Demonstration Exercises for Aspen Hysys

I A Karimi & Mukta Bansal

Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
National University of Singapore
Some details or instructions may be inconsistent with the current version of Hysys.
Please improvise, if you see any inconsistency.
Exercise D1: For ethanol, find (a) Boiling point at 2 atm (b) Heat of vaporization at 1 atm (c)
Vapor pressure at 60 C. van Laar PR fluid package and the below process flow diagrams
(PFDs or flowsheets) and Hysys block flow diagram (BFD) are appropriate for this exercise.

Ethanol
Tank

S-1

OR

Material Stream
BFD in Aspen Hysys

Ethanol Pipeline
Two possible PFDs
(Batch vs. Continuous Flow)

1. Open one window of Aspen Hysys via Start All Programs Aspentech Process Modeling Vx.x - Aspen Hysys. Open a new model.
2. Properties page opens up, where we need to provide some basic information such as
components, reactions, and physical property methods (called fluid packages).
3. Open Component Lists to define the chemicals (components) involved in our process.
Click Add and select Hysys (databank). Component List 1 opens, where you can
Add components. To add ethanol, search for ethanol. You could use alcohols filter as well to narrow your search. Highlight ethanol, and double-click ethanol or click
Add Pure. Now, add water as the second component. You can search a component by
its name/synonym or chemical formula. Double-click on ethanol to see its various property parameters. Close Component List - 1 to save your component selections.
4. We now need a method (fluid package) for computing the thermophysical properties of
our components. A fluid package (FP) is a set of methods and associated parameters for
computing properties such as PVT, VLE, fugacities, activity coefficients, enthalpies, free
energies, entropies, etc. Open Fluid Packages inside Properties. Click Add and select
COMThermo. Basis-1 opens up for Component List-1 using Hysys Databanks. Other
options are Hysys or Aspen Properties.
5. COMThermo option allows us to specify two fluid packages, one for the liquid phase and
the other for the vapor. For polar components such as water and ethanol that exhibit nonideal behaviors, a single fluid package is usually inaccurate to describe both phases.
6. Select van Laar for liquid, and HysysPR for vapor. Van Laar is an activity coefficient
model, which are good for describing the liquid phase of polar components. HysysPR is
an Equation of State (EOS) model, which are primarily good for describing gas phase be-

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havior, but can be used for both phases (vapor and liquid) of non-polar hydrocarbons. PR
stands for Peng-Robinson. HysysPR is the best package of Hysys and is a good default in
most situations. This completes Basis-1. You can define and use multiple fluid packages
in a BFD.
Pointer: Selection of a proper fluid package is very critical. Some knowledge of component types (polar vs non-polar, ideal vs. non-ideal, ) is essential. Property Wizard under Methods Assistant can serve as a guide. In general, literature search or experimental data are needed to find the best package.
7. If we had reactions in the process, we would specify them inside Reactions. For this exercise without any reaction, we can now enter Simulation.
8. A Module Palette opens automatically. Each icon represents a specific physicochemical
process operation. Point to each icon to see its name. Hysys has six broad categories of
operational modules and two modules for material and energy streams. We will mostly
use Common and Columns.
Pointer: You can retrieve BFD at any time via F4, or Flowsheet/Modify - Models and
Streams Palette, or View - Flowsheet.
9. Under Home view, Hysys has two buttons to show solver status. The green light indicates
Hysys solver is Active or ON, while On Hold button indicates that it is Inactive
or OFF. When active, Hysys automatically redoes the calculations on every change in
BFD. This is similar to what happens in Excel, when you change a cell. The title of the
BFD window also shows solver status.
10. Now, we need to think of a PFD or flowsheet that will give us the desired properties of
ethanol. In this case, the PFD is simply a stream of pure ethanol. What is the corresponding BFD?
11. Click the blue Material Stream icon in the module palette, and then click anywhere in
the flowsheet window to install a material stream. A cyan arrow 1 appears. Its cyan color signifies that Hysys needs more data for this stream.
12. Open 1 by double-clicking its icon. Change its label to S-1 by typing S-1 in the
field for Stream Name. The stream now is labelled S-1 in the BFD. You can move,
resize, delete, etc.
13. Open S-1. Its yellow status says unknown composition. Open Composition and specify 100% ethanol. The status is still yellow. It now says unknown temperature.
14. Go back to Conditions. Do we know S-1s temperature? What do we know? Specify
pressure as 2 atm by using the pull-down menu for units. Hysys displays 202.6 kPa by default. You can change the display units under Home - Units.
15. Status is still yellow and says unknown temperature. What should be the vapor fraction
of ethanol at its boiling point? 0.0? 1.0? 0.4? As soon as we input vapor fraction, temperature becomes 95.70 C. Does temperature vary with vapor fraction? Why?
16. Note that temperature value is black, but pressure and vapor fraction values are blue.
What we input is blue, and what Hysys computes is black. The colors of modules,
streams, data, etc. are critical in Hysys, as they signify their status. It is advisable to use
the default colors, and not change them.
17. S-1 is still cyan with yellow status. Now, it wants flow rate. Set flow to 100 kgmol/h. The
status becomes green OK. Hysys has solved or computed or converged S-1 fully. S-1
now looks blue on the screen. Note that Hysys did not need flow to compute temperature.
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18. Open Properties. Hysys shows many properties such as viscosity, Z-factor, heat capacity, molecular weight, etc. for S-1.
19. For heat of vaporization, change pressure to 1 atm. The boiling point of ethanol at 1 atm is
77.61 C. Its heat of vaporization under Properties is 38340 kJ/kgmol.
20. For vapor pressure of ethanol at 60 C, delete pressure and set T = 60 C. What should be
the vapor fraction? Ethanol vapor pressure is 47.66 kPa at 60 C.
Exercise D2: Consider a 50:50 (wt%) mixture of ethanol and water at 1 atm. Use van Laar
PR as the fluid package. What will be the PFD and BFD?
a) What is its bubble point temperature (BPT)? (81.33 C) ____________.
b) What is its dew point temperature (DPT)? (91.71 C) ______________.
c) What fraction of the mixture is liquid at (BPT+DPT)/2 = 86.52 C? (0.4492). Does vapor fraction have units? What are the units of 0.4492?
d) What is its heat of vaporization at 86.52 C? (4.038e4 kJ/kgmol) _________.
e) At what temperature, will the mixture be 50 mol% vapor? (85.76 C) ____________.
f) What type of calculations (Recall CN3132) does Hysys do for each of the above?
Pointer: The units for the vapor fraction displayed in Conditions are mol vapor per mol
stream (liquid + vapor). For vapor fraction in mass units, look in Properties.
Exercise D3: 100 kmol/h of 50:50 wt% ethanol:water mixture at 1 atm and 40 C is to enter a
tank (T-100) at 5 atm. What are the PFD and BFD? Use the model from Exercise 2.
a) How much energy do you need? (1528 kJ/h)
b) What will be mixture temperature, as it enters T-100? (40.11 C)
c) For 50% energy (764 kJ/h), what pressure is allowable in T-100?

