Chemical Engineering Board Exam Questions

April 2014
DAY 1 – Physical & Chemical Principles

1. Process of breaking down a large isotope into smaller isotopes.

a. nuclear fission
b. beta particle emission
c. nuclear fusion
d. gamma ray emission

2. Formula of Red Lead (handbook) -Pb3O4

3. Can oxygen be synthesized from nitrogen? (check stellar nucleosynthesis and CNO Nuclear
Fusion, dun namin nakita na hindi siya maaari unless exposed in a very hot temperatures [i.e,
stars and the sun])
a. Yes, by the bombardment of alpha particles
b. Yes, by electron capture
c. Impossible

4. Author of octet rule (Gilbert Lewis)

5. How does alpha, beta and gamma particle affect the mass number of an atom? (4,0,0)

6. Iodine vapor forms iodine crystals when it touches a cold surface. What is the reverse of the
process being described? (sublimation)

7. Notation on alkane containing Cl

a. chloro
b. chloride
c. chlorate
d. chloric

8. Balancing C2H5SH + O2  _CO2 + H20 + SO (note: May typo error. Change SO to SO2 para
may lumabas na sagot from the given choices. May limang tanong din na lumabas patungkol
sa balancing chemical equations sa Day 1)

9. Given: Dodecane
I. Is it soluble in water?
II. Is it soluble in hexane?
III. Is it combustible?
IV. Is it solid, liquid or gas at room temp. & atmospheric conditions?
V. Is it denser than water?
Ans: no, yes, yes, liquid, less dense (Note: Twice lumabas ang tanong na ito pero may typo
error sa pangalawang pagtanong)

10. Characteristics of elements under group 1A (Has 1 electron on its outer most energy level)

Characteristics of elements under group 1A (Has 1 electron on its outer most energy level)
11. A tank is half filled with water, if N2 =1.02 moles and H20 =1.02 moles. What happens to the
N2 when dissolved in water?
a. increase
b. decrease
c. remains the same
d. none of these

12. Description of a primary and a secondary cell

Ans: A primary cell can be recharged while secondary cannot, Ni-Cd is a primary cell, a dry
cell is a secondary cell.
13. Given 1kg of water at 10°C + 1kg water at 30°C. What is the final temp of the mixture?
14. Adolf Baeyer’s contribution in medicine, made by reacting malonic acid and urea with a catalyst
is called. (Barbituric acid)

15. Which layer of the atmosphere contains the ozone layer? (In HB. Stratosphere)
16. Composition of acid in acid rain?
a. nitric and carbonic
b. sulfuric and carbonic
c. nitric and sulfuric

17. Find the empirical formula given 5.045 g of C 0.847 g H and 3.36 g O (note: choices in typo
error, instead of O they used 0)
18. Balancing: Ca(OH)2 + HCl  _CaCl2 + H2O
19. Which of the ff has a higher heat of combustion on a gram per gram basis if Hf is 237 kj/mol and
532 kj/mol for methane and propane respectively? (methane)
20. How to differentiate alkane alkene and alkyne?
a. combustion on an empty beaker
b. nature of carbon and its branching
c. reaction with Br2
21. Which of the ff. has a larger ionic nucleus? Na+ or Na?
a. Both
b. Na+
c. Na
d. none of these
Since the Sodium loses an electron to form its cation

The nucleus has a stronger pull on the remaining electrons because more of its pull can
distribute to the other outer shell electron

Therefore Na > Na+

To futher understand the concept

Compare Cl to Cl-

Now the Chlorine ion gains an electron

The pull from the nucleus now has to deal with an additional electron which increases the
radius

Cl- > Cl

In general terms

Cations will be smaller than their elements

Anions will be bigger than their elements

Source(s):
Of course forgot to mention that radius is the distance between nucleus and the outer most electron
22. What happens to the melting point of a saturated fatty acid if -CH2- increase?
a. increase
b. decrease
c. the same
d. none of these
23. Formula of alar (C6H12N2O3)
24. Particle with the same mass as proton. (neutron, Tip: Constant 1,2,3 in calculator - mass of
proton, neutron and electron)
25. Laguna lake is found to have 100 mg/L of CO3-2 find the maximum concentration of Ca+ ion.
26. Arrange in increasing level of toxicity 1: heptachlor 2: dieldrum 3: DDT 4: Arsenic 5: Cr
27. Given: 1mol of gas A at 1bar and 1mol of gas B at 2bar. If the membrane separating the two gas
mixtures is removed, find the entropy change of the mixture.

