrogen generator units employ the PSA technique to produce high purity nitrogen gas (99.5% or greater) from a supply of compressed air. 55.difference between reboiler and vaporizer and evaporator? *Reboilers are used with distillation columns to vaporize a fraction of the bottom product; whereas in a vaporizer essentially all the feed is vaporized. Reboiler serves the purpose of producing process vapors under equilibrium conditions (the vapors are saturated) in order to employ them within the process and allow the vapors to activate heat and mass transfer *Evaporation occurs on the surface of the liquid whereas boiling occurs at the entire length of liquid. *Evaporation occurs at any temperature whereas boiling occurs at a specific temperature *Evaporator = This is, as you have stated, a device that usually concentrates the solute(s) within a solution by employing heat and vaporizing a portion of the liquid solution. *Vaporizer = This is usually a generic term used to describe any apparatus that literally converts a liquid into a vapor. This could be for the purposes of humidifying air (using liquid water) or converting a process fluid into a process vapor. only adds latent heat (no super heat is added as in a boiler). the vaporizer may or may not be required to add sensible heat prior to vaporizing the feed liquid. 56. What are the types of reboiler ? Three types 1-Thermosyphon reboilers 2-Kettle reboilers 3-Forced circulation reboilers Thermosyphon, natural circulation, vertical exchangers with vaporisation In the tubes, or horizontal exchangers with vaporisation in the shell. The liquid Circulation through the exchanger is maintained by the difference in density between the two-phase mixture of vapors and liquid in the

exchanger and the single-phase Liquid in the base of the column. As with the forced-circulation type, a disengagement Vessel will be needed if this type is used as a vaporizer Kettle type, Figure 12.52: in which boiling takes place on tubes immersed in a pool Of liquid; there is no circulation of liquid through the exchanger,, In some applications it is possible to accommodate the bundle in the base of the column,; saving the cost of the exchanger shell. may require pumping of the column bottoms liquid into the kettle.. Steam flows through the tube bundle and exits as condensate. Forced circulation, in which the fluid is pumped through the Exchanger, and the vapors formed is separated in the base of the column. When Used as a vaporizer a disengagement vessel will have to be provided.
Clasius cleporan equation thermodynamics

Degree api Why saturated stem is used compare to superheated steam Saturated stem has more latent heat than sensible heat of super heated steam ,and also provide good heat transfer area..so saturated steam is preferable..
The inversion temperature in thermodynamics and cryogenics is the critical temperature below which a non-ideal gas (all gases in reality) that is expanded at constant enthalpy will experience a temperature decrease, and above which will experience a temperature increase. This temperature change is known as the Joule-Thomson effect, and is exploited in the liquefaction of gases.
HR Questions---Why Indian Oil? After graduation, what you will go for? (Higher studies or job!!why?) What's ur position in d class?(overall rank) Family background? Will u work for us if u r posted in some remote areas?why! Are you preparing yourself for GATE exam! Do you have any questions for us?

Technical Questions---Mostly based on Summer Training eg. Powerplant in brief if u hv done so! Turbines & pumps? Main Theme of Final Year Project? Oil refinery equipments? Thermo cycles? Psychrometry,Relative Humidity,Dew Point Temperature? P-V diadram of 2 stroke engine cycle! Use of Turbochargers? etc...... HOW WOULD YOU CALIBRATE A ROTAMETER ? why should we have to maintain excess air in furnaces and boilers while burning any fuel?

what is difference between PFR ,MFR and batch reactor? which chemical reaction has the maximum evolution of heat? how to calculate suction head in centrifugal pump? how FOULING effectd the heat transfer rate?

Reynolds analogies.

Thermal conductivity y For gas Prapotional to square root of absolute temp and inversibly prapotional to square root of moler weight of gas.it is proved by experiment y General Increasing order of thermal conductivity y Gas<liquid<solid y But For liquid it is inversibly proportional to temp.exception water and also inversibly prapotinal to moler weight y Mercury and sodium liq metal used in nuclear power plant for high h.t rate y In solid heat conduction is due to vibration of molecule and due to flowing of free electron..thermal conductivity depends upon these two ,relatively high thermal conductivity is due to second one.the first component of vibrational energy strongly depend on the way the molecules are arranged so diamond has highest thermal conductivity at room temp.but unlike metal diamond and semiconductor are low electrical conductivity ,,so it is used in electronics device for heat sinks despite of its high cost.. y The thermal conductivity of an alloy is much lower than that of either one y The thermal conductivity of some material has great increase in conductivity near absolute zero is called superconductor exp-cu y In fluid conduction heat transfer is due to molecular collision and molecular diffusion. Isotropic materialThe material having uniform properties in all directions..and for this similar structural characteristics..

Difference between heat capacity(Cp) and specific heat( *Cp).. Both represent the heat storage capability of material,,but heat capacity is per unit vol while specific heat per unit mass Thermal diffusivityRepresent how fast heat diffuses through a material.it is the property appear in the transient heat transfer. =
     

m2/sec

a small amount of thermal diffusivity means that heat is mostly absorbed by material and only small amount of heat is conducted. Mode of energy transfer between solid surface and adjacent fluid that is in motion. It is the combined effect of conduction and fluid motion. in the absence of any fluid motion the transfer between the solid and fluid is due to pure conduction. When the moving fluid is in contact with hot body. Heat transfer is in the fluid layer adjacent to the body by conduction and then it goes apart from surface by convection if temp difference is high enough if vice versa then whole heat transfer will be due to conduction because temp difference is not high enough to produce density difference or buoyancy force due to which natural convection takes place. Two types of convection occurs Natural convection is due to buoyancy force because of density difference of adjacent and bulk layer due to temp difference. Force convection is due to external source like fan, blower which moves the fluid. RadiationEnergy emitted by matter in the form of electromagnetic waves or photon as a result of change in electronic configuration of atom or molecule. Does not require medium for heat transfer. In h.t we studied about thermal radiation which is difer from x ray, gamma rays, microwaves, radio waves that thermal radiation is free from temp.All bodies above absolute zero temp emit thermal radiation. Absorptivity-fraction of energy incident on the surface that is absorbed.

