Get Started Workshop

Files can be found in folder: 02_GetStarted

Objective
In this workshop, you will provide sufficient information to fully define the thermodynamic
basis of a simulation flowsheet. Additionally, you will be able to define material streams
and attach Stream Analysis to those streams to gain further information.

This workshop introduces you to some of the basic concepts necessary for creating
simulations in Aspen HYSYS. You will use Aspen HYSYS to define a hydrocarbon stream
which mimics the makeup and conditions of a typical upstream material flow. In addition,
you will learn how to determine specific properties of the stream by using the Envelope
and Property Table Analysis options.

This workshop includes the following tasks:

• Task 1 – Define a Fluid Package

• Task 2 – Add a Material Stream
• Task 3 – Select a Unit Set
• Task 4 – Perform Stream Analysis

Task 1 – Define a Fluid Package

Aspen HYSYS uses the concept of the Fluid Package to contain all necessary information
for performing flash and physical property calculations. This approach allows you to define
all information (property package, components, hypothetical components, interaction
parameters, reactions, tabular data, etc.) inside a single object.

1. Start a new case by opening Aspen HYSYS and selecting the New option and
select Case.

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The Properties Environment is a program view that allows you to create and manipulate
multiple fluid packages or component lists in the simulation. To re-enter the Properties
Environment from any point in the simulation, use the Ctrl+B hot key or select the
Properties Environment menu in the bottom-left of your HYSYS window.

The first item shown in the Properties Environment is the Component Lists folder. Here,
you can create component lists that are independent of (but can be associated with) the
individual Fluid Packages in the case.

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The following table describes the various buttons available on the Component Lists
object:

Button Description
Add Allows you to create a Component List. You can choose between
the HYSYS Databanks and Aspen Properties databases when
creating a component list.
Note: Component Lists can be added through the Fluid Package
as well.
Delete Removes the selected Component List from the simulation.
Copy Makes a copy of the selected Component List.
Import Allows you to import a predefined Component List from disk.
Component Lists have the file extension “.cml”.
Export Allows you to export the selected Component List to disk. The
exported Component List can be retrieved into another case by
using the Import function.

The second folder in the Properties Environment is the Fluid Packages item. Depending
upon the desired property model, you have a choice between three available databases
when selecting a Fluid Package: Aspen HYSYS, Aspen Properties, or COMThermo. For
the workshops in this course, we will be using Aspen HYSYS as the database source.

The following table describes the various buttons available on the Fluid Packages object:

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 Button Description

Add Allows you to create and install a fluid package in the simulation.

Delete Removes the selected Fluid Package from the simulation.

Copy Makes a copy of the selected fluid package. Everything is identical

in the copied version except the name. This is useful for modifying
fluid packages.

Import Allows you to import a predefined fluid package from disk. Fluid
packages have the file extension “.fpk”.

Export Allows you to export the selected fluid package to a disk. The
exported fluid package can be retrieved into another case by
using the Import function.

Now that you have been introduced to the Properties Environment of Aspen HYSYS,
let’s begin the workshop.

2. On the Component Lists folder in the Navigation Pane, click the Add button.

3. Start by adding the first component; in this case, it will be Nitrogen. Add it by
typing “nitrogen” or “N2” into the Search for field in the component list window.

4. Once the desired component is highlighted click the <Add> button or press Enter
to add the component to your component list.

5. Repeat this procedure by adding the following components:

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 Components

H2S

CO2

Methane

Ethane

Propane

i-Butane

n-Butane

i-Pentane

n-Pentane

n-Hexane

H2O
Hint: You can select multiple components by holding down Ctrl on your keyboard and
selecting the desired components. Or hold down Shift and select a range of components.

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Next, you will introduce a hypothetical component to your list. This hypothetical
component will represent a mixture of heavier hydrocarbons (i.e. heptanes, octanes, etc.)
in the gas stream mixture.

6. Click the Select menu item and choose the Hypothetical option.

7. In the Method menu item, choose the Create and Edit Hypos option. This will
allow you to quickly create a single hypothetical component.

8. Again, you are adding a hypothetical component to represent an aggregate of

heavier hydrocarbons (i.e. n-heptane and heavier). To create this component,
click the New Hypo button.

What does the New Hypo Group button do?

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 9. A single hypothetical component is created. Change the name from Hypo20000*
to C7+ by clicking the box and typing the new name.

Note: When you click New Hypo, Aspen HYSYS adds a hydrocarbon class hypo by default.
If you want to add a hypo from another class, click the Hypothetical Manager button in
the Home tab of the ribbon and then in the view that displays, click the Settings tab. This
will open a form where you can add non-hydrocarbon class hypotheticals.

10. In the view for the hypo component you created, enter the Normal Boiling Point for
the component, which in our case is 110 °C (230 °F). No other properties are
known, so everything else will be estimated.

