Getting Started With Relative Economics in Aspen HYSYS

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2011Aspen Technology, Inc.AspenTech, aspenONE, theAspen leaflogo, OPTIMIZE,and the 7 BestPractices of EngineeringExcellenceare trademarksof AspenTechnology,Inc. All rights

reserved. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. 11-748-0711

Getting Started with Relative Economicsin Aspen HYSYS

A Brief Tutorial (and supplement to training and online documentation)

By Dan McCarthy, Product Manager; Ron Beck, Marketing Manager;

and Glenn Dissinger, Product Director, Aspen Technology, Inc


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About AspenTech

AspenTech is a leading supplier of software that optimizes process manufacturingfor energy, chemicals,

pharmaceuticals, engineering and construction, and other industries that manufacture and produce

products from a chemical process. With integrated aspenONE solutions, process manufacturers can

implement best practices for optimizing their engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain operations.As a result, AspenTech customers are better able to increase capacity, improve margins, reduce costs,

and become more energy efficient. To see how the worlds leading process manufacturers rely on

AspenTech to achieve their operational excellence goals, visit www.aspentech.com.


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Getting Started with Relative Economics in Aspen HYSYS

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1. IntroductionThe new integrated economics workflow provided by AspenTech enables process modelers to incorporate rigorous

relative costs in their process modeling studies. This provides the business benefit of better process designs that take into

account capital and operating costs together with technical and process parameters.

Integrated economics brings the power of AspenTechs rigorous economic modeling products (the ICARUS family) to the

process model (Aspen HYSYS or Aspen Plus). This enables the process designer to rapidly assess the relative costs of a

proposed process design, thereby providing the means to screen alternatives based on a balance of technical, safety,

environmental and economic factors.

This document serves as a simple getting started guide, taking you through the most common progression of how we

would envision the process designer to use this integrated functionality. This guide is not meant to be used on a stand-

alone basis. We would recommend that a range of other resources be called upon to give the new user a comprehensive

view of how to use this capability. This may include:

Online documentation which can be accessed through the Aspen HYSYS and Aspen Process Economic Analyzer

software user screens.

AspenTech support website (support.aspentech.com), which contains a wide range of knowledge base items, provides

answers to frequently asked questions.

AspenTech courseware available in in-person and on-line versions, which provide formal training on process modeling

and economic evaluation.

AspenTech business consultants.

Pre-recorded tutorials and webinars that provide another view of the information contained in this document (go to

http://www.aspentech.com/solutions/industry_solutions/epc/integrated-economics.aspxfor many of these

resources).

This document covers Aspen HYSYS. This guide assumes that the user has Aspen HYSYS V7.3 and Aspen Process

Economic Analyzer V7.3 installed.

A companion document to this one, providing similar information for users of Aspen Plus, is also available.

(http://www.aspentech.com/uploadedFiles/Forms/Events/NALA/int_econ_tutorial.pdf)

2. The Work FlowThe integrated economics solution is flexible in terms of the work flows that it supports. The work flow that we follow in

this guide is as follows:

STEP ONE:incorporate operating costs in the Aspen HYSYS model.

STEP TWO: converge the model

STEP THREE:activate relative costing

STEP FOUR:select cost basis


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STEP FIVE:map unit operation models to equipment

STEP SIX:sizing equipment

STEP SEVEN:evaluate economics and report

This entire workflow can be performed from WITHIN the familiar Aspen HYSYS user interface.

3. Definition of Operating Cost Parameters within Aspen HYSYSThe current release of Aspen HYSYS (V7 and newer) provides the means to define utility (energy), feed and product

streams and costs.

Feedstock and product stream pricing parameters are only needed if an ROI for the plant is desired. For estimating and

comparing capital and operating costs, the process stream costs are not required.

Utility cost definition is RECOMMENDED but not a required step. If utility costs are not defined as described below, the

economics engine will assign the utilities and associated prices for each energy stream using built-in values, which is not

as accurate as specifying them if known, but is pretty good at the conceptual design level. Each energy stream in theHYSYS model should be associated with a process utility. The costs of the process utilities should be specified in the

Process Utility Manager or HYSYS Workbook. (see Figure 1 for an example of assigning a utility).

Figure 1. Assigning a utility to an Aspen HYSYS energy stream


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To enter an individual streams cost factors, double-

click on any screen and scroll down the resulting

navigation pane to cost parameters. At that point,

you may enter data for the price and flow basis of

that stream (see Figure 2).

