Application examples

Application Examples

ProSim is making these application examples available to you to demonstrate how our simulation solutions are able to handle the different processes encountered in the chemical industries.

Note: these files are provided “as is” without any warranty of any nature whatsoever. ProSim does not warrant that the functions contained in the programs are error free nor that they will meet user’s requirements. ProSim makes no warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to, any warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. ProSim shall have no responsibility or liability for damages arising out of or related to the delivery, use, efficiency, or suitability of these examples or the application of the results.

 

 

ProSim Application examples

ProSim is making these application examples available to you to demonstrate how our simulation solutions are able to handle the different processes encountered in the chemical industries.

Note: these files are provided “as is” without any warranty of any nature whatsoever. ProSim does not warrant that the functions contained in the programs are error free nor that they will meet user’s requirements. ProSim makes no warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to, any warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. ProSim shall have no responsibility or liability for damages arising out of or related to the delivery, use, efficiency, or suitability of these examples or the application of the results.

 

 

BatchColumn

The examples presented below are designed to illustrate the use of BatchColumn.

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Purification of Thymol by batch distillation

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The main interest of this example is to describe two different heating systems for the boiler: an external jacket and a helical coil. Furthermore a reactive calculator generated by Simulis Kinetics after the identification of the kinetic parameters for the thymol synthesis is also used. This way, the components, the thermodynamic model, and the chemical reactions can be easily loaded in the BatchColumn simulation.

BatchReactor

The examples presented below are designed to illustrate the use of BatchReactor.

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Identification of the reaction scheme of the thymol synthesis

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This example presents the use of experimental concentration data to identify the kinetic parameters of a reaction scheme. The reactions taken into account are controlled by kinetics. At the end of the identification, a reactive calculator is generated. This way, the components, the thermodynamic model and the chemical reactions can be easily loaded in BatchReactor and BatchColumn simulations.

Reactor with Heterogeneous catalytic reactions

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The main interest of this example is the simulation of a set of three heterogeneous catalytic reactions. These reactions follow the Langmuir-Hinshelwood formalism.

Scale-up of a chlorination reactor

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The main interest of this example is the scale-up a chlorination reactor. The chlorination of o-chlorotoluene is performed in a vapor-liquid reactor. The heating/cooling device of the reactor and the condenser geometry are specified. During the reaction step, the temperature level in the reactor is controlled with a PID.

Simulation of a pressure increase scenario in a 2-phase reactor

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This example presents a simple case of pressure increase of a tank, followed by a depressurization after the rupture disc breaks out. The characteristics of the flow at the vent and the evolution of the tank load are followed over time.

Simulation of batch gluconic acid production with user defined kinetics

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The main interest of this simple example is to show how user can very simply describe his own kinetics models using the advanced mode available in Simulis Reactions, the chemical reactions server used in BatchReactor software. This white biotechnology example deals with the fermentation of glucose to gluconic acid, which involves the oxidation of the aldehyde group of the sugar to a carboxyl group.

Simulation of batch poly-B-hydroxybutyric acid (PHB) production with user defined kinetics

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The main interest of this example is to show how user can describe his own kinetics models using the advanced mode available in Simulis Reactions, the chemical reactions server used in BatchReactor software.

Simulation of batch starch enzymatic hydrolysis with user defined kinetics

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The main interest of this example is to show how user can very simply describe his own kinetics models using the advanced mode available in Simulis Reactions, the chemical reactions server used in BatchReactor software. This food processing example deals with the enzymatic hydrolysis of starch to form fermentable carbohydrates (glucose, maltose and maltotriose) in beer production.

Simulation of batch tomato sauce oxidation

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The main interest of this example is to show how user can very simply describe his own kinetics models using the advanced mode available in Simulis Reactions, the chemical reactions server used in BatchReactor software. This food processing example deals with reactions that some components of the tomato sauce, such as ascorbic acid, chlorogenic acid and β-carotene, suffer during the production of this product.

Simulation of fresh spirulina production within a photobioreactor with user-defined kinetics

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The main interest of this example is to illustrate how to model photobioreactors using BatchReactor software. With the advanced mode available in Simulis Reactions, the user can import libraries of kinetic models that can be easily modified and adjusted to suit a wide range of bioreactions.

Single-phase reactor with heating/cooling device – risk analysis

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This example shows the modelling of a monophasic reactor for which the heating device is described. Another interest is to set two stop events for a same step. This example also allows to simulate a failure case on the reactor.

