MARKO LEINO PROCESS SIMULATION UNIT OPERATION MODELS – REVIEW OF OPEN AND HSC CHEMISTRY I/O INTERFACES Master of Science Thesis Examiner: Professor Hannu Jaakkola Examiner and topic approved by the Faculty Council of the Faculty of Business and Built Environment on 6 April 2016 i ABSTRACT MARKO LEINO: Process Simulation Unit Operation Models – Review of Open and HSC Chemistry I/O Interfaces Tampere University of Technology Master of Science Thesis, 76 pages, 29 Appendix pages April 2016 Master’s Degree Programme in Information Technology Major: Software Engineering Examiner: Professor Hannu Jaakkola Keywords: CAPE-OPEN, HSC Chemistry Sim, unit operation, process simulation Chemical process modelling and simulation can be used as a design tool in the development of chemical plants, and is utilized as a means to evaluate different design options. The CAPE- OPEN interface standards were developed to allow the deployment and utilization of process modelling components in any compliant process modelling environment. This thesis examines the possibilities provided by the CAPE-OPEN interfaces and the .NET framework to develop compliant, cross-platform process modelling components, particularly unit operations. From the software engineering point of view, a unit operation is a represen- tation of physical equipment, and contains the mathematical model of its functionality. The study indicates that the differences between the CAPE-OPEN standards and Outotec HSC Chemistry Sim are negligible at the conceptual level. On the other hand, at the implementa- tion level, the differences are quite considerable. Regardless of the simulation application be- ing used, the modelling of unit operations requires interdisciplinary skills, and creating tools and methods to ease the development of such models is well justified. The results of this study suggest that CAPE-OPEN both provides various paths to change the way HSC Chemistry Sim works and offers the HSC development team a chance to determine an alternative way to distribute tasks between simulation components. In addition, making HSC Chemistry Sim compliant would bring benefits, such as an extended process modelling component library, and perhaps more publicity. Obviously, the workload required by the changes depends on the chosen path, which invariably entails a lengthy learning curve. This thesis contributes by helping to make that learning curve shorter. ii TIIVISTELMÄ MARKO LEINO: Process Simulation Unit Operation Models – Review of Open and HSC Chemistry I/O Interfaces Tampereen teknillinen yliopisto Diplomityö, 76 sivua, 29 liitesivua Huhtikuu 2016 Tietotekniikan diplomi-insinöörin tutkinto-ohjelma Pääaine: Ohjelmistotuotanto Tarkastaja: professori Hannu Jaakkola Avainsanat: CAPE-OPEN, HSC Chemistry Sim, yksikköoperaatio, prosessien simulointi Kemiallisten prosessien mallinnusta ja simulointia käytetään kemiallisten tuotantolaitosten suunnittelussa työvälineinä ja niiden avulla voidaan arvioida eri suunnitteluvaihtoehtojen mielekkyyttä. CAPE-OPEN rajapintastandardit on kehitetty mahdollistamaan mallinnuskom- ponenttien käyttöönotto ja hyödyntäminen missä tahansa yhteensopivassa, standardia nou- dattavassa, prosessinmallinnusohjelmistossa. Tässä työssä tutkittiin CAPE-OPEN rajapintojen ja .NET -sovelluskehyksen tarjoamia mahdol- lisuuksia simulointiohjelmistosta riippumattomien, standardia noudattavien, prosessinmallin- nuskomponenttien, erityisesti yksikköoperaatioiden kehittämiseen. Ohjelmistoteknisesti yk- sikköoperaatio on fyysisen prosessilaitteen kuvaus, joka pitää sisällään kyseisen laitteen toi- minnan matemaattisen mallin. Osoitetuksi tulee, että erot CAPE-OPEN rajapintastandardien ja Outotec HSC Chemistry Sim -simulointisovelluksen välillä ovat käsitteellisellä tasolla pieniä. Toisaalta, toteutustasolla erot ovat suuria. Riippumatta käytettävästä simulointiohjelmistosta yksikköoperaatioiden mallien kehittäminen vaatii lähtökohtaisesti poikkitieteellistä osaamista, ja onkin perustelua kehittää apuvälineitä, joilla yksikköoperaation mallien luominen olisi mahdollisimman vaivatonta. Työn tulosten perusteella voidaan sanoa, että CAPE-OPEN tarjoaa sekä vaihtoehtoja muuttaa nykyistä HSC Chemistry Simin toimintamallia että kehittäjille mahdollisuuden hahmottaa simulaattorin osien välinen vastuunjako uudessa valossa. Lisäksi, HSC Chemistry Simin muut- taminen yhteensopivaksi standardin kanssa toisi mukanaan etuja, kuten laajennetun kompo- nenttivalikoiman ja mahdollisesti enemmän julkisuutta. Muutoksiin liittyvä työmäärä riippuu valitusta kehityssuunnasta, mutta joka tapauksessa niihin liittyy kestoltaan huomattavan pit- kä perehtymisvaihe, jota tämä työ osaltaan auttaa lyhentämään. iii PREFACE This thesis was