A computer aided engineering system for development of catalytic processes

Abstract

A system for process design and simulation of catalytic processes is described. It is used extensively for development and design of catalytic processes for production of gasses such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, mixtures of hydrogen and nitrogen, and for design of processes for production of ammonia and methanol. New applications are the design processes for hydrotreating and catalytic purification of gases, and the design of fuel cell power plants. The processes are characterized by a high degree of integration between the different sections of a plant, and a method for managing the data flow is, therefore, necessary for efficient evaluation and analysis. This is accomplished by the so-called CAE-system, which includes a data base system with stored stream and equipment properties. The system can automatically transfer the data from one program to the other, so they can be used for equipment design. The data can also be transferred automatically to a flowsheet enabling the user to produce a drawing and all the required data with an easy interpretation of the process calculation. The process calculation itself is carried out by using a general heat and material balance program, GHEMB, which in addition to the common unit operations also contains simplified reactor modules. Rigorous modules can be used for a detailed design of catalytic reactors by execution of specific programs. These specific programs can be called from — and thus integrated into — a GHEMB calculation. In the paper, the GHEMB program and the CAE system are described, the use of different reactor type models is discussed and an example of design of fuel cell power plants is shown.