Synthesis reactor of Thymol

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The main interest of this example is to use a reactive calculator generated by Simulis Kinetics after the identification of the reaction scheme of the thymol synthesis. Consequently, the components, the thermodynamic model and the chemical reactions are automatically provided in the BatchReactor simulation. The cooling device of the reactor is specified.

ProSec

The examples presented below are designed to illustrate the use of ProSec.

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LPG recovery unit

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This example shows a brazed plate-fin heat exchanger used in a process of LPG recovery from a natural gas. This heat exchanger is modeled using ProSec, ProSim’s CAPE-OPEN compliant unit operation dedicated to the simulation of brazed plate-fin heat exchangers. ProSec allows taking into account the effect of the stacking and of the pressure drop on the enthalpy curves.

Simulation of a brazed plate-fin heat exchanger with ProSec CAPE-OPEN unit operation

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This example shows brazed plate-fin heat exchanger with two fluids. There is a side stream on the hot stream and an external recirculation on the cold stream. This heat exchanger is modeled using ProSec, ProSim’s CAPE-OPEN compliant unit operation dedicated to the simulation of brazed plate-fin heat exchangers. ProSec can take into account the effect of the stacking and of the pressure drop on the enthalpy curves. In this example, the ProSec unit operation runs inside the ProSimPlus environment, i.e., within the ProSimPlus simulation software where the thermodynamic and physico-chemical data needed are automatically calculated using Simulis Thermodynamics, the thermodynamic calculation server of ProSimPlus.

Simulation of a cross-flow plate-fin heat exchanger

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This example shows a cross-flow plate-fin heat exchanger used in a gas-gas application. This heat exchanger is modeled using ProSec, ProSim’s CAPE-OPEN compliant unit operation dedicated to the simulation of plate-fin heat exchangers. Regarding the thermodynamic and physico-chemical data needed, they are automatically calculated using the thermodynamic calculation server of the process simulation software.

ProSim DAC

The examples presented below are designed to illustrate the use of ProSim DAC.

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Propane adsorption on an activated carbon

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This example deals with a TSA process (Thermal Swing Adsorption) in which propane is adsorbed on an activated carbon. The thermal regeneration of the activated carbon is done by a hot nitrogen stream.

TSA Process – Dichloromethane adsorption on an activated carbon

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This example deals with a TSA process (Thermal Swing Adsorption) in which dichloromethane is adsorbed on an activated carbon. The thermal regeneration of the activated carbon is done by a hot nitrogen stream.

VTSA Process – Dichloromethane adsorption on an activated carbon

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This example deals with a VTSA process (Vacuum Thermal Swing Adsorption) in which dichloromethane is adsorbed on an activated carbon. The regeneration of the activated carbon is done in two steps: 1. Thermally by a hot nitrogen stream, 2. In vacuum by a low pressure nitrogen stream

ProSim HEX

The examples presented below are designed to illustrate the use of ProSim HEX.

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Simulation of a plate heat exchanger used to cool a sucrose solution

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This example shows a two-fluid plate heat exchanger used to cool a solution of sucrose (60° Brix) with water. This counter-current heat exchanger has two passes on both sides. Each pass is counter-current. Pure sucrose component is modified to represent the thermal and transport properties of the sucrose solution (60° Brix). This heat exchanger is modeled using ProSim PHE, ProSim’s CAPE-OPEN unit operation dedicated to the simulation of plate heat exchangers. ProSim PHE can take into account the effect of the stacking and of the pressure drop on the enthalpy curves. In this example, the ProSim PHE unit operation runs inside the ProSimPlus environment, i.e., within the ProSimPlus simulation software where the thermodynamic and physico-chemical data needed are automatically calculated using Simulis Thermodynamics, the thermodynamic calculation server of ProSimPlus.

ProSimPlus HNO3

The examples presented below are designed to illustrate the use of ProSimPlus HNO3.

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Ammonia synthesis process

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This example presents the ammonia synthesis process from natural gas. This example includes two simulations: one simulation is dedicated to the entire process and another to the reactor alone to take into account its technological specificities. A pinch analysis of the process is also carried out.

Dual pressure nitric acid manufacturing process

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This example corresponds to the simulation of a manufacturing unit of nitric acid by a dual-pressure process. It is a rather traditional process of industrial production of nitric acid. The main modules specific to the simulator ProSimPlus HNO3 are implemented here: absorption column of nitrous vapors, nitrous vapors condensers, oxidation reactors, heat exchangers with oxidation volumes, nitrous vapor compressors, etc.

