News Index

19 July 2010

Costas Pantelides elected as Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering

Professor Costas Pantelides, Managing Director of PSE and the architect of the gPROMS software, was last week elected a Fellow of the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering.

The Royal Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for engineering, and brings together the country's most eminent engineers from all disciplines to promote excellence in the science, art and practice of engineering.

Apart from his role in PSE, Prof. Pantelides is a part-time Professor of Chemical Engineering at Imperial, where he has been a thought leader in the field of systems engineering for many years. With his research underpinning first the SPEEDUP technology and subsequently gPROMS, he has been responsible for much of the innovation in equation-based process systems modelling that has led to the wide-scale adoption of this technology by industry. In 2007, he also led the winning team of the Royal Academy's MacRobert Award for Engineering Innovation, the UK's highest award for engineering innovation.

Prof. Pantelides says: "For me, this award recognises Imperial's pioneering contribution in establishing the theoretical basis for a model-based engineering infrastructure for the process industries. It is also an expression of appreciation for PSE's role in bringing what is rather complex technology to daily industrial practice worldwide."

02 July 2010

PSE releases gPROMS Solids process modelling environment

Integrated model-based engineering and optimisation of solids processes

We are pleased to announce the launch of the new gPROMS Solids product, which took place at this week's annual meeting of the International Fine Particles Research Institute (IFPRI) in Spa, Belgium.

Developed in conjunction with Procter & Gamble, gPROMS Solids provides an integrated drag & drop graphical flowsheeting environment for model-based engineering and optimisation of solids processes. Population balance-based models of solids processing equipment are used to validate models against experimental data, optimise process design and operation, determine the optimal process economics and quantify and manage the risks associated with engineering decisions.

The package is aimed at process engineers and scientists in industries where particulate processes play an integral part, such as consumer products (FMCG), pharmaceuticals, food processing and minerals and mining.

Ben Weinstein, section head of Corporate Function R&D Modeling & Simulation at Procter & Gamble, says: "a key advantage of gPROMS Solids is that it allows our modellers to develop dynamic models of complex processes and apply these to analyse process dynamics."

gPROMS Solids helps engineers to optimise the operation of units such as high shear wet granulators, fluidised bed dryers, mills, screens, spray dryers and agglomerators in order to maximise throughput, ensure product quality, size recycles and surge bins for new plants and in general to determine the optimal trade-off between capital and operating cost and make informed purchasing decisions.

Typical benefits include reduced capital investment, reduced operating costs, improved product quality, increased throughput, more flexible process design, reduced CO₂ footprint, and a better process understanding.

Says Ben Weinstein, "another key advantage is the ability to exploit any model using optimisation-based capabilities such as parameter estimation and dynamic optimisation. These capabilities result in accurate models, optimal operating procedures, and ultimately a better likelihood that when we start up a new line it will work as planned."

Key features of gPROMS Solids are its ability to perform full steady-state and dynamic modelling, handle large numbers of recycles robustly, and model complex operating procedures for batch and semi-continuous processes. Advanced features allow parameter estimation for fitting process parameters from laboratory or operational data, rigorous mathematical optimisation of design and operation, and sensitivity analyses for risk management. It also integrates with gPROMS crystallisation and gas-liquid process models to enable simultaneous whole-process design.

Sean Bermingham, PSE Head of Consulting and gPROMS Solids product manager, says "gPROMS Solids addresses many traditional challenges for engineers and scientists, both at individual unit operation and overall process level, as well as workflow challenges such as short timelines, incidental usage and experimental data processing. It also provides a very flexible and powerful platform for integrating companies' internal R&D and third party research in the future".

[More on gPROMS Solids] [Press release]

24 June 2010

gPROMS v3.3: making high-fidelity models available to process engineers

New opportunities for economic optimisation of process design and operations

We are pleased to announce the release of gPROMS v3.3.

gPROMS v3.3 continues PSE's philosophy of advancing the frontiers of high-fidelity predictive process modelling while simultaneously making powerful tools more and more accessible to process engineers, in order to extend the ability of modelling to deliver value throughout process organisations.

V3.3. contains major productivity features for speeding up the obtaining of initial solutions for complex processes such as coupled reaction and distillation flowsheets, a graphical task editor for creating detailed operating procedures for batch and other dynamic processes, and model protection facilities to protect intellectual property (IP) embodied in models in order to allow them to be distributed securely within and outside organisations. In addition it contains many usability, productivity, numerical solution and other enhancements.

The comprehensive new model initialisation features make it possible to embody experts' initialisation strategies within models that can then be supplied as robust 'plug-in-and-run, converge first time' models to process engineers. This makes it much simpler to apply high-fidelity models - such as detailed predictive reactor models - in a process flowsheeting context, bringing new opportunities for economic optimisation of process design and operations.

The new graphical task editor brings easy drag-and-drop functionality and graphical visualisation to gPROMS’s existing task language for defining operating procedures. This makes it much easier for process engineers to build and verify complex operating procedures for batch process optimisation and design of start-up policy.