28. (Physics problem) Given box with D=1.59 m., E=48.69 J, μ=0.207. What is the mass of the box?
29. Given: aluminum metal is synthesized from Al+3, what is the power required for a forward reaction to produce 1ton
of aluminum metal if the voltage is equal to 4.6V? (Tip: be careful kung anong klaseng ‘ton’ dimension ang ginamit.
Yung ibang tanong, “metric tons” ang nasa given, pero pound tons ang nasa choices.)
30. Two problems on colligative properties: solvents used (water, benzene)(Note: kf or kb not given)

31. Given: 30 μA and 40 sec, how many electrons passed through the cathode ray tube?
32. How many Mn2O4 can be produced in grams, ounce, and mole from 1 gram of Mn2O2?
33. Mn metal is produced from ore containing 29.5% Mn(OH)2, if 1ton of metal is to be produced, how much ore is
needed?
34. Given Pb and 23884 U … 0.3g of lead and 1.7g of uranium, if the half-life of the latter is 4.5x10^9 years and assuming
that all the lead comes from the decay of uranium, estimate how old is the earth?
35. Given: 2 moles of CO2, constant a and b are given for Van der Waal’s gas compute for the work, compare it with
work done on a 2 moles of ideal gas at constant T=301K if the gas allowed to expand from 1L to 4L.
36. Given 0.342 PCl5 dissolved in PCl3 and Cl(g) with 0.243 N2 in 1L V=2.05% find the constant K.
37. Moles of chlorine dioxide that can be formed from a given mass of sodium hypochlorite.
38. Polymer used in bullet proof vest
a. linear polyethylene
b. polyacrylonitrile
c. polycarbonate
d. polymethylacrylate
(Note: Medyo nalito kami dito. Nung hinanap namin, polyaramid ang Kevlar, polyamide with addt’l amide or imide
linkages, meaning walang exact na sagot sa choices.
Uses of linear PET polymer: plastic bags, food containers, soda can rings, plastic ‘Saran’ wrap, milk jugs, and garbage
containers
Uses of polyacrylonitrile: rugs, blankets, clothing
Uses of polycarbonate: compact disks
Uses of polymethylacrylate: plexiglass, aircraft windows, plastic signs, and lighting panels
(eto pinaka safe)

39. Given: Lead metal, melting pt., Cp, Lv, and mass of the metal. Find heat needed to melt all the metal.

40. Given: 1 mol of glacial acetic acid freeze in an ice bath. If Hfacid=11.2kj/mol and Hfice=6.02kj/mol, calculate the
change in entropy of the acid, change in enthalpy of the ice bath, total change in entropy and if the process is rev. or irev.
DAY 2 – Chemical Engineering (37 Objectives)
1. Other term of earth wax (ozocerite)
2. Other name of Yamatake system (process automation - DCS)
a. android
b. windows
c. azbil
3. What is used in ultrasonic flow meters (In HB. Doppler)
4. Which of the following is not dependent on temperature and wavelength?
a. black body
b. gray body
c. plasma
d. moving body
5. Electronic noise inside an electric conductor which is independent of applied voltage
a. shot noise
b. Johnson noise
c. white noise

6. Difference between measured value and set point (choices: deviation, error, oscillation)
7. Which of the ff industries( stated in the question that the industry itself is a power plant) produces electricity aside
from its main product.
a. oil refinery
b. sugar industry
c. biomass industry
8. Problem 10.4 Coulson and Richardson (Leaching)

PROBLEM 10.4
Soda ash is mixed with lime and the liquor from the second of three thickeners and passed
to the first thickener where separation is effected. The quantity of this caustic solution
leaving the first thickener is such as to yield 10 Mg of caustic soda per day of 24 hours.
The solution contains 95 kg of caustic soda/1000 kg of water, whilst the sludge leaving
each of the thickeners consists of one part of solids to one of liquid.
Determine:
(a) the mass of solids in the sludge,
(b) the mass of water admitted to the third thickener and
(c) the percentages of caustic soda in the sludges leaving the respective thickeners.

