property>volumetric mass flowrate

What is Volumetric Mass Flowrate?

The volumetric mass flowrate or flux is a term used in engineering to denote the rate at which the mass of a substance is being created in a unit volume, for example the rate at which a chemical compound is being created in a chemical reaction.

In chemical engineering, a mass balance uses the principle of the conversation of mass to analyze how reactions occur in physical systems such as chemical reaction vessels. If there is no chemical reaction occurring in the reactor, then the input and output mass flowrates will balance for a steady state system. However, if there is a chemical reaction an additional term appears in the mass balance equation for the chemical species being generated by the reaction such that:

F_input + F_generated = F_output

If the system is changing with time, an additional term would represent the rate of accumulation or removal of the chemical species. This rate of generation of mass of a particular species can be thought of as a volumetric mass flowrate or flux.

Although the total mass of the system will always remain the same, chemical reactions can cause changes in the chemical composition.