Note: Aspen HYSYS always places an asterisk (*) after a hypo name so it can be
distinguished from databank components.

11. Click the Estimate Unknown button to estimate all the other properties and fully
define the hypothetical component.

Note: The minimum information required for defining a hypo is the Normal Boiling Pt or
the Molecular Weight and Liquid Density.

12. When the hypo component has been defined, make sure the hypo component is
selected and highlighted.

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 13. Add the hypo component to the Selected Components list by selecting it and
clicking the < Add button.

You have now finished defining the component list.

14. Using the Navigation Pane on the left-hand side of the HYSYS window, select the
Fluid Packages folder.

15. Click the Add button to add a Fluid Package. By default, it will be a HYSYS
Databank Fluid Package. This agrees with our component list as it was also set
up with the HYSYS Databank.

16. From the Property Package Selection menu, choose the Peng-Robinson property
package.

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Tip: You can also verify your component list selection from the Fluid Packages menu.
Click the View button next to the Component List Selection field to double-check your
components.

17. Back in the Navigation Pane, click on the Fluid Packages folder icon. This will
show any created Fluid Packages and show the Fluid Package manipulation buttons
discussed earlier.

18. Click and highlight the current Fluid Package name “Basis-1” and rename it as
GasPlant.

Once defined, Fluid Packages can be exported for use in another HYSYS case, creating a
single, common physical property source that can be used across multiple simulations.

19. Make sure the GasPlant Fluid Package is highlighted and click the Export button
at the bottom of the form.

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 20. Browse to a suitable file-save location (i.e. a folder on the Desktop, a personal drive,
etc.) and enter GasPlant as the name for the Fluid Package. Then click Save As

Note: Aspen HYSYS will automatically add the file extension .fpk when it saves your fluid
package. By default, the file is automatically saved to the Program Files folder …\Aspen
HYSYS V10.0\Paks.

21. Save your case as 02-FluidPackage.hsc

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Task 2 – Add a Material Stream
Now that your Fluid Package has been defined, you can continue with the simulation by
adding a Material Stream.

22. Click the Simulation Environment button to begin building the flowsheet.

In Aspen HYSYS, there are two types of streams that can be added to a flowsheet; material
streams (blue arrow) and energy streams (red arrow). Material streams are used to represent
process flows and have defined parameters such as composition, temperature, pressure, and
flow rate. Energy streams are typically used to represent the heat duty or energy supplied
to or produced by a unit operation. Energy streams have only one parameter; heat flow.
There are a variety of ways to add material streams in Aspen HYSYS:

To use this... Do this...

Object View the Object Palette (press F4 to show if it’s unavailable).
Palette Double-click the Material Stream icon or click and drag it
onto the flowsheet.

Keyboard Press the F11 Hot Key. The Stream property view opens.
Shortcut

Ribbon From the Flowsheet/Modify tab, select the Additional

Flowsheet Commands link and choose Add Stream.

23. Using the Object Palette (or one of the other described means) add a Material
Stream to your flowsheet.

24. If the stream property view is not displayed, double-click the newly created stream
in the flowsheet to bring up the property view, shown below:

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 25. Highlight the Stream Name cell. Change the stream name to HC Feed and press
Enter.

Once a material stream has been created, there are two different methods that can be used
to enter stream composition:

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On this page... Do this...

Conditions • Double-click the Molar Flow cell to enter mole fractions.

or
• Double-click the Mass Flow cell to enter mass fractions.
or
• Double-click the Std Ideal Liquid Volume Flow cell to enter volume
fractions.
The Input Composition for Stream view displays.

Composition Click the Edit button.

The Input Composition for Stream view displays.

26. Use one of the methods described above to open the Input Composition for
Stream view.

27. Ensure that Mole Fractions is displayed as the Composition Basis and enter the
following values:
28. Is it necessary for components to have 4 decimal places? This adds no value and
makes the input process tedious for customer.

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 For this component... Enter this mole fraction...
Nitrogen 0.0083
H2S 0.0211
CO2 0.0107
Methane 0.5091
Ethane 0.1766
Propane 0.0752
i-Butane 0.0508
n-Butane 0.0398
i-Pentane 0.0441
n-Pentane 0.0339
n-Hexane 0.0202
H2O 0.0000
C7+ 0.0102

29. Click OK to save the compositions and close the Input Composition for Stream
window.

Once composition has been defined, Aspen HYSYS can perform three types of flash
calculations on streams: Pressure-Temperature, Vapor Fraction-Temperature and Vapor
Fraction-Pressure. While enthalpy and entropy are also available to be specified for flash
calculations, this is not typically done. If two of the three process variables are known
(pressure, temperature and vapor fraction), Aspen HYSYS can perform a flash calculation
on the stream to calculate the third parameter, as well as the molar enthalpy and molar
entropy.