In many cases, it is more efficient to enter the cost

parameters for a group of streams at once. The

stream and utility costs can be conveniently entered,

reviewed and modified using the workbook within

Aspen HYSYS. To do that, the needed parameters

need to be set up in the workbook view (this takes

only a few seconds.) With the workbook open (this is

a necessary first step to see the pull-down menu),

access the workbook setup (see Figure 3).

Next enter the needed cost parameters for the feed,

product and utility streams (see Figure 4).

Figure 2: Assigning costs to an Aspen HYSYS stream

Figure 4: Add cost parameters to the stream workbook views

Figure 3: Aspen HYSYS Workbook setup


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Now, the workbook can be used to review and enter/edit cost factors quickly for all the feed, product and utility streams.

(see Figure 5).

In most cases, a design case will involve multiple utility sources and multiple unit operations. The workbook (see Figure 5)

is a convenient way to quickly review the streams and utilities selected and to review and modify utility selections and

cost parameters.

Figure 5: Feed and Product Stream Cost Factor Assignment using Workbook View

Important Note:Once you have specified utility selections and costs and feed and product pricing within Aspen

HYSYS, the resulting operating cost information produced by the Aspen HYSYS model run automaticallyupdates the

economics module in the subsequent steps in the integrated workflow.


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4. The Costing Toolbar and Costing MenuIntegrated economics is accessed two ways in Aspen

HYSYS. First, there is a costing toolbar which is

used to perform integrated cost evaluation (see

Figure 6). The same functionality may also be

accessed from the costing pull-down menu which

appears as a sub pulldown in the tools menu (see

Figure 7).

Each step in the integrated economic evaluation is

initiated through the toolbar or the menu. First you

activate the costing engine, next you map unit

operations to equipment and perform sizing, finally

you perform the evaluation and review the results.

The results can be easily exported to MS Excel or

reviewed within Aspen HYSYS.

Depending on the level of control that the process

engineer would like to maintain over the economic

evaluation, steps can be individually performed or

can be skipped in favor of a quick and automatic

evaluation based on default-assigned mappings and

sizing algorithms.

Figure 8 enumerates the work flow actions that each

button in the toolbar governs. These will each be

explained during the course of this tutorial.

5. Best Practice: Use a Converged Aspen HYSYS ModelThe Aspen HYSYS solver is always working in the

background to attempt to solve the flow sheet as it is

being constructed. Consequently, whatever process

information exists when the economics is activated

and mapped will be used in analyzing relative

economics. It is a best-practice to work within HYSYS

to always complete modeling to convergence prior to

proceeding to the integrated economics step of the

workflow. You will NOT get any reminder to solve to a

converged model first before initiating the economics

workflow. This is because there are some valid

engineering reasons why you may wish to define the

relative economics without having a converged model.

Figure 6: Costing Toolbar in Aspen HYSYS

Figure 7: Pull-down Economics Sub-menu in Aspen HYSYS

Figure 8: Costing Toolbar actions in Aspen HYSYS


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6. Activate Costing ModuleIntegrated economics functions by linking Aspen

HYSYS with Aspen Process Economic Analyzer. The

APEA license key is checked out when you activate

the integrated economics feature. The APEA license

key is released when you de-activate integrated

economics or exit Aspen HYSYS (see Figure 9).

7. Select a Standard Basis File or Custom TemplateThe economics module functions through use of

what estimators call standard basis files. These

provide company-standardized, project-

standardized, or default cost basis information

from which the entire costing is built. For example,

Gulf Coast Standard is the most commonly used

generic process plant standard basis for

developing estimates.

Beyond these standard basis files, the mappings,

sizing, and other costing decisions described in

the ensuing sections of this guide, can all becaptured in re-usable templates to save time and

improve consistency in the way that an

organization applies this relative economics

workflow.

Templates are useful at an organizational level, a project level, a location level, and a technology level to ensure that best

practices are applied consistently by all process engineers in an organization.

The process of creating templates is beyond the scope of this Getting Started guide. What we do show here is how to

access and use templates in the workflow, assuming that they have been created, for instance, by the estimating group

within your organization.

If your estimating group has established company-specific guidelines or more involved templates, they can make these

available to your group as pull-down options within the integrated economics workflow.

Standard Basis also appears in the

workflow as template choices.

Figure 10: Accessing and Using Templates in the Costing Workflow

Figure 9: Costing Activation Button

Figure 11: Create Costing Scenario File

Note:The activation enables the other buttons/functions within economics (load simulation data, map, size, evaluate,

equipment summary, deactivate


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After activating the costing module, by pushing the cost activation button, a Costing Options window will appear (see

Figure 10).