Solution
Basis: 100 Mg CaCO3 in the sludge leaving each thickener.
In order to produce 100 Mg CaCO3, 106 Mg Na2CO3 must react giving 80 Mg NaOH
according to the equation:
Na2CO3 + Ca(OH)2 = 2NaOH + CaCO3.
For the purposes of calculation it is assumed that a mixture of 100 Mg CaCO3 and 80 Mg
NaOH is fed to the first thickener and w Mg water is the overflow feed to the third
thickener. Assuming that x1, x2 and x3 are the ratios of caustic soda to solution by mass
in each thickener then the mass balances are made as follows:
In the overflow product, 0.095 Mg NaOH is associated with 1 Mg water.
Thus: x1 = 0. 095/( 1 + 0. 095) = 0.0868 Mg/Mg solution ( i)
Assuming that equilibrium is attained in each thickener, the concentration of NaOH in the
overflow product is equal to the concentration of NaOH in the solution in the underflow
product.
Thus: x3 = [100(x2 − x3) ]/ [100(x2 − x3) + w − 100(x2 − x3) ]
= 100(x2 − x3)/w ( ii)
x2 = [100(x1 − x3) ]/ [100(x1 − x3) + w − 100(x1 − x3) ]
= 100(x1 − x3)/w ( iii)
x3 = ( 80 − 100x3)/ [80 − 100x3 + w − 100( 1 − x3) ]
= ( 80 − 100x3)/(w − 20) ( iv)
Solving equations (i)–(iv) simultaneously, gives:
x3 = 0.0010 Mg/Mg, x2 = 0.0093 Mg/Mg, x1 = 0.0868 Mg/Mg
and: w = 940.5 Mg/100 Mg CaCO3
The overflow product = w − 100( 1 − x3) = 840.6 Mg/100 Mg CaCO3 .
The actual flow of caustic solution = ( 10/ 0. 0868) = 115 Mg/day.
Thus: mass of CaCO3 in sludge = ( 100 Å~ 115)/ 840. 6 = 13.7 Mg/day
The mass of water fed to third thickener = 940.5 Mg/100 Mg CaCO3
or: = ( 940. 5 Å~ 13. 7)/ 100 = 129 Mg/day
The total mass of sludge leaving each thickener = 200 Mg/100 Mg CaCO3 .
The mass of caustic soda in the sludge = 100x1 Mg/100 Mg CaCO3 and hence the concentration
of caustic in sludge leaving,
thickener 1 = ( 100 Å~ 0. 0868 Å~ 100)/ 200 = 4.34 per cent
thickener 2 = ( 100 Å~ 0. 0093 Å~ 100)/ 200 = 0.47 per cent
thickener 3 = ( 100 Å~ 0. 0010 Å~ 100)/ 200 = 0.05 per cent

9. Problem 7.2 Coulson and Richardson (filtration)

PROBLEM 7.2
A slurry containing 100 kg of whiting/m3 of water, is filtered in a plate and frame press,
which takes 900 s to dismantle, clean and re-assemble. If the filter cake is incompressible
and has a voidage of 0.4, what is the optimum thickness of cake for a filtration pressure
of 1000 kN/m2? The density of the whiting is 3000 kg/m3. If the cake is washed at
500 kN/m2 and the total volume of wash water employed is 25 per cent of that of the
filtrate, how is the optimum thickness of cake affected? The resistance of the filter medium
may be neglected and the viscosity of water is 1 mN s/m2. In an experiment, a pressure of
165 kN/m2 produced a flow of water of 0.02 cm3/s though a centimetre cube of filter cake.

Solution
The basic filtration equation may be written as:
where r is defined as the specific resistance of the cake.
The slurry contains 100 kg whiting/m3 of water.
Volume of 100 kg whiting = (100/3000) = 0.0333 m3.
Volume of cake = 0.0333/(1 − 0.4) = 0.0556 m3.
10. Given: Equimolar liquid mixture of B and T is in equilibrium with its vapor at 30°C.(note: hint given, use Raoult’s
law or henry’s law)
 _What is the pressure of the system? Choices in mmHg
a. 76 b. 78 c. 79 d. 80
 _What is the composition of B in the vapor? Choices in mol B/mol
a. 0.746 b. 0.764 c. 0.674 d. 0.667
 _A gas with 1% mol of ethane is in contact with water at 20°C and 20 atm. What is the mol fraction of dissolved
ethane? choices in KmolC2H6/mol
a. 0.0607 b. 0.0067 c. 0.0706 d. 0.0076

