Simulation Gets a New Dynamic

In many ways, modeling has become an established tool for process engineers. Steady-state simulations are now routine for much process design work, while the more-challenging world of dynamic simulation has virtually spawned the rapidly growing market for operator training systems (OTS’) for everything from tightly integrated petrochemical complexes to offshore platforms. However, few would question that dynamic simulation could play a greater role in process engineering. The question is whether it is now poised for wider adoption by practicing process engineers.

The ability to mathematically model a process and its unit operations from first principles arguably dates back to the advent of the first computers powerful enough to do the number crunching — but those mainframe and VAX days are long gone. “Most of us in the past in the chemical industry had our own simulators, before they became commercially available,” recalls John Pendergast, senior technical leader with Dow’s Engineering and Process Sciences Laboratory in Midland, Mich. But the processing and modeling times involved then were hardly suited to dynamic simulations. “Realistically,” he says, “the ability to solve dynamic problems is only about three to four years old.”

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Simulation Gets a New Dynamic
Mike Spear, ChemicalProcessing.com
Efforts aim to boost the use of dynamic models by process and control engineers.