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Get Started Guide for New Users of Aspen HYSYS® V8.0

1. Lesson Objectives

Learn how to create a new Aspen HYSYS simulation

Learn to construct flowsheet, including adding blocks and streams, reconnecting streams, and

breaking/joining streams

2. Prerequisites

Aspen HYSYS V8.0

3. Background

This tutorial is for first-time Aspen HYSYS users. It shows new users:

How to launch Aspen HYSYS UI

How to create a component list

How to select a property package

How to move from Properties environment to Simulation environment

How to construct a flowsheet

The examples presented are solely intended to illustrate specific concepts and principles. They may not

reflect an industrial application or real situation.

4. Aspen HYSYS Solution

4.01. We will begin by launching Aspen HYSYS V8.0. From your desktop, select Start and then select All

Programs.

4.02. Select the folder titled AspenTech. Within this folder there is a folder called Process Modeling V8.0.

Within the Process Modeling folder there will be folder titled Aspen HYSYS. Within this folder will be a

shortcut to AspenHysys.exe.

4.03. Clicking the Aspen HYSYS shortcut button will launch AspenHysys.exe. Once HYSYS loads up you have

the option of creating a new case or opening a previously saved case. If you wish to create a new case ,

click the New… button located on the Start Page. Right below the New… button is the Open File…

button. If you wish to open an example file, click the Examples button in the Get Started tab in the

ribbon.

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4.04. For this walkthrough we will create a new case. After selecting the New… button on the Start Page, the

following page will appear.

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4.05. HYSYS will open a new case starting in the Component Lists folder in the Properties environment.

Creating a component list is the first step in creating a simulation. To create a component list, click the

Add button. This will create a HYSYS component list by default. If you wish to create an Aspen

Properties component list, you can select the down arrow and select Aspen Properties.

4.06. For this simulation we will add components Methane, Ethane, Propane, i-Butane, n-Butane, and Water.

In Component List 1 you will see a list of components on the right. You can simply double click on a

component from the list and it will be added to your simulation component list. If you wish to add

multiple components at a time, you can highlight a group of components and click the Add button.

4.07. In the following screenshot, you can see that after clicking the Add button, the selected components are

now in the component list on the left.

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4.08. You can also type the name of a component in the Search for field as shown below. Once you find the

component you are looking for, simply double click the component or click Add to add it to your

component list.

4.09. The completed component list for this simulation is shown below.

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4.10. The next step after creating a component list is to define a property package. Go to the Fluid Packages

folder in the Navigation Pane. Clicking the Add button will create a fluid package from the HYSYS

database. You can also click the down arrow to select an Aspen Properties or COMThermo property

package.

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4.11. To choose a property package, click into the Basis-1 folder. You will be presented with a list of property

packages that you can select from. For this simulation, we will choose the Peng-Robinson equation of

state. Each property package has several options that you can select to more accurately model the

specific system you are working with.

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4.12. If you are working with petroleum assays, you may need to make use of the Petroleum Assays or Oil

Manager folders. These subjects are discussed briefly in modules Dist-018 and Prop-005.

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4.13. If your system involves reactions, you will want to go to the Reactions folder. Here you can add reaction

sets and specify reactions. HYSYS supports several types of reactions including conversion, equil ibrium,

heterogeneous catalytic, kinetic, and simple rate.

4.14. The Component Maps folder lets you map fluid component composition across fluid package

boundaries. This is useful when dealing with hypothetical oil components. Two defined fluid packages

are required to perform a component mapping. In most cases you will not need to use this feature.

4.15. The User Properties folder is available for users to create their own properties. Once a user property is

defined, HYSYS will be able to calculate the value of the property for any stream through the User

Property utility.

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4.16. For this simulation, after we have selected our property package, we will move straight to the

Simulation environment. To move to the Simulation environment, click the Simulation button in the

bottom left of the screen.

4.17. You should notice that the Model Palette automatically opens once you have moved to the Simulation

environment. The model palette is where you can select unit operations and place them onto the

flowsheet. You should explore the model palette to get a sense of where certain unit operations are

located. Hovering the mouse over an icon will display a tool tip with the name of the unit operation.

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4.18. An alternative to the model palette is the Unit Ops window. Pressing F12 will open the window shown

below. This window lists every available unit operation in HYSYS. This window also includes radio

buttons to make finding the right unit operations easier.

4.19. To re-open the Model Palette, press F4. Place a Material Stream onto the flowsheet. Select the icon

shown below and click on the flowsheet where you’d like to place the stream.