Next, click on the Browse button to the right of the templates field, and you will be presented with the available list of

templates. These may be simply the standard basis provided with the system or specific templates provided by your

organization. In the example shown in Figure 10, the available templates are standard, representing the different out-of-the-box geographic cost basis (US Gulf Coast, Europe, Middle East, UK, Japan) and units of measure (metric or

Imperial).

After you make that selection, provide descriptors for the Scenario you are analyzing and a text Description.

Also on this screen, select the project investment options that will govern the calculation of project ROI and profitability,

namely design Operating Life of Plant, duration of Plant Startup, onset date for Basic Engineering, and the design

operating hours per year (also shown in Figure 10).

After making these selections, a costing file will be created (see Figure 11).

8. Load Simulation DataThe simulation run data must be loaded from Aspen HYSYS into the costing engine.

When you click on the load simulation data button this task will happen in the background. This transfers key

process information needed for the economics software to define the process flow schema and perform mapping and

sizing operations.

9. Economic Evaluation Status IndicatorsWhen the simulation data loading task, and other

aspects of the economics work flow, are being

performed, status messages are presented in the

status window in the lower left corner of the Aspen

HYSYS screen. During the workflow, you may be

prompted to wait for the background model

calculations to complete before proceeding (see

Figure 12 for a few examples of these messages).

10. Map Unit Operations to Equipment ModelsA key step in integrated economics is mapping of unit operations models from the simulation to equipment models in

Aspen Process Economic Analyzer.

The economic work flow is flexible and has both the ability to automatically establish default mappings, representing

best-engineering judgment contained within the software models, as well as the capability to over-ride these mappings

and substitute your own mappings, based on your engineering decisions as to which equipment models you select at this

stage of the design process.

Figure 12: Workflow Status Indicator


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Figure 13 summarizes conceptually

the operation which is performed

during this mapping workflow. Each

unit operation that has been defined

during the process modeling is

mapped to an item of equipment, or

a group of equipment items, that

most feasibly represent that unit

operation. The sample depicted in

the example figure is a distillation

column unit operation in Aspen

HYSYS), which maps into the economics

software as a collection of equipment models, including a packed column, condenser, exchanger pumps, a reboiler and

other complementary equipment items.

In each case, there is a default mapping, but there are also other mappings that the engineer can select instead.

Mapping workflow is invoked by the mapping button.

This brings up a map dialog box (Figure 14).

Here are a few key points to remember when executing the mapping workflow:

(1) Select map all items,the first time you use relative economic evaluation. The Map selected items option is for

changing/updating mappings when you have changed part of an established process design.

(2) When you arefirstusing economics for amodel runyoushould always select Default AND simulator data. If you

dont select this option, the sizing performed in the simulation will not be carried across to the economics software!

Figure 14: Using Default or else already used Mappings

Figure 13: Unit Operation to Equipment Model Mapping Scenario


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(3) If you change the operating conditions in a

model or add equipment to a model, use the

Last Mappingoption The economic

evaluation case remembers the mappings

already established for a given simulation

model.

If you have made some custom mapping

selections during a previous simulation run,

and have modified some process parameters,

your prior selections will persist in the

software, and you can choose last mapping

to re-use those already selected mappings

(see Figure 14, right-side).

(4) If you delete unit operation models from your

HYSYS case, you may need to remove mapped

equipment items. Use the Physical

Component Mapping Preview form to delete

any unwanted equipment.

(5) Even if you are planning to change some

mappings, select, default and simulator data.

Then a second dialog box will come up (see

Figure 15) which will allow you to change

mappings.

(5) Click on size Icarus project components, toactivate the economics sizing algorithms.

(6) Click OK.

(7) The project components map preview dialog

box will appear (see Figure 16).

(8) To change mappings (away from the default

mapping assigned by the system) follow the

following steps:

All items which have been mapped appear

in the simulator item window with an

asterisk in front of their designation.

Select the item in the simulator item

window (see Figure 16).

Delete the current mapping (select delete

one mapping button)

Figure 15: Selecting Your Own Mappings

Figure 16: Project Component Map Preview Dialog Box

Figure 17: Icarus Project Component Selection Dialog Box


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Click on new mapping button.

Icarus Project Component selection dialog box will come up (see Figure 19).

Navigate the tree of available equipment models/components.

Select a component (s).

A mapping, of course, can be to more than one component (i.e. to a column and pumps and so forth).