Pump

S-2

S-1
BFD
PFD

1. We need a pump to feed the stream to T-100. Why? Change S-1 feed composition to 50
wt% ethanol and 50 wt% water. Set T = 40 C and P = 1 atm. Note that Hysys knows that
the vapor fraction should be 0.0.
2. Locate Pump in the module palette. Install in the workspace. A red pump (P-100) appears. Red signifies that P-100 does not have all the required feed / product streams.
3. Open P-100 by double-clicking its icon. Here we can connect streams to P-100. The red
status says Requires a feed stream.
4. Select S-1 as Inlet to P-100. Hysys connects S-1 to P-100 in the BFD. Let us say we want
S-2 as the outlet stream. Type S-2 as Outlet and press Return. Hysys shows a cyan S-2

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as the outlet stream in the BFD.

5. P-100 is still red. It requires an energy stream. Why is that? Type Q-1 as Energy
stream. The status turns yellow and displays Unknown duty. What is duty? Yellow
means Not Solved due to lack of data. Q-1 is violet, i.e. incomplete or not fully specified. S-2 is cyan, i.e. not fully specified. S-1 is blue, i.e. fully specified.
6. Double-click S-2. Hysys has already computed its flow rate. How? Since we want S-2 to
be at 5 atm, set its P = 5 atm. S-2 becomes green OK. Its temperature is 40.11 C, i.e.
pumping increased its temperature by 0.11 C!
7. Q-1 is not violet any more. Its brown color signifies a fully specified energy stream.
Mouse over Q-1 to see its flow as 1528 kJ/h. What is the pump power?
8. P-100 is no longer yellow, but black. This signifies a fully solved module.
9. Hysys computed pump power from the outlet pressure. It can also compute outlet pressure
from pump power. For this, delete S-2 pressure. Open Q-1. Set heat flow as 764 kJ/h. Hysys solves P-100. What is the pressure of S-2? (304 kPa)
10. You can modify BFD, zoom-in, zoom-out, etc. From the top menu bar, select Flowsheet/Modify Autoposition All. Hysys rearranges the BFD nicely.
Exercise D4: If T-100 in Exercise D3 requires feed at 80 C. How will you achieve that? How
much energy do you need? (3.967e5 kJ/h). What will be the PFD and BFD?

