1. 21 to Q. 60 carry two marks each.

1. The value of the limit –is

(A) –? (B) 0 (C) 1 (D) ?

1. The general solution of the differential equation –

= 0,

with C1 and C2 as constants of integration, is

1. C1 e-3x + C2 e-2x (B) C1 e3x + C2 e-2x

1. C1 e3x + C2 e2x (D) C1 e-3x + C2 e2x

1. Using the residue theorem, the value of the integral (counter clockwise)

around a circle with center at z = 0 and radius = 8 (where z is a complex number and i = ), is

1. – 20? i (B) – 40? (C) – 40? i (D) 40? i

1. Consider the integral,

over the surface of a sphere of radius = 3 with center at the origin and surface unit normal n pointing away from the origin. Using the Gauss divergence theorem, the value of this integral is

(A) – 180? (B) 0 (C) 90? (D) 180?

1. Using the trapezoidal rule and 4 equal intervals (n = 4), the calculated value of the integral (rounded to the first place of decimal)

1 is

(A) 1.7 (B) 1.9 (C) 2.0 (D) 2.1

1. The eigenvalues of matrix are 5 and –1. Then the eigenvalues of –2A + 3I (I is a 2 x 2 identity matrix) are

1. –7 and 5 (B) 7 and –5 (C) and (D) and

1. A fair die is rolled. Let R denote the event of obtaining a number less than or equal to 5 and S denote the event of obtaining an odd number. Then which ONE of the following about the probability (P) is TRUE ?

1. P(R/S) = 1 (B) P(R/S) = 0 (C) P(S/R) = 1 (D) P(S/R) = 0

1. Pure water (stream W) is to be obtained from a feed containing 5 wt % salt using a desalination unit as shown below:

Recycle (R)
Feed (F) Mixed feed Effluent

5 wt % salt 10 wt % salt Desalination

unit

1. Pure water (W)
2. 0 % salt

If the overall recovery of pure water (through stream W) is 0.75 kg/kg feed, then the recycle ratio (R/F is

(A) 0.25 (B) 0.5 (C) 0.75 (D) 1.0

1. For a binary mixture at constant temperature and pressure, which ONE of the following relations between activity coefficient (?i) and mole fraction (xi) is thermodynamically consistent ?

1. ln ?1 = –1 + 2 x1 , ln ?2 =
2. ln ?1 = –1 + 2 x1 , ln ?2 =
3. ln ?1 = –1 + 2 x1 , ln ?2 =
4. ln ?1 = –1 + 2 x1 , ln ?2 =

1. Two identical reservoirs, open at the top, are drained through pipes attached to the bottom of the tanks as shown below. The two drain pipes are of the same length, but of different diameters (D1 > D2).

Assuming the flow to be steady and laminar in both drain pipes, if the volumetric flow rate in the larger pipe is 16 times of that in the smaller pipe, the ratio D1/D2 is

(A) 2 (B) 4 (C) 8 (D) 16

1. For an incompressible flow, the x- and y- components of the velocity vector are

?x = 2 (x + y); ?y = 3 (y + z);

where x, y, z are in metres and velocities are in m/s. Then the z-component of the velocity vector (vz) of the flow for the boundary condition vz = 0 at z = 0 is

1. 5 z (B) –5 z (C) 2x + 3z (D) –2x–3z

1. The terminal settling velocity of a 6 mm diameter glass sphere (density: 2500 kg/m3) in a viscous Newtonian liquid (density: 1500 kg/m3) is 100 ?m/s. If the particle Reynolds number is small and the value of acceleration due to gravity is 9.81 m/s2, then the viscosity of the liquid (in Pa.s) is

(A) 100 (B) 196.2 (C) 245.3 (D) 490.5

1. A well-insulted hemispherical furnace (radius = 1 m) is shown below:

The self-view factor of radiation for the curved surface 2 is

1. 1/4 (B) 1/2 (C) 2/3 (D) 3/4

1. A double-pipe heat exchanger is to be designed to heat 4 kg/s of a cold feed from 20 to 40°C using a hot stream available at 160°C and a flow rate of 1 kg/s. The two streams have equal specific heat capacities and the overall heat transfer coefficient of the heat exchanger is 640 W/m2.K. Then the ratio of the heat transfer areas require for the co-current to counter-current modes of operations is

(A) 0.73 (B) 0.92 (C) 1.085 (D) 1.25

1. For the composite wall shown below (case 1), the steady state interface temperature is 180°C. If the thickness of layer P is doubled (Case 2), then the rate of heat transfer (assuming 1-D conduction) is reduction by

