Energy balance
Thread Content
How is energy balance calculated? Is it necessary to know chemical reactions?
The difference between energy balance and mass balance should not be significant; energy flows go hand in hand with mass flows. In short, it’s a matter of conservation. Chemical reactions certainly need to be taken into account, as such reactions generally involve heat effects.
One should be familiar with chemical reactions, as they involve issues of heat absorption or release. Once the reaction equations are known, it is possible to calculate the energy changes based on enthalpy changes and energy balance.
What is more troublesome is the connection between energy balance and momentum balance in the energy calculations (the equations are interrelated). In more complex systems, it is often necessary to first determine the momentum balance before having sufficient conditions to calculate the energy balance. Of course, if the impact on momentum is small, it can be omitted, which simplifies things considerably