Advanced modelling and simulation for the Energy sector

PSE's products have many applications across the different areas of the energy sector, from optimisation of oil & gas equipment to fuel cell development and design.

See the tce interview with Nexia Solutions on the use of gPROMS within the nuclear industry

See the tce interview with Nexia Solutions on the use of gPROMS within the nuclear industry

Oil & Gas and Refining

The oil & gas and refining markets are well served by traditional simulation tools. PSE's focus is on the high-value or complex applications where these tools are inadequate. Examples are:

high-fidelity depressurisation modelling for detailed equipment design
innovation in LNG storage using new technologies
development of high-accuracy compressor and turbine models for use within standard flowsheeting tools
high-accuracy reactor models for refinery conversion processes
safety analyses, including accident investigation, using PSE's high-accuracy predictive models
emerging technology areas, such as reservoir-to-platform modelling and reservoir inferential sensing

The benefits: Capital savings; improved safety; optimised operations; greater availability of high-quality information.

Power generation

There are considerable pressures on the world's power generators both to provide more power at a cheaper cost and to reduce CO₂ emissions by using innovative generation options and enhancing efficiency.

PSE's gPROMS is at the centre of the next-generation modelling platform being developed within the Virtual Plant Demonstration Model (VPDM) collaborative project.

VPDM, which includes power generators and equipment vendors RWE, Alstom and Mitsui-Babcock, will result in a comprehensive integrated modelling platform for detailed design and operational analysis.

The initiative is intended to accelerate the building of new power stations, as well as the adoption of new technology, by reducing the need to build physical demonstration plants.

The VPDM "whole plant model" will integrate high-fidelity equipment vendor-supplied models, gPROMS PML models and Fluent® furnace models, and will be capable of executing across the internet using FIPER® technology. gPROMS is the integration platform for the first phase of the project.

The benefits: Accelerated development of new power technology; reduced cost in physical testing; greater collaboration between power generators and vendors; plus the ability to managed risk in key decisions based on high-quality quantitative information.

Fuel cell development and design

PSE is the world's leading provider of component and system modelling technology and Model-Based Innovation services to fuel cell companies.

Our customers include the industry and innovation leaders in the development of automotive and residential fuel cells.

gPROMS models are used to provide high-accuracy predictive information across the fuel cell development spectrum:

detailed heat and mass transfer, chemical and electrochemical models of the anode-electrolyte-cathode assembly, typically used for optimisation of the mechanical and material design
detailed heat and mast transfer models of the cell stack assembly, typically used for analysis of thermal effects
system level modelling, for analysis and optimisation of startup and load change
control modelling, integrated with MATLAB® and Simulink® for design and analysis of control.

Model-Based Innovation techiques are used to integrate R&D and technical development, and incorporate experimental data within the first-principles models.

Where necessary we deploy hybrid modelling techniques, combining CFD and gPROMS models to provide added predictive accuracy.

The benefits: Accelerated development, lower costs of physical testing, the ability to managed risk in key decisions based on high-quality quantitative information, more closely-integrated R&D and product engineering.

Nuclear energy

Few industries have as stringent safety requirements, as complex a chemistry, and the operational challenges of the nuclear industry.

gPROMS' Advanced Process Modelling capabilities are used for a wide variety of applications within the nuclear industry to ensure — and be able to demonstrate — safe operation and acceptable product quality.

Key activities include site remediation, waste storage, improvement of a solvent extraction process used in fuel reprocessing and reduction of secondary waste.

Nexia Solutions, a key supplier of engineering services to the nuclear industries in Britain, describes their use of modelling and experiences with gPROMS.