What is buffer layer? in turbulent flow from the conduit or closed channel there are three layer that exists one after another adjacent to wall. Velocity at the wall is zero. y Viscous sublayer y Buffer layer or transition layer y Turbulent core Viscous sublayer- the layer immediately adjacent to the wall in which velocity gradient is essentially constant. And the flow is viscous most of the time. Formally it was assumed that it has definite thickness and always free from eddies. But measurement shows that fluctuation in the sublayer occurs due to occasional eddies from the turbulent zone. In the sublayer eddies are infrequent (some time appears) Only viscous shear is important in this region. Eddy diffusion is minor.. It occupies only a small fraction of total cross section. It has no sharp upper boundary and its thickness is difficult to defined Transition or buffer layer- the layer adjacent to the viacous sub layer in which both viscous shear and shear due to eddy diffusion exist It is relatively thin compare to the viscous sublayer. Turbulent core- it contains the major part of the cross section. Velocity gradient in the viscous sublayer is large. In buffer layer rapid change occurs and in turbulent zone is small. The same type of temp gradient(same as velocity gradient) occurs in case of turbulent flow.

Q- Where is the energy goes on jhule Thomson expension

As a gas expands, the average distance between molecules grows. Because of intermolecular attractive forces (see Van der Waals force), expansion causes an increase in the potential energy of the gas. If no external work is extracted in the process and no heat is transferred, the total energy of the gas remains the same because of the conservation of energy. The increase in potential energy thus implies a decrease in kinetic energy and therefore in temperature.

A second mechanism has the opposite effect. During gas molecule collisions, kinetic energy is temporarily converted into potential energy. As the average intermolecular distance increases, there is a drop in the number of collisions per time unit, which causes a decrease in average potential energy. Again, total energy is conserved, so this leads to an increase in kinetic energy (temperature). Below the JouleThomson inversion temperature, the former effect (work done internally against intermolecular attractive forces) dominates, and free expansion causes a decrease in temperature. Above the inversion temperature, gas molecules move faster and so collide more often, and the latter effect (reduced collisions causing a decrease in the average potential energy) dominates: JouleThomson expansion causes a temperature increase.

Difference between tube and pipe?

Pipe
In table corresponding to nps od is find out..and from out dia and schedule no id is find outFor a given NPS(inch), the OD stays fixed and the wall thickness increases with schedule. For a given schedule, the OD increases with NPS while the wall thickness stays constant or increases. it can be shown that pressure rating decreases with increasing NPS and constant schedule pipe size is defined by nominal pipw size based on the outside dia..for constant nps outerdia is constantand thickness increase with schedule no.. NPS 14 Sch 40 has an OD of 14 inches and a wall thickness of 0.437 inches. However the NPS and OD values are not always equal, which can create confusion.  For NPS to 12 inches, the NPS and OD values are different. For example, the OD of an NPS 12 pipe is actually 12.75 inches. To find the actual OD for each NPS value, refer to the tables below. (Note that for tubing, the size is always the actual OD.) For NPS 14 inches and up, the NPS and OD values are equal. In other words, an NPS 14 pipe is actually 14 inches OD.

Tube
it size is defined by outer dia and thickness is defined by bwg ..22bwg is greater then 32..

how the solubility of solute in solution depend on temp.

The reason for this is due to the changes in energy of the different states the enthalpies, when a solid is added to solvent there are two processes occurring during the process of disolving the solid. The first a process similar to melting occurs breaking down the bonds between the molecules in the solid compound this process will consume heat H (Enthalpy Change) is +ve. The second process which occurs is the formation of new solute - solvent bonds which releases heat H

is -ve.

Now, if you have the most common situation, solubility increases with temperature then the net solubility reaction is endothermic ( H +ve) ie the heat required to break the bonds in the solid is greater than the heat release by the solute - solvent bonds forming, as such energy input is required adding more heat therefore facilitates the substance dissolving by providing that energy. On the other hand when solubility decreases with temperature the inverse is true, energy is released by the process of dissolving the solid, as the heat needed to break its bonds is less than the heat released by the new solute - solvent bonds being formed, in this case increasing the temperature inhibits the solution process as excess heat is already being generated by the reaction. By the way, the net change from these two processes (the addition of the H values, results in what is known as the enthalpy of solution every solute - solvent combination has its own enthalpy of solution value). But in case of gas the molecular attraction forces are very less so when it dissolve in the solution then at forming new bonds with solvent..exothermic rxn occurs and heat always liberataed..so the absorption is always exothermic..

Deaeration
When fresh water is heated up, air bubbles start to form. The water can obviously not hold the dissolved air with increasing temperature. At 100 oC (212 oF) water starts to boil - the bubbles are formed by evaporated water orsteam. If the water is cooled down at then again reheated, bubbles will not appear until the water starts to boil. The water is deaerated.