Columns, reactors, exchangers, machines and more
Twenty-five blocks on the Equipment Palette, each with its own view: a Design tab to specify it, results, diagnostics, a diagram that explains its answer, and an equipment datasheet.
Distillation, absorption and stripping
The column solves the full MESH equations stage by stage. Three rigorous engines, Inside-Out, Newton and Sum-Rates, are ranked for each column by a live probe of how strongly its K-values depend on composition, and the solver picks, so you do not have to.
- Condenser and reboiler specifications, design specifications with a varied variable, column-wide specifications
- Side draws, side strippers and pumparounds on the distillation column
- Free water: an immiscible water phase handled the way refinery columns need it
- Tray table, temperature, pressure, flow and composition profiles, McCabe–Thiele and residue curve maps
- An optional AI convergence advisor for the column that will not converge
Distillation Column
Condenser and reboiler, several feeds, side draws, side strippers and pumparounds.
Reboiled Absorber / Stripper
A reboiler at the bottom and no condenser: strippers and reboiled absorbers.
Refluxed Absorber
A condenser at the top and no reboiler.
Absorber / Steam Stripper
No condenser and no reboiler: gas absorbers and steam strippers.
Shortcut Column (FUG)
Fenske, Underwood and Gilliland: minimum stages, minimum reflux and a first design in seconds.
Reactors
Five reactor models, from a stated conversion to rate laws integrated along a tube. Each one draws the diagram behind its answer: the progress of a conversion, the van ’t Hoff line of an equilibrium constant, the Gibbs energy surface, or the profile along a plug-flow reactor.
- Kinetic and heterogeneous catalytic rate laws for the PFR and CSTR
- Every equilibrium constant shown with where it came from
- Mole and energy balances closed and the outlet flashed on every solve
Conversion Reactor
State what reacts and how much; the limiting reactant caps the conversion.
Equilibrium Reactor
Every reaction held at its equilibrium constant, all solved together. Reforming, water-gas shift.
Gibbs Reactor
No reactions needed: the outlet minimises total Gibbs energy under the element balances.
Plug-Flow Reactor (PFR)
Rate laws integrated along the length, with temperature and composition profiles.
CSTR
A perfectly mixed vessel, with the rate evaluated at the outlet state and a stability diagram.
Heat transfer
The exchanger works in zones. Where a stream boils or condenses part-way through, it splits the duty at each phase change and reports the UA the geometry actually needs, the minimum approach and where the pinch sits.
- Temperature cross and pinch detected and reported
- Each side flashes its own outlet, free water included
- A TEMA-style datasheet for every exchanger
Heater / Reboiler
Specify the outlet temperature, vapour fraction or duty. A temperature–duty diagram shows where it boils.
Cooler / Condenser
The same model removing heat, with the condensation shown on its diagram.
Heat Exchanger
Two process streams, zone-by-zone UA and LMTD, pinch, temperature cross and T–Q curve.
Rotating equipment
Pump
Pressure rise, efficiency, power and outlet temperature, with the pump curve, operating point and system curve.
Compressor
Isentropic or polytropic efficiency, polytropic head by the GPSA or the Schultz method, and a performance curve.
Expander
The same machine model run the other way: power recovered from a pressure letdown.
Separation vessels
Separator
A two-phase flash drum, with a pressure–temperature diagram and Souders–Brown sizing.
3-Phase Separator
Vapour, hydrocarbon liquid and free water, with liquid–liquid settling in the sizing.
Liquid-Liquid Extractor
A counter-current extraction column over equilibrium stages, with a ternary phase diagram.
Tank
A vessel with a volume: reports the liquid residence time. Leave the vapour outlet open for a sealed tank.
Piping and mixing
Valve
An isenthalpic pressure drop; its pressure–enthalpy diagram shows when a liquid starts to flash.
Mixer
Any number of feeds, even on different fluid packages, flashed at the mixed enthalpy.
Splitter
One stream into several by fraction, every product at the feed’s conditions.
Pipe Segment
Darcy–Weisbach with the Churchill friction factor, Beggs–Brill for two-phase flow, heat loss and the flow regime.
Logical blocks and sub-flowsheets
Recycle
Closes a loop and iterates it to convergence, with a convergence plot.
Adjust
Varies one variable until another reaches its target, within the bounds you give.
Spec (SET)
Copies a value from one object onto another, and the solve order follows it.
Python Script
Your own calculation, written in Python, inside the flowsheet.
Sub-Flowsheet
A whole flowsheet inside one block, with its own fluid package if you want one. More
On the roadmap
These appear greyed on the Equipment Palette and are not available yet.
Energy Stream
Duties carried between units as streams.
Fired Heater
A furnace with its own firing model.
Kettle Vaporizer
Shell-side boiling in a kettle.
Plate Heat Exchanger
Gasketed and brazed plate exchangers.
Heat Exchanger Network
A network of exchangers designed together.
Batch Reactor
Reactions followed through time.
Cyclone, Filter, Centrifuge
Solids handling.
Adsorber
Fixed-bed adsorption.
PID Controller and Sensor
Control elements for dynamic simulation.
Energy and renewables
Electrolyzer, PEM fuel cell, solar panel, wind and hydro turbines.
Put them together on your own process
Download version 1.6.2 and open the 32 sample cases to see the unit operations at work.