How to use CAPE-OPEN Property Package in Aspen HYSYS

Revision Date Comments

August 1, 2007 First version
November 4, 2008 Updated for V7.1

Introduction..............................................................................................................................................1
How to use CAPE-OPEN Property Package in Aspen HYSYS...............................................................1

Introduction
This document describes how to use a CAPE-OPEN compliant property package in Aspen HYSYS. Aspen
HYSYS version 2004 and later supports CAPE-OPEN Thermo standards version 1.0. Starting with Aspen
HYSYS version 2006.5, the CAPE-OPEN Thermo standards version 1.1 is also supported. Both versions
of the CAPE-OPEN Thermo standards are supported because some suppliers of thermo property packages
have not yet implemented the 1.1 standards.

It is assumed that a CAPE-OPEN compliant property package has been configured and created using the
appropriate thermo engine application (such as Aspen Properties or Infochem Multiflash). It is also
assumed that the required property package and program have been installed and registered on the same
computer that Aspen HYSYS is installed.

The descriptions and screen captures shown below correspond to Aspen HYSYS V7.1. For other versions
of Aspen HYSYS, the procedure is very similar.

How to use CAPE-OPEN Property Package in Aspen HYSYS

1. Start Aspen HYSYS.

2. Create a new case, and add a new fluid package.
3. On the Fluid Package: Basis form, select COMThermo radio button.
4. In the Property Package Selection group box, select Generic COMThermo Pkg (default).
5. In the Model Selection group box, select the property model for both the vapor and the liquid Model
Phase. CAPE-OPEN 1.0 and CAPE-OPEN 1.1 models are available in the Model Selection list.
Notice that by default, the HYSYSFlash flash method is selected. However, CAPE-OPEN Flash
(supporting 1.0 standards) and CAPE-OPEN 1.1 Flash methods are also available. You must select the
CAPE-OPEN property models first before selecting the flash methods.

Important: You must also make sure that both the CAPE-OPEN property models and the flash method are
consistent, e.g., you cannot use CAPE-OPEN 1.0 property models with CAPE-OPEN 1.1 flash method.

Note that a CAPE-OPEN property package can consist of both property models and phase equilibrium
(flash) method (server). However, some property package may not include a flash method.
6. Select a CAPE-OPEN model for the Vapor phase and the same CAPE-OPEN model for the Liquid
phase (i.e., you cannot select CAPE-OPEN 1.0 for Vapor and CAPE-OPEN 1.1 for Liquid). After you
have selected the models for both phases, Aspen HYSYS will display the Aspen HYSYS CAPE-OPEN
Property Component Manager dialog box. The dialog box for CAPE-OPEN 1.1 is shown below. The
dialog box for CAPE-OPEN 1.0 is similar and will not be described.

This dialog box displays the available property package managers as well as individual property packages.
A property package manager is generally a thermo property system such as Aspentechs COMThermo or
Infochem Multiflash. The available property packages that have been generated by the property system is
displayed under each property package manager. Select the property package of interest and click Accept.

Note that this dialog also displays general information about the property package manager and other useful
information.

After you click the Accept button, the COMThermo Setup dialog will be displayed again with the Extended
PropPkg Setup button enabled. You need to click this button to complete the setup.
The Extended Property Package Setup dialog box will be displayed.

7. Click on the Finish Setup button. The CAPE-OPEN Property Package Detailed Information dialog
box will be displayed. This dialog box shows relevant information about the selected property
package, including components, properties and phase supported.
8. Click on the Components tab to displayed the list of components supported by the selected property
package.

9. Click on the Properties tab to displayed the list of properties and flash types supported by the selected
property package. It is important to note that unless the property package supports one or more flash
types, the CAPE-OPEN 1.1 Flash method cannot be selected (see step 9 below).
It is recommended that you do not modify the Perform Order Phases after flash checkbox (the program
will try to guess its best value). For some packages, it is required to perform an Order Phases process after
performing a flash. For efficiency reasons, when a package is requested the fugacity for a phase that does
exist at the specified conditions, it may decide to return the value corresponding to the opposite phase type
(Vapor instead of Liquid and vice versa). When packages take this behavior, it is necessary to perform a
post-processing to check that the detected phases hold a correct phase type. Obviously, this post-processing
will introduce an unnecessary overhead to packages that do not need it.

If the selected property package is from Aspen Properties or Aspen Plus, the Request VLL flash to Aspen
Properties check box can be used to control the number of phases considered when Aspen Properties
performs flash calculations. When checked, Aspen Properties will perform VLL calculations. When
unchecked, it will perform VL calculations. Note that the VL calculations can be significantly faster than
the VLL calculations. But you should use VLL when needed.

10. Click on the Phases tab to displayed the list of phases types supported by the selected property package
11. Click OK to close this dialog box and return to the COMThermo Setup dialog. At this point you can
select an appropriate Flash method (e.g., use the default HYSYSFlash or the CAPE-OPEN 1.1 Flash
(if the property package supports the flash types you need; see step 7). If you select the CAPE-OPEN
1.1 flash method, the Extended Flash Setup button will be enabled. Click this button to complete the
setup.

12. So far we had selected a native flash, i.e., HYSYSFlash for all phase-equilibrium calculations. That
means that, while the phase properties are calculated by the CAPE-OPEN package, the flash is still
performed by HYSYS native software. To change that behavior, select the 'CAPE-OPEN Flash', or
CAPE-OPEN 1.1 Flash from the flash list (see screen capture in Step 3). The CAPE-OPEN Flash
supports the Thermo 1.0 interface, while CAPE-OPEN 1.1 Flash supports the Thermo 1.1 interface.

IMPORTANT: The CAPE-OPEN Flash selection must be made AFTER the CAPE-OPEN property
models selection as described above.
13. After you select a CAPE-OPEN Flash, the Extended Flash Setup button will be enabled. Click on it.

14. The Extended Flash Setup dialog box will appear. Click the Finish Setup button.
15. After completing the setup of the Fluid Package, you can go to the Simulation environment to define
the streams and blocks as needed.

Limitations of using a CAPE-OPEN flash

Only Property Packages which implement their CalcEquilibrium method may be used. Components
which only implement the interface ICapeThermoEquilibriumServer are not supported.
When using a 'CAPE-OPEN Flash', the equilibrium calculations will be requested to the same
component instance of the CAPE-OPEN Property Package that was selected earlier