Best Practices using Aspen HYSYS

Wim Van Wassenhove

Agenda
Best practices Discuss various tips & tricks

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Color Scheme Employed by HYSYS Values (Variables):

Blue: User-specified Red: Default value Black: Calculated (or fixed) value

Streams:
Light Blue: Not Solved Dark Blue: Solved

Unit Operations
Red: Connection is missingunable to begin solving Yellow: Unable to Solve or Solved with Warnings Black: Solved
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PDF and other short cut keys

PFD
Shift P,T, M, F X, Y, 1

General
F12 F11 Ctrl D Ctrl U Ctrl W

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Using Auto-connect
Second button from the left on PFD Let me show you!

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Adjusts / Recycles and Calc levels

Determine what should be converged first Ensure the Calc level of that block has the low value

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NEVER ignore an inconsistency

Solve the issue at once; forcing Hysys to continue calculating in some instances changes the object Hysys points to as the cause. It then becomes a lot more difficult to solve the issue. Do not forget to look for overspecifications of composition. Go to the workbook on the compositions tab. If you do not have a compositions tab, create one! A typical scenario is that you reuse a stream that previously held a composition and forget to erase that composition. Mixing streams where one flow is positive and another is negative holds the risk of creating an inconsistency. The problem comes up when the mixing results in one component having a positive flow and another component having a negative flow. The issue usually isnt flagged immediately with an inconsistency. See Base Model example See trouble shooting examples
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Insure your model makes sense from the Hydraulics perspective Use the Equalize All setting on mixers
You may need to add extra valves

Model pumps if they are present In-process piping is probably an overkill

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Make your cases robust

Link values that need to be linked
Use SET operations or spreadsheets

Implement Feed-Forward for Adjusts Avoid specs fixing absolute flows

Use a ratio or other spec independent of absolute flow

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Spreadsheet can be used for many things Gathering Input & Outputs in one place Side calculation
Summarizing data Calculate an effect not modelled by HYSYS

Links in and out can be made with Drag&Drop

Variables that cant be found through variable browser can most of the time be pulled in via drag&drop

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Use engineering common sense to avoid adjusts Iterations = slower model solution

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Stream Utilities can make simulation time longer, defer them to end of solve Create Workbook page for utilities Set Calc Level to 1e5

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General
Hysys is very much oriented to interact with the user. It will provide partial results while it is running and when for some reason it failed to complete calculations. Take advantage of that information! Have a little faith in HYSYS! Failure to converge or solve may be due to infeasible specifications, a bad initial estimate or something else that you can change yourself.

2006 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

Create the simulation with the real process constraints in mind Flowsheets created for engineering purposes are intended to provide information for the design of a plant. Hence, it is more logical to specify targets you want the process to achieve rather than constraints on flows, splits of Tees etc. It doesnt really make sense to specify a UA for a heat exchanger for example, it probably does make sense to specify a minimum temperature approach. Realise that some constraints are really just good guesses of what values should be and not real process constraints. If you have that kind of freedom, use it to minimise the number of recycles or adjusts.
2006 Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved

Proper analysis of the recycle location Preferably put a recycle in a place where you know values will be relatively stable.

In general it is recommended to put the recycle on the stream with the largest flow in the cycle.
Sometimes the generally recommended recycle location is not the best one. If you simulate a compressor with a surge control loop, in most cases this recycle flow will be zero. In this case it might be better to put the recycle in the recycle stream.

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Take as many of the time consuming units as possible out of the loops Simulate the inside of the loop with a minimum number of operations and operations that calculate fast.
For example, if the stream in the loop is cooled with cooling water and your specification is the streams ultimate temperature, it is probably beneficial to use a simple cooler to achieve this and calculate the complete exchanger after the loop has converged.

Use the calculation levels to achieve the proper order.

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Use column subflowsheet full potential

The column subflowsheet provides an equation solver type solution
Usually a lot faster to converge. That is, once you have got a first solution!!!

Often a good idea to simplify a system, as long as final result is the same Detail calculations can be done after convergence of complete flowsheet For example, a column with a complex condenser set-up
If you know that in the end the complete overhead vapour stream is condensed and returns at a given temperature and pressure, there is no need to simulate the complete overhead system to solve the column. A simple condenser with a fixed temperature and pressure will do. The complete overhead system can then be modelled in the main flowsheet using the solution obtained in the column. This calculation will only have to be done once.

More complex systems can be simulated inside the column subflowsheet using the modified Hysim inside-out method.

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Column wont converge

A more complex is harder to converge a 1st time A few things to consider before abandoning the immediate convergence route:
Look at the number of iterations, not immediately the time it is taking Bad estimates are usually worse than no estimates at all Inactive specs are per default marked as estimates, you may want to deactivate this Correct temperature estimates with pressure profile in wrong units = convergence failure

If this doesnt solve your problem

start with a simple column. Reasonable specs should pose no convergence problem Go to the parameter page of the column and lock the flow and composition estimates. Add extra pieces of equipment, do this in steps, converging the column between steps

Usually better to 1st converge with flow and reflux type specifications. Then add the actual specifications, but dont activate them yet Play with flow and reflux to see how they impact the other spec values

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Column initially converges but fails with different feed

Numerical problem is not impossible 1st investigate: is there a process reason why column doesnt converge anymore? A practical example of a demethaniser Demethaniser with reboiler and full reflux condenser
Specifications: Methane content in btms and condenser temperature. The initial simulation solved fine It had been observed that with low top temperature, the column wouldnt converge anymore Final solution had a top temperature that was high enough not to cause problems

New feed with slightly increased the methane content refuses to converge Why?

Top product of the column is a vapour stream with about 65% mole of Hydrogen. Hydrogen can be considered an inert gas at the condenser conditions At fixed pressure, the CH4 in the top is constrained by
Spec on the btms CH4 fraction also defines how much CH4 needed in overhead product Increased methane in feed has nowhere to go:
Top temperature stops extra methane from leaving through the top Bottom methane spec stops it from leaving through the bottom The vapour pressure of CH4 at the imposed condenser temperature The flow of hydrogen.

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Three-phase columns are not common in the process industry If HYSYS warns you about a 2nd liquid phase
1st think if you really want a second liquid phase Maybe you rather need to change a specification such that the second liquid phase disappears than struggling to converge a three-phase column.

Typical examples that are usually not meant to be three-phase are drying columns and stabiliser columns.

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Useful macros
Enable TEE negative flow check Heat of Combustion of Hydrocarbons Install Multistage Compressor NameChanger NameSequencer Pipe Segment Updater Pump Curve Auto Generation Report Component Data Report Line Sizing Report Stream Cold Properties Report Stream Critical Properties SortComponentsByBoilingPoint

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Useful Excel sheets

Excel_Spreadsheet_vs4_1 Generate TXY diagram HSR 1.6 Workbook Dump of All Pages

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Useful Extensions
CmpSplitter ejector Mach Saturate

Thermo selection expert

Virtual

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