Note: Only two of these three stream parameters (pressure, temperature and vapor
fraction) can be supplied. If all three variables are somehow defined, a consistency error
will occur.

30. Perform a P-T flash calculation on the HC Feed stream by setting the pressure to
3000 kPa (435 psia) and the temperature to 25 °C (77 °F).

QUESTION: What is the resulting vapor fraction? [Write your answer below]

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With the flash capabilities of Aspen HYSYS, it is possible to perform dew point and bubble
point calculations with ease. By specifying a vapor fraction of 1.0 and either the pressure
or temperature of the stream, Aspen HYSYS will determine the dew point condition.
Similarly, to calculate the bubble point, a vapor fraction of 0.0 and either the stream
pressure or temperature must be entered.

31. Delete the specified temperature and enter a vapor fraction of 1.0.

QUESTION: What is the dew point temperature at 3000 kPa (435 psia)? [Write your
answer below]

32. Change the vapor fraction to 0.0.

QUESTION: What is the bubble point temperature? [Write your answer below]

33. Delete the vapor fraction specification and return the temperature to its original
value of 25 °C (77 °F).

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The HC Feed stream is still not yet fully defined. In order to fully define a stream, you must
enter a molar, mass, or volumetric flow rate.

34. Enter a molar flow rate of 9000 kgmole/h (19840 lbmole/hr).

QUESTION: What is the Standard Gas Flow of the vapor phase? [Write your answer
below]

Tip: To find the standard gas flow rate, select the Properties page from the stream menu.
Then move the mouse arrow to the left or right side of the view until the arrow changes to
the double-headed resizing arrows. Press and hold the left mouse button and drag the edge
of the view until all the phases can be seen.

35. Save your case as 02-MaterialStream.hsc

Task 3 – Select an Unit Set

In Aspen HYSYS, it is possible to change the default unit set used to display variables on
a case-wide basis. Two approaches can be taken to change the unit set, and both will be
reviewed in the following steps,

36. View the Home tab in the HYSYS ribbon. The Units selector is on the left hand
side:

37. Click the pull-down menu to select a unit set. There are five default unit sets
available: Field (English/Imperial), SI, EuroSI, Safety EN and Safety SI.

38. To access further unit set options, follow one of these approaches:

o Click the Unit Sets button below the unit set selector or go to the File tab,
and click the Options button.

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39. In the resulting Simulation Options window, make sure you are viewing the Units
of Measure from.

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 40. You can click and select a desired unit set for use, or even create your own custom
unit set by copying an existing set. In this exercise, we will use one of the built-in
sets, so choose your preferred set and click OK.

Tip: To change the units for an individual input specification, simply type the numerical
value of the specification and click the unit drop-down list. Choose the desired unit for the
value you are providing and Aspen HYSYS will convert the input back to the default unit
selected in your session preferences.

Task 4 – Perform Stream Analysis

In Aspen HYSYS, the Home tab contains a set of useful Analysis tools that interact with
your process. These tools provide additional information or analysis of streams or
operations. Once installed, the Analysis becomes part of the simulation, automatically
recalculating when conditions change in the stream or operation to which it is attached.

As with the majority of objects in Aspen HYSYS, Analyses can be attached to streams in
one of several different ways:

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 To use the... Do this...

Ribbon From the Home tab, select Stream Analysis. Or

select the pull-down arrow on the Stream Analysis
button to choose a particular analysis type.

Stream 1. Open the Stream property view.

Property View 2. On the Attachments tab, click the Analysis page.
3. Click the Create button.
The Available Stream Analysis view displays.

Navigation Click and select the Stream Analysis folder in the

Pane Navigation Pane. Then click the Add button and select
the desired Analysis type.

The Envelope Analysis allows you to examine relationships between selected parameters
for any stream of known composition, including streams with only one component. Vapor-
Liquid phase envelopes may be plotted for the following variables: Pressure-Temperature,
Pressure-Volume, Pressure-Enthalpy, Pressure-Entropy, Temperature-Volume,
Temperature-Enthalpy and Temperature-Entropy.

41. Open the HC Feed stream property view by double-clicking on the stream icon on
the flowsheet.

42. On the Attachments tab, click Analysis on the left side of the page and then click
the Create button.

43. Once the Available Stream Analysis menu appears, select Envelope and click the
Add button.

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44. You should notice the Envelope Analysis window titled Envelope-HC Feed is now
visible. The analysis is also listed in the material stream Analysis section. If you
close the Envelope Analysis window, click the View button and it will be shown
again.

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 45. The Design tab shows the critical points and maxima for the phase envelope.

