The document discusses two approaches to modular process simulation: sequential and simultaneous. The sequential approach involves breaking the process down into separate computational modules for each unit operation and solving them sequentially from inputs to outputs. This requires identifying and "tearing" recycle loops to make the calculations sequential. The simultaneous approach solves for all unit operations simultaneously.
The document discusses two approaches to modular process simulation: sequential and simultaneous. The sequential approach involves breaking the process down into separate computational modules for each unit operation and solving them sequentially from inputs to outputs. This requires identifying and "tearing" recycle loops to make the calculations sequential. The simultaneous approach solves for all unit operations simultaneously.
The document discusses two approaches to modular process simulation: sequential and simultaneous. The sequential approach involves breaking the process down into separate computational modules for each unit operation and solving them sequentially from inputs to outputs. This requires identifying and "tearing" recycle loops to make the calculations sequential. The simultaneous approach solves for all unit operations simultaneously.
The document discusses two approaches to modular process simulation: sequential and simultaneous. The sequential approach involves breaking the process down into separate computational modules for each unit operation and solving them sequentially from inputs to outputs. This requires identifying and "tearing" recycle loops to make the calculations sequential. The simultaneous approach solves for all unit operations simultaneously.
Simulation • Analysis versus Design mode • Ideally, with the aim of process simulation to be a design tool, the system inputs and/or design parameters should be calculated from the specified outputs. But such a simulation in the design mode, in general, is numerically less stable than that in the analysis or performance mode. • The correct point of view (in either simulation strategies) is whether the numerical procedure is stable or not. The two contrasting approaches are described in figure 11.1 • Calculating the material and energy balances is the most tedious and repetitive problem of process design. Carrying out simple material balances is enough in the initial stages of the flowsheet study. However, in the later stages of the design study, heat and mass balances must be calculated along with the equilibrium and rate equations, P-V-T relations, and those governing counter-current operations. Generally, all these equations are strongly non-linear. Moreover, in the simplest of the cases, if a process is of a sequential configuration, as shown below [Fig. 11,2(a)], it is easy to proceed from the feed streams until the products are obtained calculating sequentially for one process unit after the other. Contd… • However, majority of the chemical plants are of complex configuration consisting of recycle of streams such as mass [Fig. 11.2(b)] or energy [Fig. 11.2(c)] or both. They represent the interlinked networks of units. In such cases, it is essential to decompose the network in order to make the calculation procedure sequential, which in turn requires convergence promotion. • Taking the above complexities in simulation into account, during the 1960s several design organizations started building libraries of computer programs for various unit operations. It then became evident that many of these could be put into a system enabling one to direct calculations for an entire flowsheet, thus saving considerable engineering time. Contd… • This resulted in the development of specific-purpose programs to simulate a particular plant or part of a plant. These were more detailed in nature and rigid in structure. On close examination of these programs, it became clear that a major portion of the simulations could be common to all types of plants (i.e., calculations involved in various unit operations, methods to compute different physical and thermodynamic properties, decomposition and convergence promotion algorithms, cost information, as well as a library of numerical subroutines. Ultimately, it gave rise to several general-purpose simulation packages. • There are two methods of dealing with the modular approach to simulation. These are (1) the sequential modular approach and (2) the simultaneous modular approach. Sequential modular approach • This approach involves collecting equations and constraints for each process unit into a separate computational subroutine or module. This concept is known as ‘unit computation’. Thus, each module calculates values pertaining to the output streams for the given input conditions and parameters for that process unit or equipment, irrespective of the source of input information or the sink of output information. A diagrammatic representation of the sequential modular approach is given in Fig. 11.3. Contd… • Using this concept, it is possible to create a library of modules and use them for a variety of flowsheets. The sequential part of the approach involves carrying out calculations from module to module, starting with the feed streams until products are obtained. In order to make it totally sequential, it is then necessary to identify recycle loops of units in a given flowsheet and to ‘tear’ certain streams. Tearing of streams implies assumption of some value for that stream. For example, in Fig. 11.4, tearing streams 2 and 7, it is possible to make the calculations sequential in order of the modules (l), (4), (3), (3, and (2). Contd… • Therefore, a general-purpose sequential modular program has the following structural components: • A store of physical and thermodynamic properties for pure chemical species and their mixtures. • A system-working database derived from the store as well as the problem input. • Individual module database derived from the working database. • Modules or subroutines for individual process units, computational procedures including input/output for each module, and internally iterated variables, if any. • Flowsheet topology to be used by the system executive to order computational • sequence. This is usually defined by a ‘process matrix’ which specifies standard unit modules for use in simulation of a particular process along with identification numbers, positive for input streams and negative for the output streams. • Routines for the recycle calculations and convergence analysis. • Other mathematical service routines.