XSEOS: An evolving tool for teaching chemical engineering thermodynamics

Abstract

XSEOS – excess Gibbs energy models and equations of state – is an Excel ® add-in for computing properties with thermodynamic models often used in chemical process design. The program is free, has open source, and runs on a platform, Excel, commonly available in personal computers. The main targets are undergraduate and graduate courses in chemical engineering thermodynamics whose syllabi include phase and chemical equilibrium calculations, but XSEOS may also be useful for research. The thermodynamic models available in XSEOS allow computing excess or residual properties, and activity or fugacity coefficients of pure components and mixtures (with any number of components). The recent addition of several methods to characterize petroleum fluids and to estimate surface tensions extends the potential application of the package to oil refining and petroleum engineering courses. We also report assessments of XSEOS's use in assignments and course projects, based on feedback provided by students.