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Chemical & Process Industries

Reactor kinetics, distillation columns, mixing/blending processes, safety relief systems

18 articles

Article

OpenLCA for Life Cycle Assessment in Chemical Process Industries: Quantifying Environmental Footprints from Cradle to Gate

OpenLCA is an open-source life cycle assessment platform that enables chemical engineers to quantify environmental impacts—GWP, water depletion, ecotoxicity—across entire supply chains. This article covers the full workflow from process simulation export to impact assessment, contribution analysis, and Monte Carlo uncertainty propagation. Practical integration with Aspen Plus, DWSIM, and the olca-ipc Python API is also discussed.

By Jeff 63 views
News

Ansys FreeFlow 2026 R1: SPH Adaptive Sizing, IISPH Default Solver, and Expanded Multiphysics Integration

Ansys FreeFlow 2026 R1 delivers a major leap for particle-based free-surface flow simulation, promoting the Implicit Incompressible SPH solver to default status and introducing adaptive particle sizing for targeted resolution control. Additional enhancements to viscous modeling, heat transfer, and optiSLang coupling round out a release aimed at production-scale SPH workflows.

By Jeff 155 views
News

CONVERGE 6: AI-Driven Automation, Expanded GPU Solver, and ARROW Combustion Workflow Mark a Major Leap for Reacting Flow CFD

Convergent Science released CONVERGE 6 on July 2, 2026, introducing AI-agent integration with CONVERGE Studio, a substantially expanded GPU solver covering compressible flows, RANS/LES turbulence, and detailed combustion chemistry, plus the new ARROW tool for automated chemical mechanism reduction and tuning. These advances significantly reduce setup time and computational cost for internal combustion engine, gas turbine, and reacting flow simulations.

By Jeff 168 views
Article

VMGSim: Rigorous Upstream and Midstream Process Simulation for Oil & Gas Facilities

VMGSim is a high-fidelity process simulator built for upstream and midstream oil and gas applications. It combines CPA and PC-SAFT thermodynamics with rate-based amine treating models and dynamic compressor surge analysis. This article covers NGL recovery, TEG dehydration, and Python automation workflows for facility engineers.

By Jeff 121 views
Article

COMSOL Multiphysics for Chemical Reactor Design: Coupling Transport Phenomena with Reaction Kinetics

COMSOL Multiphysics enables engineers to simulate chemical reactors with full coupling between fluid dynamics, heat transfer, mass transport, and reaction kinetics. Unlike lumped-parameter process simulators, COMSOL resolves spatial temperature and concentration gradients — including hot spots — within real reactor geometries. This article covers model setup, kinetics implementation, and practical application to ethylene oxide reactor design.

By Jeff 175 views
Article

ProMax: Rigorous Simulation of Gas Treating, Sweetening, and Dehydration Processes

ProMax by Bryan Research & Engineering is the industry-standard simulator for natural gas treating, using rigorous rate-based mass transfer models for amine sweetening, TEG dehydration, and Claus sulfur recovery. This article covers its core modeling capabilities, supported solvent systems, and optimization workflows for gas processing engineers.

By Jeff 146 views
Article

SuperPro Designer: Batch Scheduling and Techno-Economic Analysis for Bioprocess and Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

SuperPro Designer by Intelligen is the industry-standard simulation platform for batch bioprocess and pharmaceutical manufacturing, combining recipe-driven scheduling, 140+ unit operations, and integrated cost-of-goods analysis. This article explores its Gantt-based scheduling engine, equipment sizing capabilities, and techno-economic analysis module through the lens of monoclonal antibody downstream processing.

By Jeff 546 views
Article

gPROMS ProcessBuilder: Equation-Oriented Simulation for Advanced Process Optimization and Parameter Estimation

gPROMS ProcessBuilder by Process Systems Enterprise employs an equation-oriented architecture that solves all process model equations simultaneously, enabling rigorous parameter estimation from plant data, dynamic optimization, and reliable convergence of tightly integrated flowsheets. This article explores how its EO solver, built-in maximum likelihood parameter estimation, and simultaneous collocation dynamic optimizer differentiate it from sequential-modular tools like Aspen Plus and HYSYS. Engineers working on reactive distillation, batch optimization, or kinetic model fitting will find gPROMS ProcessBuilder's capabilities particularly compelling.

By Jeff 497 views
News

KBC Petro-SIM v7.6: AI-Integrated Digital Twin Platform Advances Process Simulation for Energy Transition

KBC (A Yokogawa Company) has released Petro-SIM v7.6, a major update to its flagship process simulation platform that combines first-principles physics modeling with AI/ML integration, a new NOMAD blackbox optimization solver, and a Fischer-Tropsch reactor model for sustainable aviation fuel production. The release delivers up to 30% faster solving times for hydroprocessing simulations and introduces advanced polymer modeling powered by Predici.

By Jeff 787 views
News

Realis Simulation 2025.2: 50% Faster Combustion CFD, Dual-Fuel H₂/NH₃ Support, and Tighter CFD-FEA Coupling

Realis Simulation 2025.2 delivers a 50% reduction in VECTIS R2DK combustion run times, new dual-fuel auto-ignition capabilities for hydrogen and ammonia blends, and a validated FEARCE-Vulcan thermal model for hydrogen direct-injection engines. The release also adds direct modeFRONTIER coupling for automated DOE workflows and builds on the 95%-faster CFD-FEA heat transfer mapping introduced in 2025.1.

By Jeff 526 views
Article

PRO/II by AVEVA: Steady-State Process Simulation for Refining and Petrochemical Applications

PRO/II by AVEVA is a rigorous steady-state process simulator purpose-built for petroleum refining and petrochemical applications, offering specialized crude assay characterization, industry-standard thermodynamic packages, and powerful reactor models. This article explores PRO/II's core capabilities—from CDU modeling and thermodynamic package selection to sensitivity analysis and AVEVA ecosystem integration—along with best practices for building reliable refinery simulation flowsheets.

By Jeff 550 views
Article

Aspen HYSYS Reactor Modeling: Kinetic and Equilibrium Reactors for Chemical Process Design

Aspen HYSYS provides a comprehensive suite of reactor models—from simple conversion reactors to rigorous kinetic PFRs—enabling chemical engineers to accurately simulate, optimize, and troubleshoot reactor performance. This article covers reactor type selection, kinetic data entry best practices, thermodynamic package coupling, and sensitivity analysis workflows.

By Jeff 582 views
News

COMSOL Multiphysics 6.4 Delivers 5x GPU Speedup, New Granular Flow Module, and LLM-Assisted Simulation

COMSOL releases version 6.4 of its flagship multiphysics simulation platform, featuring NVIDIA cuDSS GPU acceleration delivering 5x speedups, a new DEM-based Granular Flow Module for pharmaceutical and chemical processing applications, a time-explicit dynamic analysis framework for impact and crash simulations, and optional LLM-assisted simulation via GPT-5, DeepSeek, and Google Gemini.

By Jeff 1194 views
Article

Aspen Plus: Advanced Chemical Process Simulation and Optimization

Explore Aspen Plus, the industry-leading chemical process simulation software that enables engineers to design, optimize, and analyze complex chemical processes with advanced thermodynamic modeling and process optimization capabilities.

By Jeff 894 views