Steady-State Mass Balance
Steady-State Mass Balance
At steady state what goes in must come out; summing the inlet streams gives the outlet — the foundation of process engineering.
The outlet flow is ṁ_out = ṁ_in1 + ṁ_in2. where ṁ_in1 and ṁ_in2 are the two inlet mass flows.
Inputs
m_in1 := 3 kg/s=3 kg/s
m_in2 := 1.5 kg/s=1.5 kg/s
Sum the inlet flows for the outlet.
m_out := m_in1 + m_in2=4.5 kg/s
Results
With no accumulation, the outlet equals the total inlet. Any imbalance means mass is building up or depleting in the unit.
Assumptions & limitations
- Steady state (no accumulation).
- No reaction generating/consuming mass.
- All streams accounted for.