Research & Development

Pushing the frontiers of modelling

PSE spends nearly 50% of its budget on R&D

PSE is committed to keeping the gPROMS family of products at the forefront of modelling technology, and spends a large proportion of its revenue on Research & Development.

R&D activities take several forms:

development of new application techniques, such as the integration of Advanced Process Modelling (APM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for reactor, crystalliser and other process design.
collaborative R&D activies generally aimed at bringing the benefits of Advanced Process Modelling to diverse sectors within the process industry spectrum. These typically involve working with industrial partners and academic organisations.
fundamental research and development in new modelling and solution methods

Development of new application techniques

PSE is at the forefront of numerous developments in the modelling technology and its application. Some examples are:

The "hybrid modelling" integration of APM and CFD mentioned above, to provide advanced new and highly-effective techniques for multiscale modelling. This allows complex units such as reactors and crystallisers to be designed using information of unprecedented accuracy.
Model-based experiment design technology, enabling the close collaboration between R&D and process design and engineering that underpins Model-Based Innovation
Model-Based Innovation itself, a new technology and methodology for accelerating process and product innovation and minimising development risk.
Multiple population balance modelling for polymerisation applications, allowing high-accuracy design of polymer processes.

Collaborative R&D activities

These generally involve working with a range of industry and academic partners and other software vendors to develop or extend the application of APM. Examples are:

Virtual Plant Demonstration Model (VPDM), a 3-year R&D project focused on developing an integrated modelling platform for the power industry. It involves partners Alstom, Mitsui-Babcock Engineering, RWE, Fluent, Engineous and the University of Ulster and is partially funded by the UK Department of Trade and Industry.
Reservoir Sensor Project, a 3-year project focused on developing model-based inferential sensing techniques for oil reservoirs. It involves partners Schlumberger and Imperial College.
HYSEPS I
Etc

In addition to these, PSE is contributing to various EU Framework 6 funded projects.

Fundamental research into modelling and solution methods

PSE is a leader in the field of equation-based modelling. Recent and current examples of fundamental research at PSE include:

Pioneering development of Equation Set Object technology to enable use of gPROMS equation representations in external solution systems.
Parameter propagation techniques for use in initialisation of equation-based systems
Development of Object Server technology for completely generic definition of equation-oriented problems.
New techniques for rapid and robust initialisation of equation-oriented problems involving large flowsheets and complex units. PSE won a London Development Agency (LDA) award for this project.
Advanced new techniques for adaptive grid solution of distributed systems within an equation-oriented framework.

In the past PSE has been responsible for a number of industry firsts, such as dynamic optimisation, mixed integer optimisation, and distributed system modelling within generalised equation oriented framework.

The company won the UK Queen's Award for Innovation 2001 for the combination of the gPROMS modelling framework and dynamic optimisation technology.