There have been many usability enhancements at all levels, from new palette options that simplify creation of process flowsheets to new optimisation solvers, as well as general performance improvements and reduced memory consumption and an update to Multiflash physical properties version 3.9.

PSE Managing Director Costas Pantelides says "gPROMS v3.3 shows PSE’s commitment to advancing process modelling technology while making it more and more accessible to engineering users. In particular the considerable R&D effort we have invested in model initialisation has resulted in a breakthough 'industry first' that has the potential to change the nature of process modelling."

[Press release][More on gPROMS v3.3][Download gPROMS v3.3] [Release notes]

05 May 2010

2010 MBI Prizes open for submissions

We are pleased to announce the opening of the 2010 PSE Model-Based Innovation (MBI) prize for submissions.

Every year PSE awards prizes totalling €5000 for the best published papers in which gPROMS is used to generate research results in a novel area of application or technology. In a change from previous years, and to acknowledge the quantity and quality of entries, we are now offering three prizes: a winner's prize of €3000 and two runners-up prizes of €1000 each.

If you used gPROMS in support of research published or to be published between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2010, you are encouraged to submit a paper for the 2010 prize. The research presented in the paper should make substantial use of gPROMS modelling in order to achieve the results described. The judges will favour novel applications or application in novel technology areas. The prize is open to applicants from industry as well as academia.

All you need to do to be eligible for the prize is fill in the submission form and send a copy of the published paper. You do not need to provide the full paper and publication details until the deadline, 30 June 2010.

You can see more details on the prize, including guidelines for submission and terms and conditions by visiting the following links. [MBI Prize details] [Press release] [PDF]

15 March 2010

PSE releases gPROMS Fuel Cell high-fidelity predictive modelling

Faster time-to-market and reduced technology risk for fuel cell system developers

We are pleased to announce the new gPROMS Fuel Cell product.

Aimed at companies bringing fuel cell technology - PEMFC, SOFC and others - to market, gPROMS Fuel Cell helps reduce time-to-market and optimise fuel stack and system design and operation through the application of high-fidelity predictive modelling.

gPROMS Fuel Cell bundles high-fidelity models from PSE's Advanced Model Library for Fuel Cells (AML:FC) with gPROMS ModelBuilder and a ModelCare package. It allows simultaneous analysis of detailed micro-scale effects and optimisation of cell design and operation within the context of the whole fuel cell system, providing a means to quantitatively manage the technology risk inherent in this complex technology.

gPROMS Fuel Cell makes it possible to address many key challenges effectively for the first time - for example to analyse and optimise aspects such current density distribution over the stack, water management (for PEMFC), deactivation and stack longevity, as well as integration of the stack with fuel processing and other systems. An optional interface can be used to link membrane-electrode assembly (MEA) models with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of flow channels for rapid calculation of full-stack performance.

Dynamic modelling provides facilities for control system design, analysing temperature dynamics on change in power demand, and modelling and optimising start-up and other operations. Optimisation capabilities make it possible to determine optimal platinum load and trade-offs between stack size and power output.

A key use of the high-fidelity cell and stack models is to provide a framework for interpreting experimental data and estimating key model parameters using model-based mathematical techniques

Zbigniew Urban, PSE CTO and technology leader for fuel cells, says "The complex interactions within the fuel cell itself and between stack and system - coupled with time-to-market pressures and the associated technology risk - make modelling an essential tool. There is no other way to address these issues comprehensively".

[AML:FC further information] [Press release ] [PDF]

12 January 2010

DNV and PSE joint project for maritime CCS

Blueprint for capture of ship CO₂ emissions in order to reduce maritime carbon footprint

PSE is working with Det Norske Veritas AS (DNV), the leading maritime classification society, to develop blueprint designs for on-ship carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology to reduce maritime CO₂ emissions.

A recent International Maritime Organisation (IMO) study estimates maritime CO₂ emissions at over 1000m tonnes per year, about 3% of total anthropogenic CO₂ emissions. With these expected to increase threefold by 2050 the IMO is likely to introduce regulations to reduce emissions from shipping.

Because ship emissions are concentrated - unlike other forms of transport - there is potential to capture CO₂ at source. However, this requires innovative technology. The Maritime CCS project aims to develop a blueprint design for an on-board process for chemical capture and temporary storage of CO₂ for ships in transit until discharge into transmission and storage infrastructures at the next suitable port.

The collaborative project is led by PSE and jointly financed by the two companies plus the UK's Technology Strategy Board and the Norwegian Research Council under the Eurostars initiative (www.eurostars-eureka.eu). It will take into account the unique challenges posed by the maritime environment, including constant ship movement, limited space and access to utilities, stringent safety requirements and the need for energy efficiency.

PSE will apply model-based innovation (MBI) techniques to accelerate innovation, manage development risk and optimise process design and operation through the application of high-fidelity mathematical models. PSE is already a leading provider of modelling technology and know-how to developers of CCS solutions.

Prof. Costas Pantelides, Managing Director of PSE, says "This is a challenging design problem with tight constraints, and the application of model-based innovation [MBI] technology will be key to developing technically feasible and economically viable solutions."

[Maritime CCS further information] [Press release ] [PDF]