(A) 20% (B) 40% (C) 50% (D) 70%

1. Species A is diffusing at steady state from the surface of a sphere (radius = 1 cm) into a stagnant fluid. If the diffusive flux at a distance r = 3 cm from the center of the sphere is 27 mol/cm2.s, the diffusive flux (in mol/cm2.s) at a distance r = 9 cm is

(A) 1 (B) 3 (C) 9 (D) 27

1. The feed to a binary distillation column has 40 mol % vapor and 60 mol % liquid. Then, the slope of the q-line in the McCabe-Thiele plot is

(A) –1.5 (B) –0.6 (C) 0.6 (D) 1.5

1. The equilibrium moisture curve for a solid is shown below :

The total moisture content of the solid is X and it is exposed to air of relative humidity H. In the table below, Group Ilists the types of moisture, and Group II represents the region in the graph above

Group I Group II

1. Equilibrium moisture 1
2. Bound moisture 2
3. Unbound moisture 3
4. Free moisture 4

Which ONE of the following is the correct match ?

(A) P-1, Q-2, R-3, S-4 (B) P-1, Q-3, R-4, S-2

(C) P-1, Q-4, R-2, S-3 (D) P-1, Q-2, R-4, S-3

1. The liquid-phase reaction A à B is conducted in an adiabatic plug flow reactor.

Data :

Inlet concentration of A = 4.0 k.mol/m3

Density of reaction moisture (independent of temperature = 1200 kg/m3

Average heat capacity of feed stream (independent of temperature) = 2000 J/kg.k

Heat of reaction (independent of temperature) = –120 kJ/mol of A reacting

If the maximum allowable temperature in the reactor is 800 K, then the feed temperature (in K) should not exceed.

(A) 400 (B) 500 (C) 600 (D) 700

1. An isothermal pulse test is conducted on a reactor and the variation of the outlet tracer concentration with time is shown below :

The mean residence time of the fluid in the reactor (in minutes) is

(A) 5.0 (B) 7.5 (C) 10.0 (D) 15.0

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING – Gate Chemical Engineering Question Papers – Year 2009

• There are a total of 60 questions carrying 100 marks. Questions 1 through 20 are 1-mark questions; questions 21 through 60 are 2-mark questions.
• Questions 51 through 56 (3 pairs) are common data questions and questions pairs (57, 58) and (59, 60) are linked answer questions. The answer to the second question of the above 2 pairs depends on the answer to the first question of the pair. It the first question in the linked pair is wrongly answered or is un-attempted, then the answer to the second question in the pair will not be evaluated.
• Questions not attempted will carry zero marks.
• Wrong answers will carry NEGATIVE marks. For Q.1 to Q.20, 1/3 mark will be deducted for each wrong answer. For Q.21 to Q.56, 2/3 marks will be deducted for each wrong answer. The questions pairs (Q.57, Q.58) and (Q.59, Q.60) are questions with linked answers. There will be negative marks only for wrong answer to the first question of the linked answer question pair i.e. for Q.57 and Q.59, 2/3 mark will be deduced for each wrong answer. There is no negative marking for Q.58 and Q.60.

Q.1 – Q.20 carry one mark each.

1. The direction of largest increase of the function xy3 – x2 at the point (1,1) is

(A) (B) (C) (D)

1. The modulus of the complex number is

(A) (B) (C) 1 (D)

1. The system of linear equations Ax = 0, where A is an n ´ n matrix, has a non-trivial solution ONLY if

1. rank of A > n (B) rank of A = n

1. rank of A < n. (D) A is an identity matrix

1. A dehumidifier (shown below) is used to completely remove water vapor from air.

Which ONE of the following statements is TRUE ?

1. Water is the ONLY tie component
2. Air is the ONLY tie component,
3. BOTH water and air are the components
4. There are NO tie components

1. Dehydrogenation of ethane, C2H6 (g) àC2H4 (g) + H2 (g), is carried out in a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). The feed is pure ethane. If the reactor exit stream contains unconverted ethane along with the products, then the number of degrees of freedom for the CSTR is

(A) 1, (B) 2, (C) 3, (D) 4

1. An ideal gas at temperature T1 and pressure P1 is compressed isothermally to pressure P2 (> P1) in a closed system. Which ONE of the following is TRUE for internal energy (U) and Gibbs free energy (G) of the gas at the two states ?