commissioned by Outotec Finland plc as part of the continuous development work on the Outotec HSC Chemistry software suite. The research was conducted at Outotec Research Center in Pori and at Tampere University of Technology Pori Campus. During the course of the work I received ample help and support and I would like to express my gratitude for that. Firstly, I would like to thank my instructor Antti Roine, D.Sc. (Tech.), for making it possible for this work to become reality in the first place, for all his help, and for giving me enough leeway to write the content of this study in the way I had envisioned. I would like to thank Professor Hannu Jaakkola for supervising my thesis work. His profes- sional approach to supervising the work is greatly appreciated. This particular thesis will go down in history as the 302nd thesis he has supervised. On a related note, the other members of the Tampere University of Technology Pori Campus staff are acknowledged for their excel- lent work and for providing a good learning experience in an open, friendly atmosphere. In addition, I wish to extend my thanks to the members of the HSC Chemistry development team for their help. Mika Saari, M.Sc. (Tech.), who helped me with software development tools and virtual machines, and Michael Jones, BA (Hons) and Sue Pearson, BA (Hons), from Pelc Southbank Languages, who proofread the thesis, are acknowledged for their help. Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support. Very special thanks go to my wife Rosana and our children Patrick and Daniela for everything. Pori, Finland, 6 May 2016 Marko Leino iv CONTENTS 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 1 2 Technology review .................................................................................................................................. 2 2.1 An overview of chemical process simulation ........................................................................ 2 2.2 Frame of reference ........................................................................................................................ 5 2.2.1 Interoperability and CAPE-OPEN ............................................................................... 5 2.2.2 Contextual definition of interface ............................................................................... 7 2.2.3 HSC Chemistry Sim ........................................................................................................ 8 2.3 CAPE-OPEN compliant process simulation environment .................................................. 9 2.3.1 Program architecture ..................................................................................................... 9 2.3.2 Documentation ..............................................................................................................16 2.3.3 Requirements for unit operations .............................................................................20 2.3.4 Creation of unit operation classes ............................................................................26 2.3.5 Additional information ................................................................................................31 2.3.6 Extensions, add-ins and prototyping .......................................................................35 2.4 Availability of compliant products .........................................................................................46 2.4.1 COCO and DWSIM .......................................................................................................46 2.4.2 Commercial process simulators.................................................................................50 3 Design in HSC Chemistry Sim ...........................................................................................................51 3.1 Requirements................................................................................................................................51 3.1.1 Sim unit operations ......................................................................................................52 3.1.2 Implementation schema ..............................................................................................54 3.2 Development and deployment .................................................................................................57 3.2.1 Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment ..........................................57 3.2.2 Object-oriented Visual Basic and the .NET framework ......................................58 3.2.3 Dynamic-link libraries .................................................................................................60 4 Results and discussion