Physical Properties

Reliable physical property data are an essential requirement for successful process simulation. Without accurate knowledge of the properties of the pure component and mixtures involved, serious errors in mass and energy balances can occur. For this reason, in process simulation we attach great importance to physical properties such as vapor pressure, density, heat capacity and enthalpy of vaporization. To ascertain the equipment design, reliable data on transport properties such as viscosity, thermal conductivity and surface tension are desirable.

A&D AS Solutions Process Industries has an extensive database of pure component properties, which comprises the published data used at A&D AS Solutions Process Industries up to now and the entire data from 35 years of process experience – from the time we spent in the Hoechst group until now. In addition, we have access to the largest commercial databases (in-house installation) and therefore direct access to all the experimental data published so far. Data that cannot be evaluated by investigation can be determined experimentally in our laboratory. If the accuracy required by the particular application allows, missing physical property data can often be estimated using state-of-the-art methods. With the aid of a powerful in-house regression tool, we obtain correlations that can be directly introduced into commercial simulation programs. Our concept has proved so effective that we were asked to write the relevant chapter in the 9th edition of the standard work "VDI-Wärmeatlas" (Association of German Engineers Thermal Atlas).

Besides pure component properties, the phase equilibria of multi-component mixtures are crucial for a description of thermal separation processes. In addition to the pure component data, A&D AS Solutions Process Industries has access to databases containing all the data obtained by investigation. Phase equilibrium experiments can be carried out in our laboratory. For phase equilibria, our experts ensure that an appropriate model is chosen to describe thermodynamic behavior, which is also very important for successful simulation.

Our competence in the area of physical properties area even goes beyond the simulation application. With our experience, we can systematically search for appropriate entrainers for extractive or azeotropic distillation and can therefore directly contribute to improvement of your process.