1. U1 = U2, G1 > G2 (B) U1 = U2, G1 < G2

1. U1 > U2, G1 = G2 (D) U1 < U2, G1 = G2

1. Under fully turbulent flow conditions, the frictional pressure drop across a packed bed varies with the superficial velocity (V) of the fluid as

1. V -1 (B) V (C) V 3/2 (D) V 2

1. For a mixing tank operating in the laminar regime, the power number varies with the Reynolds number (Re) as

1. Re –1/2 (B) Re 1/2 (C) Re (D) Re -1

1. During the transient convective cooling of a solid object, Biot numberà0 indicates.

1. Uniform temperature throughout the object
2. Negligible convection at the surface of the object
3. Significant thermal resistance within the object
4. Significant temperature gradient within the object

1. The Prandtl number of a fluid is the ratio of

1. Thermal diffusivity to momentum diffusivity
2. Momentum diffusivity to thermal diffusivity
3. Conductive resistance to convective resistance
4. Thermal diffusivity to kinematic diffusivity

1. According to the penetration theory of mass transfer, the mass transfer coefficient (k) varies with diffusion coefficient (D) of the diffusing species as

1. D (B) D -1/2 (C) D 1/2 (D) D 3/2

1. The ratio of the liquid to gas flow rate in a counter-current gas absorption column is increased at otherwise identical conditions. Which ONE of the following statements is TRUE ?

1. The operating line shifts towards the equilibrium curve
2. The operating line shifts away from the equilibrium curve
3. The concentration of the absorbed species increases in the exit liquid stream
4. The operating line dies not shift.

1. For a homogeneous reaction system, where

Cj is the concentration of j at time t

Nj is the number of moles of j at time t

V is the reaction volume at time t

t is the reaction time.

The rate of reaction for species j is defined as

(A) (B) (C) (D)

1. The half-life of a first order liquid phase reaction is 30 seconds. Then the rate constant, in min-1, is

(A) 0.0231 (B) 0.602 (C) 1.386 (D) 2.0

1. For a solid-catalyzed reaction, the Thiele modulus is proportional to
2. Which ONE of the following sensors is used for the measurement of temperature in a combustion process (T > 1800°C) ?

1. Type J thermocouple, (B) Thermistor

1. Resistance temperature detector, (D) Pyrometer.

1. The roots of the characteristic equation of an under damped second order system are

1. Real, negative and equal, (B) Real, negative and unequal,

1. Real, positive and unequal, (D) Complex conjugates.

1. The total fixed cost of a chemical plant is Rs. 10.0 lakhs; the internal rate of return is 15% and the annual operating cost is Rs. 2.0 lakhs. The annualized cost of the plant (in lakhs of Rs.) is

(A) 1.8 (B) 2.6 (C) 3.5 (D) 4.3

1. In petroleum refining operations, the process used for converting paraffins and naphthenes to aromatics is

1. Catalytic reforming (B) Catalytic cracking

1. Hydrocarcking, (D) Alkylation.

1. The active component of catalysts used in steam reforming of methane to produce synthesis gas is

1. Nickel (B) Iron (C) Platinum (D) Palladium

Chemical engineering as a discipline is a little over one hundred years old. It grew out of mechanical engineering in the last part of the 19th century, because of a need for chemical processors. Before the Industrial Revolution (18th century), industrial chemicals were mainly produced through batch processing.

• Batch processing is similar to cooking. Individuals would mix ingredients into a vessel, heat or pressurize the mixture, test it, and purify it to get a salable product.
• Batch processes are still performed today on expensive products, such as perfumes, or pure maple syrups, where one can still turn a profit, despite batch methods being slow and inefficient.

Most chemicals today are produced through a continuous “assembly line” chemical process. The Industrial Revolution was when this shift from batch to continuous processing occurred.

Chemical Engineering Timeline

In 1824, French physicist Sadi Carnot , in his On the Motive Power of Fire was the first to study the thermodynamics of combustion reactions in steam engines .

In the 1850s, German physicist Rudolf Clausius began to apply the principles developed by Carnot to chemical systems at the atomic to molecular scale.

During the years 1873 to 1876 at Yale University , American mathematical physicist Josiah Willard Gibbs , the first to be awarded a Ph.D. in engineering in the U.S., in a series of three papers, developed a mathematical-based, graphical methodology, for the study of chemical systems using the thermodynamics of Clausius.

In 1882, German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz , published a founding thermodynamics paper, similar to Gibbs, but with more of an electro-chemical basis, in which he showed that measure of chemical affinity , i.e. the “force” of chemical reactions , is determined by the measure of the free energy of the reaction process. Following these early developments, the new science of chemical engineering began to develop.

The following timeline shows some of the key steps in the development of the science of chemical engineering:

References on History Of Chemical Engineering

1. History of Chemical Engineering
2. Chemical Engineering