Operability for process flowsheet analysis

Abstract

Operability establishes the relationship between available input and achievable output sets through a system's mathematical representation. This work aims to develop a Flowsheet Operability analysis for a chemical process using rigorous models in a process simulator. The analysis focuses on a typical Air Separation Unit (ASU) in UniSim® Design (Honeywell) and integrates the simulator with the open-source Python operability tool (Opyrability) developed at West Virginia University. The performed assessment incrementally adds the output space of the process flowsheet units and examines how one group of units output space affects downstream units. The results underscore the importance of Flowsheet Operability analysis and the inclusion of inter-unit operability spaces for efficiently identifying unfavorable operating conditions that traditional Plantwide Operability analysis might overlook.