Process Simulation
Essentials
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What are we going to cover today?
What does a process simulator do?
Best Practices
Common Mistakes
What does a process simulator do?
Heat and mass balances around unit
operations & whole processes
Calculation of what happens with vapor,
liquid, solid in unit operations cooling,
heating, separating or changing phase
Mass & Energy Balance
What does a process simulator do?
Heat and mass balances around unit
operations & whole processes
Calculation of what happens with vapor,
liquid, solid in unit operations cooling,
heating, separating or changing phase
Have databanks of
physical properties of chemicals
thermodynamic models for vapor-liquid
equilibria
mathematical models for common unit
operations
Databank, Equations, Unit Ops
What do engineers do with process
simulators?
Model existing facilities
Parts or whole plants
Troubleshoot issues
Optimize energy/material use & costs
Increase throughput
Study what happens if conditions are
different
Connect to control system for
monitoring / control
Design new facilities
Best Practices
Start with good physical property
data
Choose & validate your
thermodynamic model
Build model one step at a time
Handle recycles with care
Start with good physical property
data
Which heat capacity curve is correct?
Heat capacity: experimental vs predicted
55
50
Cp (Btu / lbmol*dF)
45
40
CP A
CP B
35
30
25
20
0
20
40
60
80
Temperature (dF)
100
120
140
How to determine if properties are
good
Operational data is great
Pilot plant data is good
Lab data is ok
Literature data is sometimes
not bad
Predicted data isbrave
Learn how to choose
thermodynamics
How do you choose your thermo
model?
Experience with thermo is
necessary
Articles / books can teach you
basics
Compare to data for
important systems
Validate your thermodynamic model
Inspect TPxy diagrams
Run some flash calculations &
inspect results
Have a qualitative idea of what
the phase separation will look
like
Learn how to read Txy, Pxy, Txx, xy
diagrams
One step at a time!
Start simple
Add piece-by-piece & converge at
each step
Handle recycles with care
Calculations get more complicated
Put in a good initial estimate
Specify this flow rate to stabilize calculations!
Let the simulator calculate this flowrate
Start off with loop open to get
estimate
Common Mistakes
Matching plant data
How accurate are the measuring
devices? Last calibrated?
Were all measurements taken at same
steady state conditions?
Are you ignoring trace chemicals?
Neglecting to examine different
conditions (cooling water can average
90F in Houston summer)
Other Common Mistakes
Simulators get played like a video game
Converged doesnt mean correct
Understand your process before modeling
If you dont know what youre doing, youll
get the wrong answer
These are tools; you are the engineer
Garbage in = garbage out
Use engineering judgment, not necessarily
default options
Takeaways from today
Process simulators are powerful tools
to help make it easier to solve a wide
range of engineering problems
You will encounter these tools when
you graduate & should get familiar
with them
Like any tool, its important to know
how to properly use it to get the best
results
Learn more!
Use a simulator to revisit homework problems!
Find a mentor! Find examples!
Learn Tpxy plotsapplied thermodynamics
Read a book!
Edwards, _Chemical Engineering in Practice_,
kindle edition.
Seider, Lewin, _Product and Process Design
Principles_
Kaes, _Refinery Process Modeling_
Read a magazine article!
