7 replies to this topic

[rbel038]

Hi,

 

My company is looking to purchase software to help design cross country steam pipelines for geothermal power. I have been evaluating some such as ChemCAD and Hysys but these offer too much other unitoperations and features to what we want.

 

Our application is only to do with the pipeline simulation , however i dont think pipesim or pipephase would be suitable as it is oil and gas upstream focused?

 

Does anyone have a recommendation?

 

We do have our own in-house developed model in excel , however it is alot of data entry and requires intense checking and QA. A simulation package would greatly improve productivity i feel.

[RockDock]

Unfortunately, you will need to pay for features you won't use. I don't think any commercial simulator will develop steam capabilities and stop there. It would be in their interest to develop more capabilities.

 

I don't know ChemCAD's pipeline capabilities, but I imagine they would be a much lower price than Hysys. Pipesim and Pipephase would probably do a good job, although those would likely be the most expensive. I've been using ProMax for steam pipeline modeling for many years now. I like their capabilities and trust their results. All this said, I don't think the results would vary much at all between any of the above simulators. They should all be based on the steam tables.

[chemproc]

Chemcad piping capabilities is not as strong as HYSYS. Also their knowledge base is not as developed as HYSYS and I have not enjoyed their customer service much. my recommedation would be HYSYS but if you are concerned about price then Chemcad might be a good option. 

[PingPong]

If one needs to design a complicated piping network one would preferably use some sort of simulator.

 

However to design a steam pipe from A to B is so simple that one can do it by hand.

[Bobby Strain]

Have you considered engaging the services of someone who is experienced at this type of project?

 

Bobby

[rbel038]

Thanks all for the replies. I am trying to get an evaluation sorted in the coming weeks.

 

Bobby, we are experienced designers, it is just everything is currently done in very complicated and convoluted excel spreadsheets. It would make life so much easier to be able to view everything as a block diagram on a flowsheet.

[serra]

insulation (heat losses) should be a important point to consider
and I am not sure that a general purpose simulator allows to estimate accurately heat losses,
I understand that you prefer a GUI over a Excel table and I can agree,
however for a pipeline a (2D or 3D) GIS GUI may be a better option,

finally do not forget that you have full control over your Excel code

(i.e. ISO quality tests etc.) while with (most) simulators you do not have access

to the code (but, of course, you can validate the code based on a certain

number of examples solved by hand).

Edited by serra, 15 July 2014 - 03:52 AM.

[RockDock]

Were were able to put in all the fittings and insulation for our pipeline designs using ProMax. We compared the numbers to Olga on various occasions and the results were practically the same. Judging by the above comments (ChemCAD not being a very good option), ProMax may be right for you. I've used ProMax for large steam/condensate networks in the past. It's not expensive (like GIS GUIs) and will give accurate results.