Fundamental Concepts and Computations in Chemical Engineering

Chapter 6. Material Balance Computations

In nature there is no annihilation;

And therefore the thing which is consumed

Either passes into air, or

Is received into some adjacent body.

—Sir Francis Bacon¹

1. Sixteenth-century English philosopher and scientist, widely regarded as the Father of the Scientific Method. Quotation source: Spedding, J., R. L. Ellis, and D. D. Heath, The Works of Francis Bacon, Vol. 2: Philosophical Works 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 1857.

The fundamental principle of the conservation of mass states that matter can neither be created nor destroyed—a concept that has been introduced to students sometimes as early as elementary school. As matter cannot be destroyed, any material or part of material ...