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4.20. Double click on the stream to rename it and specify the state variables, flowrate, and composition.

When defining a stream you must specify a flowrate, composition, and two of the three state variables:

temperature, pressure, and vapour fraction.

4.21. For this example, enter a Temperature of 25°C, a Pressure of 1 bar, and a Molar Flow of 100 kgmole/h.

Note that you can change the global unit set from the Home tab in the ribbon.

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4.22. To specify the composition of Stream 1, go to the Composition form under the Worksheet tab. To edit

the composition, click the Edit button or enter a number in the Mole Fractions area. Once a number is

entered the Input Composition window will automatically open.

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4.23. Enter the Mole Fractions shown below for Stream 1 and click the OK button. Once the composition is

defined the stream should solve.

4.24. In HYSYS, every block or stream has a status bar at the bottom. When the status bar turns green and

says OK, this means that the block/stream has fully solved. The block or stream on the flowsheet will

also change to a dark blue color to indicate that is has solved.

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4.25. We will now add our first unit operation to the flowsheet. Open the Model Palette again (F4) and select

a Mixer and place it onto the flowsheet.

4.26. Double click on the mixer (MIX-100). To connect streams to a block simply select Inlet streams and

Outlet streams from the Connections form. Select Stream 1 to be an Inlet for the mixer. After selecting

Stream1 as an Inlet, the stream will be attached to the mixer on the flowsheet.

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4.27. You can either add more material streams to the flowsheet from the model palette and then select

them as inlets or outlets from the mixer, or you can create new streams directly from the mixer. To do

this, simply click the Outlet field and type in a new name for a stream. This stream will then be created

and shown on the flowsheet accordingly. For example, let’s enter the stream named Mixed into the

Outlet field as shown below.

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4.28. Notice that the status bar of the mixer is now green and says OK. This indicates that the mixer has

enough information and has fully solved. Also note that the flowsheet is updated with an outlet stream

called Mixed and the mixer block has turned blue, indicating that it is solved.

4.29. Create a second Inlet stream into the mixer called Water, as shown below. Notice that when you add a

new inlet stream the status bar turns yellow and says Not Solved. This is because the new stream

called Water is not yet defined.

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4.30. To define the Water stream, you can double click the stream on the flowsheet, or go to the Worksheet

tab within the Mixer window. From the Worksheet tab, you can edit the conditions and composition of

any attached streams, assuming the degrees of freedom allows you to do so. Enter a Temperature of

50°C, a Pressure of 1 bar, and Molar Flow of 100 kgmole/h for the Water stream.

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4.31. Go to the Composition tab and enter a Mole Fraction of 1 for water in the Water stream. You will

notice that as soon as the mixer has enough information to solve, it will do so.

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4.32. To view the results of the Mixed stream, double click on the stream. Notice that you are not able to

modify any of the stream conditions or compositions. This is because this stream is being specified by

the mixer based on the two inlet streams.

4.33. HYSYS also allows you to perform back calculations. For example, double click on the Water stream and

delete the Molar Flow.

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4.34. After deleting the molar flow of the Water stream, you will notice that both the Water stream and the

mixer are not unsolved. Double click on the mixer outlet stream called Mixed. You will notice that this

stream is also unsolved, and now you are able to modify the conditions of this stream. If you enter a

Molar Flow of 150 kgmole/h, HYSYS will back calculate the molar flow required for the Water stream.

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4.35. Now let’s say you want to separate the vapor and liquid components of the mixed stream. Add a

Separator block to the flowsheet from the model palette.

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4.36. Double click on the separator block (V-100). Select stream Mixed as the Inlet and create a vapor outlet

called Vapor and a liquid outlet called Liquid. You will notice that the separator will automatically solve

as soon as it has enough information to do so.

4.37. If you would like to put the solver on hold so that it does not automatically solve when it has enough

information, go to the Home tab in the ribbon. Here you will see an option to either put the solver On

Hold or make it Active.

4.38. You should now know how to create a component list, select a property package, define reactions, and

know the basics of how to add unit operations and streams to the flowsheet.

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5. Conclusions

After going through steps described in this tutorial, first-time Aspen HYSYS users should now have the skills to

begin to create their first simulations and to follow the steps described in the University Teaching Modules.

6. Copyright

Copyright © 2012 by Aspen Technology, Inc. (“AspenTech”). All rights reserved. This work may not be

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RESPECT TO THIS WORK and assumes no liability for any errors or omissions. In no event will AspenTech be

liable to you for damages, including any loss of profits, lost savings, or othe r incidental or consequential

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