Process Properties & Simulation

Construction of a simulation model requires you to deal with several entities: pure components, stock mixtures, unit procedures, equipment resources, process streams, unit operations, heat transfer agents, labor types and so on. It is important to understand that all of the above are mere pieces of a large puzzle that is nothing other than the process itself, as an entity of its own. And just as each of the individual pieces has its own properties (think of all the properties that pure components or stock mixtures have) so does a process (as a whole). The properties of a process extend along several different dimensions: some affect the appearance of its elements (e.g. unit procedure icons and streams, see Default Style for Process Elements); others affect the way the simulation calculations are carried out (e.g. identification of loops and tear streams, see Loop Identification and Tear Stream Selection, or the convergence strategy and tolerance, see Convergence Strategy); others affect how the economic calculations are carried out (e.g. expected lifetime for a process, what cost components should be included in the annual operating cost calculation, etc., see Total Capital Investment); finally others are simulation results and as derivative quantities are not editable by the user (e.g. the minimum cycle time of the process, the maximum number of batches that can be executed per year, etc.). Most of the properties of the process as an entity of its own, are accessed from either the sub-menu under Edit } Process Options } ... or from the flowsheet’s command menu: that is the menu that appears when you right-click over an unoccupied area of the process drawing.

The command (context) menu for the process.