ProcessBuilder 1.2 also beings a step change in the ability to include detailed reactor models within process flowsheets for simultaneous design and economic optimisation of reactor and separation sections. PSE’s industry-leading Fixed-Bed Catalytic Reactor library has been significantly upgraded, and a new Trickle-Bed Reactor library now allows design of wetted-surface catalytic reactions such as benzene hydrogenation, hydrotreating and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.
Built on PSE’s state-of-the art gPROMS® 5.0 modelling platform, ProcessBuilder 1.2 also includes powerful new features such as global system analysis (GSA) and high-performance computing (HPC). GSA enables easy, systematic exploration of the complex process decision space using high-fidelity models, making it possible to rapidly assess risks under uncertainty and screen and rank process design and operation alternatives.
HPC brings new power for computationally-intensive calculations, allowing users fully to exploit multi-processor/multi-core machines in order to accelerate large-scale optimisation and GSA applications. A new dynamic solver accelerates execution of dynamic simulation, optimisation and parameter estimation activities by factors of up to 5.
Costas Pantelides, PSE CEO, says “Our mission is to put powerful tools in the hands of sophisticated users who want to move beyond the heat-and-material balance capabilities of traditional process simulators. A major thrust of current developments is the support of high-value applications capable of significantly improving process economics. Next generation large-scale optimisation and analysis techniques mean that it is now possible to revisit many processes that were considered already optimised, and generate substantial new value.”