11. Given a solution with 5g of solute in 100g of water at 1atm. The solution boils at 100.421°C.
 _What is the molecular wt. of the compound if the mol fraction of the solute in the solution is 0.421/28.5?choices in
g/gmol
a. 65.1 b.61.0 c.60.1 d.62.1
 _What is the effective vapor pressure of the solvent at 25°C?choices in mmHg

a.25.3 b.26.0 c.23.4 d.24.3

 _What is the freezing point of the solution at 1atm? choices in °C

a.-3.15 b.-1.53 c.-3.53 d.-1.35

12. Given: Air P1=10atm T1=40°F molar volume=36.49ft3/lbmol P2=1atm T2=140°F (cp=7 cv=5 BTU/lbmol °F) if
PV/T=K
 _What is the final volume? choices in ft3
a.473.39 b.479.37 c.493.43 d.437.93
 _What is the internal energy of the 2 systems combined? choices in BTU

a.510.70 b.507.7 c.570 d.500.07

 _What is the enthalpy of the system? choices in BTU

a.730.3 b.706.3 c.703.6 d760.6

13. What is the value of R for 1 gmol of ideal gas and if pressure is in atm, volume in m3 and tempreture in K.

a.80.60 b.86.20 c.82.06 d.88.06

14. What is the specific gravity of nitrogen at 80°F and 745mmHg compared to air at 80°F and 745mmHg.(ans: 28/29)

15. Given: Hydrogen gas P1=15psia T1=80°F compressed at a rate of 20ft3/min in a hot environment until P=75.3psig.
Heat is introduced at a rate of 20BTU/min and the change in entropy is 0.268BTU/min.R.
T1=540R h1=3660.9 u1=2588.5 sp heat=31.232
 _What is the final T in R?

a.709 b.790 c.970 d.907

 _What is the work in equivalent HP if the system is non-flow?

a.2.14 b.4.44 c.2.14 d.4.21

 _Work if the system is steady flow in BTU/min

a.-153 b.-351 c.-315 d.-135

16. A contact process plant produces 98% H2SO4 by absorbing SO3 in 97.3%H2SO4. A gas contains 8%SO3 (92% inert)
enters the absorption tower at a rate of 28lbmol/hr and 98.5% of SO3 is absorbed in the process. A 95.9%H2SO4 was used
as a make-up acid in the process. Reaction: H2O + SO3 H2SO4
 _Calculate the amount of 95.9%H2SO4 used in tons/day (choices are in lbs)

a.2260 b.2660 c.2060 d.2460

 _Calculate the 97.3%H2SO4 used in tons/day (choices are in lbs)

a.6740 b.6470 c.6070 d.6670

 _Amount of 98% H2SO4 produced in ton/day (choices are in lbs)

a.2120 b.2040 c.2240 d.2420

17. Given a relative volatility of 4,600 mols of A and 400 mols of B are fed in a kettle for distillation. A is more volatile
than B.
 _What is the amount of the overhead product if the remaining mixture in the kettle is 80%B?(725 mols)
 _How much A is in the overhead product?(545 mols)
 _If 50% of the feed evaporated, how much A remains in the kettle?
18. Drying of Solids from 25% to 10% at constant drying conditions with Xc=15% and Xe=5% takes 4.17hrs. A solid is
to dry from 30% to 8% with the same drying conditions. (note: nasa Coulson daw itong problem ans: C,A,C)
 _What is the rate of drying in the 1st period? (choices in kg/sec)
a.0.131 b. 0.253 c.0.113 d.0.311
 _What is the falling rate in the 2nd drying period? (choices in kg/kg)

a.0.05 b.0.03 c.0.04 d.0.02

 _What is the total time? (choices in hrs.)
a.6.56 b.6.86 c.6.65 d.6.95
19. Given a minimum fluidization of sand in water at 24°C

Ρp=2550kg/m3 sphericity = 0.86 ε=0.42 h=1.75m ave particle size=0.4mm diameter(bed)=(nakalimutan q kopyahin)
(note: nasa Coulson din daw itong problem)
 _How much solid is needed? choices in kg

a.235.52 b.352.32 c.523.35 d.325.25

 _What is the pressure drop? choices in Kpa

a.14.5 b.13.4 c.15.4 d.17.3

 _What is the velocity of the liquid? choices in m/hr

a.6.75 b.7.65 c.5.76 d.7.57

20. A plant produces ETOH as a fuel at 100000L/day(99.5% V/v)

Density of ETOH=0.789kg/L
Fermentation= 0.511kgetoh/kg of fermentable sugar. If syrup is 53% fermentable sugar and cane juice is 25% syrup
(distillation is 99% efficient fermentation is 90% efficient)
 _What is the amount of syrup feed in tons/day?
 _What is the amount of cane juice feed in tons/day?
 _Recovery of alcohol in terms of cane juice?

DAY 3 – General Engineering

 _Age problem (1)
 _Clock problem (2)
 _Work problem (1)
 _Probability (permutations, combinations) (5)
 _Differential equations (4)