A fuel distributor supplies four liquid fuels, each of which has a different ratio of

Chapter 4, Problem 4.16

(choose chapter or problem)

A fuel distributor supplies four liquid fuels, each of which has a different ratio of ethanol to gasoline. Five percent of the demand is for E100 (pure ethanol), 15% for E85 (85.0 volume% ethanol), 40% for E10 (10.0% ethanol), and the remainder for pure gasoline. The distributor blends gasoline and ethanol to produce E85 and E10, and the four products are produced continuously. (a) Draw and label a flowchart for the blending operation, letting V_ represent the combined volumetric flow rate of all four fuels and V_ G and V_ E represent the volumetric flow rates of gasoline and ethanol sold as fuels and sent to the blending operation. (b) Assuming volume additivity when blending ethanol and gasoline, determine the volumetric flow rates of all streams when delivery of 100,000 L/d of E10 is specified. (c) Tank trucks are to transport the fuel from the blending operation to service stations in the area. The gross weight of a loaded truck, which has a tare (empty) weight of 12,700 kg, cannot exceed 36,000 kg. Assuming the specific gravity of pure gasoline is 0.73, estimate the maximum volume (L) of each fuel that can be loaded onto a truck.