Brief Instructions for the Use of HYSYS

(with an example)
Overview
Use of this simulation software for chemical processing involves the following steps:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Selection of components
Selection of a thermodynamic properties package
Construction of a flowsheet
Specification of known stream and unit compositions and conditions
Running the simulation program
Interpretation of the results

These steps are discussed briefly below, in terms of the actual interactions between the user and
the simulation software.
Combined with the discussion is the solution to the following example problem.
Example: What duty is required to heat a stream (1250 kg/s) containing equal molar
amounts of methane and ethane from 20 oC and 100 bar to 200 oC at constant pressure?
Selection of Components
Obtain the HYSYS window and select the blank sheet (New Case) on the toolbar. This will open
the Simulation Basis Manager window under the tab Components. There should be no listing
under Master Component List. Press the View button, which should result in a Component List
View window appearing. Select components and press the Add Pure bar to add them to the
components list, until it contains all components present in the desired simulation. For the
example problem, select methane and then ethane. Close this window to return to the Simulation
Basis Manager window.
Selection of the Thermodynamic Properties Package
Select the Fluid Pkgs tab at the bottom. Press the Add bar to open the Fluid Package selection
window. Select a fluid properties package by highlighting it. For the example problem, select
the EOS filter, and then Peng Robinson by highlighting it, at which time it will appear in the
yellow window at the bottom of the screen. Close this window to return again to the Simulation
Basis Manager window. It should read Basis-1, NC: 2, PP: Peng-Robinson.
Press the Enter Simulation Environment bar to go to the process flow diagram window PFD
Case (Main). If you want to change the components or thermodynamics package at a later time,
you must reenter the Basis Environment, by clicking on the appropriate icon (flask) on the toolbar
above the flowsheet workspace, or by appropriate selection under the Simulation menu.
Construction of Flowsheet
Expand the PFD (process flow diagram) worksheet to fill the screen. Now, you must place the
unit operations on the PFD workspace. This is accomplished by selecting operations from the
Case (Main) side toolbar, and left clicking again at the desired location on the flowsheet. If you

need to move units at any time, they can be dragged across the workspace by clicking and holding
the left mouse button.
In the example problem, only a Heater is needed. Select the Heater symbol from the Case (Main)
side toolbar. It is the 5th unit operation listed (middle of the 2nd row of operation symbols). Click
the left mouse button again at the location on the screen where you want the Heater to be located
(near the middle will do). This should place a Heater on the flowsheet, with the default name E100. If you want to rename it, this can be done later, when you connect streams to this unit.
Next, you must place all of the fluid streams (blue arrows) on the flowsheet. In the example, one
inlet stream and one exit stream are needed. Select the Material Stream icon (blue arrow) from
the Case (Main) toolbar, then click again to the left of the Heater on the flowsheet. This should
place a stream with default name 1 on the flowsheet. You can change its name by double
clicking on the arrow and changing 1 to your desired new name on the pop-up window, but we
will do this later on another screen. Repeat this operation, to place a stream 2 to the right of the
Heater. A common convention for flowsheets has the streams flowing from left to right on the
diagram.
Next, you must place all of the energy streams (red arrows) on the flowsheet. In the example, one
energy stream is required to provide the energy to heat the fluid stream passing through the
Heater. Select the Energy Stream icon (red arrow) from the Case (Main) toolbar, and place it
above the Heater on the flowsheet. The default name for this energy stream will be Q-100. You
can change its name by double clicking on Q-100, and changing the name on the popup window,
but this will be done later.
The next step is to make the connections between the streams and the units. This is done by
double clicking a unit, resulting in a popup window for that unit, under the tab Connections.
Double click on E-100, and rename this unit Heater. Then choose 1 for the Inlet, 2 for the Outlet,
and Q-100 for the energy stream. Close this window to return to the flowsheet. All streams
should now appear connected to the unit operation Heater.
Specification of Known Stream and Unit Compositions and Conditions
Specifications for the units can be made under the window for each, obtained by double clicking
each unit. For the example, reopen the unit operation Heater window and select the tab
Parameters. Note that the duty and the pressure drop for the Heater can be specified on this
window. The duty is unknown, so just leave it blank. Specify the exit pressure by putting in 0
for the pressure drop, a usual specification for a heater. Close this window.
Finally, you must specify the known flow rates and conditions for streams on the flowsheet.
Double clicking on each stream and entering the known parameters is one way to accomplish this.
In the example, double click on stream 1, resulting in a popup window for that stream under the
Worksheet tab. You could put in the composition, temperature, pressure and flow rate for this
stream here, but lets do it another way, which allows us to look at all the streams together.
Again, double click on the Heater, and then open the Worksheet tab. You should see a
Conditions table with a column for each material and energy stream involved with the heater.
Change the name of the feed stream to Feed, and the product stream to Product. Change the
name of the energy stream to Duty. Put in 20 for the Feed Temperature in oC, put in 100 for the
Feed Pressure in bar (must select this unit, since kPa is the default unit for pressure), and put in
1250 for the Feed Mass Flow in kg/s. Select the Composition Worksheet table, which should

