CHEMCAD
Capabilities
Model, validate, and optimize your process, from concept to plant, with CHEMCAD’s intuitive interface and trusted thermodynamics.
Trusted By
Modeling Features
Process design
- Select from a built-in library of components and thermodynamic models.
- Build process flow diagrams using drag-and-drop unit operation symbols from categorized palettes
- Access a message pane to identify simulation warnings, errors, and calculation notes in real time
- Use the Explorer pane to navigate between unit operations, streams, and analysis tools
- Quickly navigate to commands and calculation options through a tabbed ribbon menu, or customize the interface to prioritize frequently used commands
- Create equipment and stream property tables that appear directly on the flowsheet or generate detailed, customizable reports and spec sheets
- Overlay design notes, text, and symbols for improved communication in process layouts
Equipment sizing & rating
- Size heat exchangers, including shell-and-tube, plate, and air-cooled designs, with detailed thermal and hydraulic calculations
- Determine vessel dimensions, including diameter, height, and internal configuration, based on process requirements
- Calculate pressure drops for piping systems, including fittings, valves, and elevation changes
- Model compressors, expanders, and pumps with flexible input modes, performance curves, and calculated efficiency and power
- Evaluate and configure relief devices, accounting for overpressure scenarios and applicable standards
- Analyze temperature and pressure trends for individual flowsheet elements across a range of operating conditions
- Model column internals for distillation, absorption, and stripping operations with tray or packing specifications
- Perform thermophysical property calculations for pure components and mixtures
- Calculate bubble point and dew point temperatures or pressures for mixtures at specified conditions
Advanced simulation & scaling
- Set up steady-state and dynamic simulations within the same interface to evaluate both normal operation and transient conditions
- Conduct process scale-up studies, transitioning designs from pilot plant to full-scale operation
- Reconcile process data with experimental or plant measurements to validate and refine models
- Optimize process configurations to improve energy efficiency and reduce utility consumption
- Evaluate process intensification strategies, such as combining operations or using alternative equipment designs
- Perform economic evaluations to estimate capital and operating costs for proposed process changes
- Analyze process sensitivity to feed composition, equipment performance, or operating conditions
- Simulate startup, shutdown, and upset conditions for operational planning and safety review
Customization & extensibility
- Create custom unit operations to represent specialized equipment or proprietary processes
- Develop and integrate user-defined thermodynamic models for unique or complex mixtures
- Add custom chemical components with user-specified physical and thermodynamic property data
- Incorporate property calculation routines written in C++, or other supported programming languages
- Link Excel spreadsheets for bidirectional data exchange and calculation control
- Use inline C programming to embed specialized engineering calculations directly in simulations
- Import and export data to third-party modeling tools or plant data historians
- Create and store reusable templates for common process configurations
- Adapt simulation workflows to meet company-specific standards and regulatory requirements
Reports & integration
- Generate detailed simulation reports summarizing equipment specifications, stream properties, and calculation results
- Produce graphical outputs such as process flow diagrams, charts, and trend plots for documentation and analysis
- Export simulation data to Microsoft Word, Excel, or WordPad for further formatting or inclusion in reports
- Create custom report templates to meet company or client documentation standards
- Print complete flowsheets with customizable title blocks, annotations, or legends
- Link simulations to Excel for live data updates and automated calculations
- Integrate with process control and operator training systems for real-time model interaction
- Use supported communication protocols (OPC, COM) for data exchange with external applications
Supported Codes & Standards
Safety relief & pressure codes
- Simulate pressure relief devices and safety scenarios
- Model piping networks and pressure drop behavior under different operational conditions
- Evaluate compliance with relief and depressurization standards
Exchanger & heat transfer standards
- Size heat exchangers using standard design practices for shell-and-tube, plate, and air-cooled units
- Apply accepted methods for thermal and hydraulic calculations
- Test performance under varying scenarios to support industry codes
Equipment or piping design & rating
- Generate design data or rate existing vessels, pumps, compressors, and columns to align with process needs and engineering standards
- Assess pressure drops and flow distribution in piping systems
- Provide modeling support compatible with recognized design criteria
Thermodynamics & property modeling
- Use established models for vapor-liquid equilibrium, enthalpy, and other property calculations
- Support selection and validation of models per widely accepted thermodynamic conventions
- Enable regression of component data to align with published or experimental data
Reporting & regulatory documentation
- Produce structured outputs for review against regulatory and engineering standards
- Export consistent reports, diagrams, and charts for audits or compliance documentation
- Customize templates to fit internal or external regulatory formats