Mono pressure nitric acid manufacturing process

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This example illustrates the simulation of a manufacturing unit of nitric acid by a monopressure process. It is also a rather traditional process of nitric acid industrial production. The main modules specific to the simulator ProSimPlus HNO3 are implemented here: absorption column of nitrous vapors, nitrous vapors condensers, oxidation reactors, heat exchangers with oxidation volumes, nitrous vapor compressors, etc.

Packed column for NOx absorption

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This example uses a column with two packing beds to absorb the NOx of a gas stream with a weak solution of nitric acid. The flow rate of this solution is determined to respect the NOx content of the gas stream leaving the column.

ProSimPlus

The examples presented below are designed to illustrate the use of ProSimPlus.

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Absorption heat pumps

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This document presents the simulations of different absorption heat pump cycles. Two types of absorption heat pump are presented: an absorption heat transformer and an absorption refrigerator. A industrial example is also presented to illustrate the utilization of absorption heat pump.

Ammonia synthesis process

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This example presents the ammonia synthesis process from natural gas. This example includes two simulations: one simulation is dedicated to the entire process and another to the reactor alone to take into account its technological specificities. A pinch analysis of the process is also carried out.

Bioethanol production plant

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In this example, a bioethanol production unit is presented. Ethanol is produced from biomass by hydrolysis and sugar fermentation. First, the biomass is pre-treated with acid and enzyme to produce sugar. The sugar is then fermented into ethanol. The ethanol produced still contains a significant amount of water, which is removed by using fractional distillation.

Biofuel production plant

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This example illustrates the production of biofuel from pure vegetable oil with an alkaline catalyst. The process involves a transesterification reaction that requires using an alcohol (usually methanol) and allows producing biofuel and glycerol from oil.

Claus Process

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This example corresponds to the simulation of the well-known Claus process. This process allows the recovery of elemental sulfur from acid gas containing H2S and water, and possibly hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide.

CO2 capture using an amine solution

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This example presents the simulation of a CO2 capture process from flue gas by absorption using an amine solution. The gas is first cooled in a direct contact cooler with water before to be CO2 impoverished in an absorber (absorption column) using an amine solution. The amine is then regenerated in a desorber (distillation column) to be recycled in the absorber. The desorber gas outlet composed of CO2 and water is then cooled and sent in a flash drum to separate water from CO2. This example especially illustrates the use of the ProSimPlus “Generalized balance” module for make-up amine and make-up water flowrates calculation.

CO2 refrigeration cycle

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This example presents the simulation of refrigeration machines with transcritical CO2. Two transcritical cycles are presented, a simple cycle and a two-stage cycle. The cycles allow to provide temperatures below 0°C.

Cogeneration plants with steam turbines

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This example presents the simulation of a cogeneration plant fueled by natural gas (NG). The objective of the process is to merge the production of usable heat and electricity into a single process that can substantially reduce carbon emissions and energy costs. Electricity is produced through a cascade of turbines while the heat is recovered by heat exchangers.

Cyclohexane production unit

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In this example, a cyclohexane production unit is represented. It is a typical chemical industrial process that includes a reaction section where the product is synthesized followed by a separation section where products and by-products are separated. Particular points detailed in this example are: • The use of a constraint management module in order to reach a specification. • The use of an information stream to split a heat exchanger between a temperature set point and a simple exchanger, in order to avoid a stream recycle.

Deethanizer with thermosiphon

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This example deals with the simulation of a deethanizer. The aim of this column is to recover as much as possible of ethane in the overhead product. Thus, the propane and the heavier lie in the bottoms. The particular point which is detailed is the modeling of the thermosiphon reboiler. This equipment is precisely taken into account by the representation of the downcomer and the riser. The pressure drop balance is computed in a Windows Script module.

Economic evaluation of a toluene hydrodealkylation process

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This example presents the economic evaluation of a toluene hydrodealkylation process with ProSimPlus. The hydrodealkylation reactor is fed with pre-heated hydrogen and toluene. The products of the reaction (benzene, biphenyl and methane) and the residual reactants are separated by a flash and three separation units. The recycling allows to reinject a part of the residual reactants into the hydrodealkylation reactor. This example especially illustrates the use of the ProSimPlus “Economic evaluation” module on a process including different types of unit operations (reactors, columns, pumps, heat exchangers…).

Energy analysis of an esterification process from vegetable oil

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This example illustrates the simulation of a production unit of ester and glycerin (glycerol) by esterification of vegetable oil. The "Pinch analysis" module is used to perform an energy analysis of the process.

Example of use of an external optimization algorithm

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This example illustrates the use of an external optimization algorithm in the ProSimPlus simulation environment. The communication interfaces with the external algorithm are detailed along with a short application example.

