Uhde , a leading plant engineering and construction company, has chosen the ProSimPlus HNO3 software to enhance the process of the nitric acid production plants they design.
Through modelling and simulation of the production process the plants can be precisely tailored to customer requirements, thus increasing plant profitability and minimizing investment risk.
"ProSimPlus HNO3 is a modern tool that allows us to test new plant configurations quickly, thereby saving time in the design phase," explained Rainer Maurer, head of process group nitric acid, fertiliser division.
ProSimPlus HNO3 is specifically dedicated to nitric acid production and nitrous vapour absorption processes, which involve particularly complex physical and chemical phenomena.
They include in particular nitrogen monoxide oxidation, nitrogen dioxide dimerization and nitrogen oxides absorption in nitric acid aqueous solutions.
ProSimPlus HNO3 provides a specific thermodynamic package that includes a complete database of the pure components involved in these processes, the appropriate thermodynamic models, and the correlations for calculation of reaction, dimerization or equilibrium constants.
These unique features, that enable the user to quickly build up an accurate simulation, have led Uhde to put aside most of the general simulation packages available on the market.
Evaluation of the software by Uhde was conducted by testing different operating modes (load variation, summer, winter operations), in particular on a dual pressure unit process (the Uhde dual-pressure process).
The results from ProSimPlus HNO3 were compared to those generated by the in-house software and proved to be consistent.
"The reliability of the results and the easiness of convergence were key elements that convinced us of the robustness of ProSimPlus HNO3", added Maurer.
Last but not least, the ProSim support team also proved its ability to provide quick answers and to respond efficiently to demands throughout the evaluation period.
This element allowed Uhde to consider future collaboration with ProSim with confidence and to envisage the complete replacement of their in-house software with ProSimPlus HNO3.