show that methane and ethane are the possible components for this stream. Enter 0.5 for the mole
fraction of methane in the Feed stream, which will result in a new window for the complete
specification of the composition of the Feed stream. Enter 0.5 for the mole fraction of ethane,
then hit the OK bar. Notice that the composition of the Product Stream is calculated to be the
same as for the inlet stream.
Go back to the Conditions Worksheet. You should note that the flow rate for the Product stream
is already filled in from these calculations. Is it correct? Finally, put in 200 C for the temperature
of the Product stream.
Running the simulation program
To run a simulation, all that you need to do is press the Green Light (Solver Active) icon on the
toolbar just above the flowsheet. In fact, in the example problem, this should not be needed, as
the simulation will run automatically, if all the specifications have been made correctly, and the
Green Light was on. When the simulation has run, and converged to a solution, the strip at the
bottom of the Worksheet will change from Unknown Duty on yellow to OK on a green
background. The units on the flowchart will change color from yellow to black.
Interpretation of the results
The results of the simulation can be viewed by clicking on the Workbook icon on the toolbar
above the flowsheet. For the example, be sure to view the streams to make sure the conditions
and flow rates are correct. Then, view the energy stream to find the required duty (heat flow),
which should be 2.486x109 kJ/h. All of this information can be viewed as well under the unit
operation Heater (under the tab Worksheet), since there is only one unit in this process, and all
streams are connected to this single unit.
Is this answer reasonable? What can you compare the result with to be sure it is reasonable?
Why has the answer been rounded to 4 significant figures?
Try this simulation again, by changing the thermodynamics package from Peng-Robinson to
Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK). Does your duty change to 2.509x109 kJ/h? Try the Lee-KesslerPlocker thermodynamics package. Do you get Q = 2.557x109 kJ/h? Why are these numbers all
slightly different?
Notice that you can see some properties of streams and units by running the arrow over each item
on the PFD. You can toggle between stream names, temperatures, pressures and flow rates by
using Shift N, Shift T, Shift P and Shift F combined keystrokes.
Lets modify the Workbook to include compositions with stream conditions, and then add the
Workbook to the PFD. When the Workbook is open, use the Workbook menu to reach the Setup
window. On the right, delete the variable Volumetric Flow, then hit the Add button, which opens
another window in which you can choose Component Mole Fraction and choose the option All
and hit OK. Close this window, and the Workbook should be in modified format, as desired.
Close the Workbook and right click on the PFD. Choose Add Workbook Table, then select
Material Streams. To hide this table, right click on it and choose Hide.
You can print the PFD by right clicking on it and choosing Print PFD. Or, you can open the
Workbook and right click on the banner, choosing Print Datasheet. Be sure and save this
example by choosing Save As under the File menu. If you are working in the ChE computer lab,

you will want to save files under the M Drive, which will then be available only to you under
your login password. Give the file an appropriate name, so you can identify it later.