Frozen potatoes processing

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This example presents the simulation of a frozen potatoes processing plant. A Water Pinch Analysis (WPA) is performed and the different new water networks are simulated to evaluate the reduction of water consumption and waste water of the process.

Gas deacidification with a purisol process

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This example illustrates a gas deacidification of a hydrogen stream with the Purisol process. N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone (NMP) is used as the solvent. The deacidification is done through a contactor and the solvent regeneration needs three successive flashes. The process objective is to highly decrease the CO2 composition of the input gas. NMP make-up is automatically calculated with simple modules. This example is taken from [KOH97] publication which describes main features of this process.

Heterogeneous extractive distillation

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This example illustrates a high purity separation process of an azeotropic mixture (ethanol-water) through heterogeneous azeotropic distillation. This process includes distillation columns. Additionally these rigorous multi-stage separation modules are part of a recycling stream, demonstrating the efficiency of ProSimPlus convergence methods.

Hydrogen production by electrolysis

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This document showcases the use of the “electrolyzer” module that allows to produce hydrogen from the electrolysis of water. It also allows to discover some graphical features of ProSimPlus (change of modules visuals, display of tags on the flowsheet).

Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) plant

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This example presents an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) based on coal gasification using ProSimPlus.

Load and export of data between ProSimPlus and Excel by scripting

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This example illustrates the possibility to link ProSimPlus to Excel: ProSimPlus loads parameters from an Excel file and exports simulation results to the same Excel file.

LPG recovery

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This example shows a process of LPG recovery in a gas with a propane refrigeration loop. This process is particularly inter-connected and includes several recycle loops.

LPG recovery unit using propane refrigeration. Simulation of BPFHE with CO-ProSec unit operation

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This example shows a process of LPG recovery in a natural gas with a propane refrigeration loop. This process is particularly inter-connected and includes several recycling loops. Additionally, beside the implementation of the absorber module and of the refrigeration loop, this process uses a brazed plate-fin heat exchanger. This heat exchanger is modeled using ProSec, ProSim’s CAPE-OPEN compliant unit operation dedicated to the simulation of brazed plate-fin heat exchangers. ProSec allows taking into account the effect of the stacking and of the pressure drop on the enthalpy curves.

Membrane filtration

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This example presents the simulation of two membrane filters: the first one is dealing with a liquid-liquid filtration and the second one with a gas-gas filtration. The main objective of this example is to illustrate the use of membrane filters in the ProSimPlus software.

Methanol Synthesis

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This example illustrates the synthesis of methanol from a syngas. The syngas can be provided by a gasifier (e.g. “PSPS_E28_EN - IGCC Plant”). The different steps are modeled: syngas compression reaction, flash purification and then final distillation purification of the methanol produced. The synthesis reactor is modelled using Gibbs energy minimization. The particular points which are detailed in this example are the use of a Gibbs reactor, the modeling of the distillation column condenser as an outside unit operation and the use of a “Calculator Switch” to change the thermodynamic model in some part of the process.

Naphthalene separation

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This example illustrates a process to purify naphthalene from a mixture containing 14 components in a three columns distillation train. This example mainly focuses on two-phase (vapor-liquid) distillation columns. For each of the three distillation columns, several specifications are set on the output streams, illustrating the way to set "non-standard" specifications in the multi-stage separation modules of ProSimPlus.

Natural gas deacidification with the Selexol process

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This example illustrates a natural gas deacidification with the Selexol process. Selexol, mixture of polyethylene glycol dimethyl ether, is used as the solvent. The deacidification is done through a contactor and the solvent regeneration needs three successive flashes. The process objective is to highly decrease the CO2 composition of the input gas. Selexol make-up is automatically calculated with simple modules. This example is taken from [RAN76] publication which describes main features of this process.

Natural gas dehydration unit with TEG

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This example illustrates a process to remove water from natural gas using Triethylene Glycol (TEG) as dehydration solvent. The interesting points of this example lie in the use of the “absorption” module for the contactor model and in the representation of two columns connected in series (the TEG regenerator and the TEG stripper) by a single ProSimPlus “stripper” module.

Operating balance optimization of a natural gas liquids plant

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This example presents the optimization of an existing natural gas liquids plant operating balance with ProSimPlus. This example especially illustrates the combined use of the “Economic evaluation” and the “SQP Optimization” modules of ProSimPlus.

PRICO process: natural gas liquefaction

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This example presents the simulation of the PRICO process for the liquefaction of natural gas with a refrigeration cycle.This process is analyzed with the pinch and exergy analysis.

Production and valorization of biogas produced by methanization

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This example presents the simulation of a methanization process producing biogas. The produced biogas is upgraded and used to generate steam with a boiler.

