Print this page Introduction to Material and Energy Balance
A. Bhatia, B.E.
Course Outline
Engineers do mass and energy balance to account for what happens to each of the inputs that enters the operations and analyze the outputs for alternative processes, energy conservation and environment monitoring pollution dispersion models. Inefficient use of raw materials and energy in production processes are reflected as wastes.
This 4-hour course
will introduce you to the fundamental principles and of mass and energy balance
as applicable to manufacturing industry.
The course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to
enhance the understanding of course materials.
Learning Objective
Following completion of the course readers will:
- Understand the fundamental law of mass and energy conservation;
- Define classification of processes such as steady state, transient, continuous and batch processes;
- Understand the difference between the differential and integral balances;
- Learn the material balance equation and understand important terms such as input, output and accumulation;
- Understand the difference between units, values and dimensions;
- Learn the basics of flowchart development;
- Understand the concept of degrees of freedom to solve mass balance problems;
- Learn by examples the method of analyzing and solving material balance equations;
- Learn the different forms of energy and their inter-conversions in energy analysis;
- Understand the energy use in closed and open systems;
- Understand the concept of heat balances and the energy use in a facility; and
- Understand the
use of Sankey diagrams in energy conservation and various energy efficient
options for optimizing energy costs.
Intended
Audience
This course is aimed at students, process engineers, facility managers, H &S professionals, environmentalists, energy auditors and anyone who wants a basic understanding of process analysis.
Course Introduction
The processing
costs of the unit operations can be broken broadly into three categories: a)
Material costs, b) Energy costs and c) Miscellaneous costs (capital, labor,
taxes, and insurance etc). Material and energy costs are the significant proportion
of the total cost of production and M & E balances are useful in identifying,
quantifying and monitoring the unknown losses.
This course introduces the principles of mass and energy conservation and emphasizes
on the development of systematic approaches in calculations used for design
and analysis of production and physical processes. These processes are involved
in a wide range of applications from environmental protection, energy conservation
to value-adding manufacturing processing. Readers will learn writing mass and
energy balance equations, selecting design variables, and preparing algorithms
by way of examples.
Course Content
The course content is in a PDF file Introduction to Material and Energy Balance. You need to open or download this document to study this course.
Course Summary
Material quantities,
as they pass through processing operations, can be described by material balances.
Such balances are statements on the conservation of mass. Just as mass is conserved,
so is energy. The energy coming into a unit operation can be balanced with the
energy coming out and the energy stored. Energy balances are often complicated
because forms of energy can be inter converted, for example mechanical energy
to heat energy, but overall the quantities must balance.
Material and energy balances are very important in an industry. These are fundamental
to the control of processing, particularly in the control of yields of the products.
The first M & E balances are determined in the exploratory stages of a new
process, improved during pilot plant experiments when the process is being planned
and tested, checked out when the plant is commissioned and then refined and
maintained as a control instrument as production continues. When any changes
occur in the process, the M & E balances are revisited again.
Material and energy balances can be simple, at times they can be very complicated,
but the basic approach is general. Experience in working with the simpler systems
such as individual unit operations will develop the facility to extend the methods
to the more complicated situations, which do arise. The use of computer programs
is helpful in readily analyzing very complex mass and energy balances and therefore
it is a very effective tool in everyday process management to maximize product
yields and minimize costs.
Quiz
Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.
DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.
