Chemical Engineering PE Exam Flashcards
6 cards from real NCEES practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Chemical Engineering PE Exam flashcards as text
On the NCEES PE Chemical exam, what is 'HAZOP' (Hazard and Operability Study) used for?
Answer: A systematic process safety review technique to identify hazards and operability problems in process design
HAZOP uses guide words (More, Less, No, Reverse, Other Than) applied to process parameters (flow, temperature, pressure) to systematically identify potential hazards and operability issues.
In the NCEES PE Chemical exam, what is the 'Arrhenius equation' used to describe?
Answer: The exponential dependence of reaction rate constant on temperature: k = A × exp(−Ea/RT)
The Arrhenius equation k = A·exp(−Ea/RT) quantifies how the rate constant increases exponentially with temperature, where Ea is activation energy and A is the pre-exponential frequency factor.
For the NCEES PE Chemical exam, what is the 'effectiveness factor' (η) in heterogeneous catalysis?
Answer: The ratio of actual reaction rate with diffusion limitations to the rate at surface conditions (no diffusion resistance)
The effectiveness factor η = (actual rate with intraparticle diffusion) / (rate at external surface conditions), typically < 1, quantifying how much internal diffusion resistance reduces catalyst utilization.
On the NCEES PE Chemical exam, what does 'process intensification' aim to achieve?
Answer: Dramatically reducing equipment size, energy use, and waste through integration of process functions
Process intensification (PI) develops equipment and methods that achieve dramatic improvements in manufacturing efficiency through miniaturization, integration, and novel process concepts.
In the NCEES PE Chemical exam, what is the purpose of 'layer of protection analysis (LOPA)' in process safety?
Answer: To semi-quantitatively estimate the frequency of an undesired event and verify that independent protection layers are adequate to meet risk tolerances
LOPA evaluates each independent protection layer (IPL) and their probability of failure on demand to determine if the combination of safeguards reduces risk to an acceptable level.
For the NCEES PE Chemical exam, what does 'fugacity' represent in chemical thermodynamics?
Answer: The tendency of a component to escape from a phase, used as a corrected pressure for non-ideal fluids in phase equilibrium calculations
Fugacity is an effective pressure that accounts for non-ideal behavior; at equilibrium, the fugacity of each component must be equal in all phases, generalizing Raoult's law for non-ideal systems.
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