80 C
H-100

PFD

T-100
(5 atm)

50:50 Ethanol+Water
(100 kmol/h, 40 C, 1 atm)
P-100

Pump

BFD

Heat

S-2

S-1

S-3

1. Add a Heater (H-100) to the BFD with S-2 as feed, S-3 as output, and Q-2 as energy input. Note that both Q-2 and S-3 are incomplete.
2. Set S-3 at 80 C. S-3 and H-100 are still yellow. What else can you input for S-3?
3. How will pressure change in H-100? Will it drop or increase due to heating? Assume that
the pressure drops by 20 kPa. Double-click on H-100. Open Parameters. Enter 20 kPa

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as pressure drop. H-100 turns green and is fully solved. What is the required heater duty?
The BFD is fully solved. You could also have set S-3 pressure, and let Hysys compute the
pressure drop.
Exercise D5: 100% pure N2 is available at 1 MPa and 200 C. 100% pure H2 is available at 2
MPa and 200 C. They are combined to form a single stoichiometric feed for an ammonia reactor operating at 2 MPa. The reactor is adiabatic with a reaction conversion of 20% with respect to N2. Use SRK as the fluid package.
Develop a PFD for this process.
Convert the above into a suitable BFD, and simulate.
What is the reactor exit temperature? Why is it different from the feed temperature? Is there
any liquid product from the reactor? What are the flow rate and composition of the reactor
product?
1. Open a new model. Select nitrogen, hydrogen, and ammonia as components and SRK as
fluid package (no COMThermo). Open Reactions in Properties.
2. Click Add to create a new reaction set, Set-1. Select Add New Reaction. Select Hysys Conversion. This creates Rxn-1.
3. Double click Rxn-1. Click on **Add Comp** to add nitrogen, hydrogen, and ammonia
one by one. Specify stoichiometric coefficients.
4. In Basis, set Nitrogen as the base component, because reaction conversion is defined wrt
nitrogen.
5. Aspen Hysys assumes an empirical correlation for the effect of temperature on %conversion: Conversion (%) = C0 + C1T + C2T2, where T is the reactor exit temperature. If we
assume that the conversion is independent of T, then what should be C1 and C2? If maximum conversion is 20%, then what should be C0? Once you specify C0, C1, and C2, the reaction status turns green. Close Conversion Reaction.
6. Now attach Set-1 to the fluid package by clicking Add to FP and selecting Basis-1.
7. Install streams nitrogen (A), hydrogen (B), and feed (C). Set nitrogen flow as 100
kgmol/h. How to get Hysys to set hydrogen flow automatically based on nitrogen flow?
8. Install Set. Make hydrogen flow target variable, and nitrogen stream as source. Set multiplier to 3 and offset to zero.
9. Install Mixer from Common. Connect A and B as inputs, and C as output. How is the
pressure of C 1 MPa? What happens, if you use Equalize All? Is this mixing process
feasible? How would you change PFD and BFD?
10. Install a Compressor from General for A. Set output pressure to 2 MPa.
11. Install a Conversion Reactor from Columns. Attach feed, two product streams (gas and
liquid), and one energy stream.
12. Open Reactor. Open Reactions. Select Set-1 from the pull-down menu.
13. The reactor status is still yellow. What input is missing? How do you make the reactor adiabatic?

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If you wish to limit the reactor exit to 250 C, what would you do?
14. Make reactor non-adiabatic. Set product temperature to 250 C.
Assume the reaction reaches equilibrium in the reactor. Find the temperature at which 95% of
N2 would convert. Use Adjust by following the procedure in the lecture notes. We will adjust
reactor temperature (Adjusted Variable) to attain 95% (Target Value) for reactor conversion
(Target Variable).
NOTE: Before installing Adjust, be sure that your BFD is working properly and giving
reasonable results. Always set parameters in Adjust.
Reactor temperature for 95% conversion = _____________________.
Exercise D6: Make a copy of Exercise D4. Adapt the copy for this exercise. Use SI units.
P-100 is a centrifugal pump with the below performance curve for water, where head is the
pressure rise (ft of water) across P-100.
Flow (GPM = US gallon/min)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160

Head (ft water)

141
141
140
135
132
124
115
100
85

Efficiency (%)
50
52
53
58
62
63
59
55
48

P-100 supplies water to T-100 via H-100. The water supply is fixed at 50 C and 1 atm, H-100
heats it to 70 C, T-100 is at 4.5 atm, and H-100 has a pressure drop of 0.10 atm. With V-100
and V-101 100% open, the total pressure drop in the supply line (including V-100) upstream
of P-100 is 0.02 atm, and the same (including V-101) downstream of P-100 is 0.03 atm.

PFD

BFD

V-100

S-1

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P-100

S-2

H-100

S-3

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V-101

S-4

S-5

Copyright 2013 IA Karimi & Mukta Bansal

(a)

At what rate does T-100 receive water? (1212 kgmol/h)

(b)

If T-100 is at 4 atm, will the water flow increase or decrease? What is the new flow?

(c)

Assuming water supply at 50 C and 1 atm, T-100 at 4.5 atm, and H-100 pressure drop at
0.1 atm, suggest and simulate TWO solutions to have a flow of 1000 kgmol/h.

(e)

What is NPSH (Net Positive Suction Head)?

(f)

Define NPSHA (NPSH Available) and NPSHR (NPSH Required).

(g)

Find NPSHA for (a) from Hysys. Compare with your manual computations. If the vendor recommends an NPSHR of 6 ft, then is the pump operating satisfactorily? (9.467 m)

(d)

For NPSHR = 6 ft, simulate the operation of P-100, as you close V-100 gradually from
fully open to nearly closed.

(h) Find the NPSHAs for the two solutions in (c). Which solution will you prefer?

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