QUESTION: What is the critical temperature and pressure for the stream HC Feed?
[Write your answer below]

46. Switching to the Performance tab allows you to view the graphical and tabular
representation of the phase envelope, as shown below.

Tip: Numerical values can be copied from the results table in Aspen HYSYS to Microsoft
Excel using the copy command (Ctrl+C) in Aspen HYSYS and then the paste command
(Ctrl+V) in Excel.

The next Analysis you will use is the Property Table Analysis. The Property Table
Analysis allows you to examine physical property trends over a range of conditions in both
tabular and graphical formats. The analysis calculates dependent variables from user-
specified independent variable ranges (or values).

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47. While viewing the Home tab in the HYSYS ribbon, click the Stream Analysis
button.

48. The resulting view is into the Stream Analysis folder in the Navigation Pane. You
should see your Envelope Analysis listed here.

49. Click and select the Add button. This will let you choose a particular Analysis
option. Select the Property Table.

50. The analysis must be linked to a given stream. In the Select Process Stream
window, choose HC Feed as the Object, and then click OK.

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51. You should now see the created analysis in the Navigation Pane, titled Property
Table-HC Feed. Double click on it to select and open it.

52. The first step in building a Property Table is to define desired independent
variables. Instead of using the default Independent Variables, re-write them as
follows:

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 Independent Variable 1 Independent Variable 2

Variable 1 Pressure Variable 2 Temperature

Mode State Mode Incremental

State Values 2500 kPa (362.6 psia) Lower Bound 0 °C (32 °F)

5000 kPa (725.2 psia) Upper Bound 100 °C (212 °F)

7500 kPa (1088 psia) # of Increments 10

9000 kPa (1305 psia)

53. Select the Design | Dep. Prop page and click the Add button.

54. Choose Mass Density from the list. Click OK to accept.

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 55. You will bring in one more dependent variable, so click Add again. Select the
Phase Thermal Conductivity | Vapour Phase and click OK to accept.

56. Click the Calculate button at the bottom of the view to generate the property table.

Note: If the properties of the attached stream change, the Property Table utility will need
to re-calculate in order to update the results. You must manually re-click the Calculate
button!

57. Examine the property table results in either graphical or tabular format on the
Performance tab.

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58. Close the Property Table.

59. Save your case as 02-StreamAnalysis.hsc

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Challenge Exercises
QUESTION: Use the Envelope Analysis to determine the cricondenbar of stream HC
Feed.

QUESTION: Discern the dew point temperature of stream HC Feed at 7000 kPa
(1015 psia) using the Envelope analysis.

Hint: Hover over the plot and use the Cross Hairs to more accurately assess the
position of the cursor.

QUESTION: How does this compare to a rigorous flash calculation using the stream
property view?

QUESTION: Plot the 50% quality line for stream HC Feed. What temperature
corresponds to 50 atm on this graph?

Hint: Right click on the plot and use the Graph Control dialog to change the display
units for Pressure to atm (Axes | Pressure). Locate the Quality Curves to define the quality
line.

Recommended Reading
Knowledge Base Article 000029508
How do I plot an envelope on a wet basis?

Knowledge Base Article 000038529

How do I calculate a phase envelope using the property table utility?

Knowledge Base Article 000029831

What does cricondenbar and cricondentherm mean?

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Notes:

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Get Started Solutions
Files can be found in folder: 02_GetStarted/Solutions

Task 2
QUESTION: Perform a P-T flash calculation on the HC Feed stream by setting the
pressure to 3000 kPa (435 psia) and the temperature to 25 °C (77 °F). What is the
resulting vapor fraction?

0.7333

QUESTION: What is the dew point temperature at 3000 kPa (435 psia)?

90.49 °C (194.9 °F)

QUESTION: What is the bubble point temperature at the same pressure?

-78.57 °C (-109.4 °F)

QUESTION: What is the Standard Gas Flow of the vapor phase?

156000 STD_m3/h (132.3 MMSCFD)

Task 4
QUESTION: What is the critical temperature and pressure for the stream HC Feed?

66.93 °C (152.5 °F) and 12220 kPa (1772 psia)

Challenge Problems
QUESTION: Use the Envelope Analysis to determine the cricondenbar of stream HC
Feed.

12310 kPa (1785 psia)

QUESTION: Discern the dew point temperature of stream HC Feed at 7000 kPa
(1015 psia) using the Envelope analysis.

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103.7 °C (218.7 ºF); approximate solution found by hovering mouse/cross hairs over the
dew point curve on the Envelope plot

QUESTION: How does this compare to a rigorous flash calculation using the stream
property view?

103.8°C (218.8 ºF) for the rigorous flash

QUESTION: Plot the 50% quality line for stream HC Feed. What temperature
corresponds to 50 atm on this graph?

Approximately 2.213 °C (35.98 °F)

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