An alternate computational architecture for advanced process engineering

An algorithm for equation-oriented (EO) flowsheeting to which the interfacing of external modular procedures is readily allowed is presented. In the algorithm, all the process units in a flowsheet are solved simultaneously in an EO environment while taking advantage of the external software as it is. The algorithm is the basis for the process simulator MIKAN. The simulator consists of two parts, namely EO main, which is the simulator's executive, and add-on blocks to incorporate external procedures. EO main also serves to solve separation processes. The PBM (Pseudo-Binary-Mixture)-based algorithm for separation processes (Ishii & Otto, 2008) is fully exploited in EO main. The equations of the entire system are composed of a set of equations for separation processes and sets of equations representing the input-output relation of each add-on block. The input-output relation is obtained by numerical perturbation where all the component flow rates are perturbed collectively. Although the proposed perturbation is simple and significantly less expensive, it is very reliable since the interactions among the input variables affecting the output are fully accounted for.Robustness, flexibility and efficiency of the new algorithm have been confirmed by its implementation. A serious drawback with the EO approach is the difficult accessibility to the user when incorporating new or external process models. Easy accessibility is an important attribute of the new algorithm, even though the simulator's executive is highly integrated and complex. It is significant that the derivative information at various levels of a flowsheet is easily obtained in the algorithm. The novel algorithmic capabilities of the algorithm provide a robust platform for the next stage of advanced process engineering.