Seawater desalination

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This example presents two seawater desalination technologies. One is based on distillation and the other one on membrane filtration (with the serial and/or parallel association of membrane filters). The purpose of this example is to present these technologies and compare their performances.

Simple example

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The main interest of this simple example is that it allows a progressive approach to process simulation and its main concepts: components involved, thermodynamic models, unit operations and their corresponding operating parameters, recycle loops, etc. The particular points detailed in this example are the concept of recycling loop and the principles of the simultaneous modular approach used in ProSimPlus.

Simulation of a FCCU main fractionator

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This example illustrates the simulation of a FCCU main fractionator with ProSimPlus.

Simulation of a vacuum distillation unit

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This example illustrates the simulation of a vacuum distillation unit with ProSimPlus.

Simulation of an atmospheric distillation unit

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This example illustrates the simulation of a crude oil atmospheric distillation unit with ProSimPlus.

Simulation of an atmospheric distillation unit with a preflash column

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This example illustrates the simulation of a crude oil atmospheric distillation unit with a preflash column with ProSimPlus.

Simulation of different Rankine cycles

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This example presents the simulation of different Rankine cycles powered by geothermal energy. Three types of Rankine cycle are presented: simple cycle, flash cycle and mixed cycle.

Syngas deacidification with the Rectisol process

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This example illustrates a syngas deacidification with the Rectisol process. Methanol is used as the solvent. The deacidification is done through a contactor and the solvent regeneration needs several columns and flashes. The process objective is to refine a syngas of CO2 and H2S in order to have a satisfactory purity in CO2 allowing its storage and a stream of H2S able to be treated in a Claus unit. Methanol make-up is automatically calculated with simple modules. This example is taken from [KOH97] publication which describes main features of this process.

Three stage letdown

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The objective of this example is to simulate a crude oil separation process. This separation process is based on the differences of pressure between the different 3-phase (liquid-liquid-vapor) and 2-phase (liquid-vapor) flashes used. This example makes use of petroleum cuts properties generation which are considered as pseudo-components as well as a specific thermodynamic model for water-hydrocarbon systems.

Three-cycle combines electricity generation plant

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This example presents the simulation of a power plant with three combined cycles: a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), a gas turbine (GT) and a steam cycle (SC).

Thymol production

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The main interest of this example is to show how it is possible to simulate a process integrating steady-state parts and batch parts with ProSim software. (use of the BatchReactor and BatchColumn software in the ProSimPlus simulation environment).

Simulis thermodynamics

The examples presented below are designed to illustrate the use of Simulis Thermodynamics for different types of calculation, in MS-Excel. Far from being complete this list demonstrates the capabilities of the software in terms of flexibility and reliability.

To run these examples, you need to have a valid version of Simulis Thermodynamics installed on your computer. Once the example is open, you need to “force calculation” to view the results.

Evaluate Simulis Thermodynamics here

Double pipe (single phase) heat exchanger

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Calculates the length of a double pipe heat exchanger at given input and output temperature of the process fluid.

Main features of Simulis Thermodynamics

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Goal: this example gives an overview of the main features of Simulis Thermodynamics.

McCabe-Thiele

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Calculate the necessary number of plates in a distillation column to separate two given substances, for given separation specification, reflux ratio and pressure.

Pressure relief valves

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Determine the maximum mass flux for a valve according to the range of pressure defined by the user and compute the relief valve nozzle (orifice) size.

Simulis Calculator

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Goal: this example gives a detailed description of the functions that can be used with a Simulis Calculator object, which enables to compute mixture properties and fluid phase equilibria.

Simulis Calculators

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Goal: this example gives a detailed description of the functions that can be used with a Simulis Calculators object, which enables to handle multiple calculators. Each calculator includes its own compounds and thermodynamic profile.

Simulis Compound

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Goal: this example gives a detailed description of the functions that can be used with a Simulis Compound object, which enables to handle physical properties of one compound.

Simulis Compounds

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Goal: this example gives a detailed description of the functions that can be used with a Simulis Compounds object, which enables to handle physical properties of multiple compounds.

Simulis conversions

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Goal: this example gives a detailed description of the functions that can be used with a Simulis System object, which is dedicated to unit conversion.

Steam electric boiler

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Determine the necessary water input flowrate to obtain a specified vapor flowrate using a steam electric boiler

Steam expander

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Calculate the power generated by an expander and the output temperature from given input temperature, pressure and fixed output pressure.

Water pump

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Calculate the power of a pump and the output temperature from given input temperature, input and output pressure.

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