Pure Components Databank

Chemical components are used to represent the flow and composition of material in streams. They are also used as ingredients in stock mixtures (see Databank of Stock Mixtures). Stock mixtures and pure components (collectively called ‘Ingredients’) are used to initialize flows of input streams. Pure components can also serve as special-purpose agents in some operations (CIP, Gas Sweep, etc.). The pure components databank included in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database includes over 1,100 components and it is occasionally updated by our staff. SuperPro Designer also supports the DIPPR pure components databank in its relational database form, as developed and maintained at Brigham Young University. The DIPPR databank contains over 1700 pure components along with their physical and thermodynamic properties compiled from literature. As a 3rd option, SuperPro Designer can also access pure component property data from the PPDS database format available from TÜV SÜD (Scotland, UK).

Viewing the Contents of the Pure Components Databank

To access the components databank, use the Databanks } Pure Components... menu item from the main menu (or hit F2 as a shortcut). The ensuing Pure Components Databank Dialog displays a list of all the pure components that exist in the ‘Designer’ and ‘User’ databases. The pure components available in either ‘DIPPR’ or the ‘PPDS’ database, can be shown by selecting the desired entry in the Source DB drop-down at the top of the table.

If you select a pure component that belongs to the ‘DIPPR’ or the ‘PPDS’ database you can only view (but cannot modify) neither any component’s properties nor add/remove entries in that database. Clicking on the  button will present the Pure Component Properties Dialog (in view-only mode). If you choose a pure component that resides in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database, then you will be able to view as well as modify the properties of the members in that components database. Clicking on the  button will present the same Pure Component Properties Dialog but this time, you can view as well as edit (and save) the properties of the selected component. Finally you may also add a new component (to your ‘SuperPro (User)’ database) or delete existing component descriptions from your ‘SuperPro (User)’ database (see Adding and Deleting Pure Components).

Viewing and Searching the Pure Component Database

You can view the contents of the pure component database ordered by any of the following four indices:

●      Name (Full Name)

●      Company ID

●      Formula

●      CAS Number

Note that DIPPR or PPDS do not have a ‘Company ID’ field for each component record (so only the other three options are available when viewing the contents of DIPPR or PPDS). Once you have chosen which index to be used when presenting the component databank contents, you can search the contents by typing a string in the search field. When the search string is empty the search result icon shows as  and the search forward  and search backward  icons are both disabled. As you type a character in the search string a “search next” command is issued. If a next match forward is found the search icon turns into  and the selected index moves to the record line that matches the search. If no match is found, the selected index does not move and the search icons shows this  . Once a match is found, you can move to the ‘next’ match forward or backward by either typing ENTER or Shift+ENTER accordingly, or click on  (search forward) or  (search backwards) buttons. Note that by default, the engine will search to match the typed string with ANY part of the selected index (Name, CompanyID, Formula, or CAS Number); in other words, the string may appear anywhere in the index string (not necessarily at the beginning). If you only want to find matches where the search string matches the index string from the beginning, then you should have the  button pressed. Once you locate your entry in the list, you can either double-click on its record row, or click on the  button to view/edit its properties. Remember that only components in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database allow their properties to be edited.

Adding and Deleting Pure Components

In order to add a new component, click on the button and fill up the fields in the New Component Definition Dialog. After you exit the dialog by clicking on OK, and if the suggested names are accepted, a new entry will be created in the table of contents representing the new component. The new component’s formal name must be unique amongst all components (and mixtures) in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ databank. It is allowed to have a newly introduced component to have the same (formal) name with an entry in the DIPPR or PPDS component database. The new component will first be created with property values that are copies of a preexisting component (either in one of the component databases or the process file), but it can later be customized to match your specifications. Select the line representing the newly created component and then click on the button to bring up the Pure Component Properties Dialog in order to adjust the component’s property values. If you wish to delete a component from the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database, select the line in the table of contents that represents the component and then click on the button.

Tagging Components to Be Included in My List

When choosing a component to register in a process model file, it may be cumbersome to have to sift through hundreds of components in order to find the one that are looking for. For users who typically make use of only a small subset from all the available components in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database, the application allows them to tag those frequently used components as included in ‘My List’. Then, when selecting a component from the Pure Component Registration Dialog, clicking on “My List’ check box, will only present the components in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database that have been included in your list, a much smaller set of components to choose from. The ‘My List’ tag can be added and removed at any time for any component in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database. Components in the PPDS or DIPPR database cannot be tagged as such.

Basic, Essential & User-Defined Components in the SuperPro (User) DB

The list of components present in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database, are considered as belonging to three categories:

a)  Basic Components

b)  Essential Components

c)   User-Defined Components

All components that are present in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database upon installation of the program (‘out-of-the-box’) are considered as ‘Basic’. You are free to edit and/or even delete them if you think you will never have a need for some of them. If you have modified the properties of a basic component, saved it in your ‘SuperPro (User)’ database and later you change your mind and decide to revert to the property values as they came (‘out-of-the-box’) you can accomplish this by clicking on the  button. Also, if you have deleted one or more basic components and later you wish to recover (restore) their definitions in your ‘SuperPro (User)’ database, you can click on the  button There are just a selected few components (“Oxygen”, “Nitrogen” and “Water”) that are considered “Essential” and cannot be deleted. Every time a new process model file is started, those components are automatically registered and therefore their definitions must exist in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database. Finally, “User-Defined” components are all components that the user has introduced beyond the set of basic components that came with the software. Each user-defined (new) component deposited in the ‘SuperPro (User)’ database is automatically tagged to be included in ‘My List” so that it becomes easy to locate. Of course, this classification can be removed later (if so desired). Of course, this classification can be removed later (if so desired). Of course, user-defined pure components can be edited and deleted at any time but once deleted they cannot later be recovered.