Click OK to complete the mapping of each component.

Repeat for each item mapped to a given unit operation.

11. Sizing ActivityClicking on the sizing button initiates the

sizing evaluation. The system performs

the sizing with best available information.

Equipment sizes are determined from the

simulation data if they are available.

Missing data are estimated by the

system. You can also override estimate

sizes in the equipment grid.

To access the equipment sizing grid click

on the equipment grid button:

You can review the sizing and materials

of construction that were assigned during

the economic evaluation in the summary

grid. The default material of constructionfor all equipment is Carbon Steel.

For example, in Figure 18, we can see the

materials of construction and geometry

for a heat exchanger. We can use pull

down menus to select other materials of

construction. The tube materials selection

pull-down menu is open in this example.

If you have better engineering information or assumptions available, or have company-specific sizing algorithms to apply,

these can be entered at this point.

The equipment grid has one tab sheet for each type of equipment. The columns represent individual equipment items.

The rows contain the key variables for that equipment. After changing the data you should re-size and re-evaluate the

costing. It is important to re-size the equipment first because equipment sizes may depend on the physical properties of

Figure 18: Equipment Summary Grid enables process designer to review and change sizing

and materials of construction

Note:At this juncture, you may also interface to custom sizing programs that your company may be using that have been

developed in MS Excel or equivalent. Covering that topic is an advanced topic beyond the scope of this introductory tutorial.


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the materials of construction. For example, the area of an exchanger depends on the thermal conductivity of the tubing.

Re-sizing the equipment ensures that the estimated costs are based on the changes in equipment size.

12. Materials of Construction

Capital costs are very sensitive to the materials of construction selected. Process engineers often have a good idea of the

material of construction that may be required due to the chemistry of a particular process that is being selected. The

process modeler can make that change at this point if he has that information (see Figure 19).

13. Relative Cost EvaluationClick on the evaluate button for the economic evaluation to be calculated.

14. ReportingThe results of the economic evaluation can be reviewed and

manipulated in several ways.

Summary and detailed economics can be reviewed by clicking on the

equipment grid button.

This will give you access to a majority of the economic information that

you will need to rapidly review the economic feasibility of a modeling

scenario and to compare process alternatives.

The report summary tab displays net results as displayed as shown in

Figure 20.

Further details of the equipment costs can be reviewed in the

equipment summary table (see Figure 21). The individual tables by

equipment type contain information about the design of each item of

Figure 19: Changing Material of Construction from Carbon Steel to Inconel

Note:After you change sizing ormaterials of construction data, re-run

the sizing and evaluation steps to

update the economic results.

Figure 20: Summary report


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equipment. The equipment summaries are

presented in a grid form. The Equipment Grid

can be copied-and-pasted into external MS

Excel spreadsheets for further manipulation.

For a more formal relative economics report,you may then click on the report button.

This button creates a relative costing report in

MS Excel format (see Figure 22). This is a

complete project economics report. If, for

example, you have put in feedstock pricing at

the initial stages, you can get an initial look at

a project ROI within this report. The MS Excel

reports make it very easy to compare relative

costs as the process design evolves.

To understand the information available in this

report, run through a scenario, produce a

costing report, and explore the contents of the

report.

15. Managing and Transferring Cost FilesThe costing scenario created by Integrated Economics can be opened directly by Aspen Process Economic Analyzer or by

Aspen Capital Cost Estimator for further development.

When you run the relative economics, Aspen HYSYS stores the associated economics files in a new working folder, which

you will find as a sub-folder within your current HYSYS working folder. The resulting APEA files can be handed over to the

estimating department and can be directly opened in the APEA and ACCE estimating software products from AspenTech,

for further development or fine tuning of the cost estimate that has been preliminarily produced during this conceptual

design workflow.

Figure 21: Equipment summary displays bare equipment costs and indicates errors

identified during the evaluation.

Figure 22: Relative economics report for your process scenario


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16. Completion of Your Integrated Economics SessionAt the completion of your integrated economics session, you can deactivate and release the APEA economics software

license by clicking the depressed activation button to deactivate it.

17. Further ResourcesFor further information on this workflow, or any of the individual products or elements covered briefly in this written

tutorial please consult:

Public website:

The following web page provides links to a number of useful resources on integrated economics -

http://www.aspentech.com/solutions/industry_solutions/epc/integrated-economics.aspx

Support website:

The support website provides an extensive and growing knowledge base on simulation, economics and the integrated website.

The following knowledge base article provides a getting-started location:

http://support.aspentech.com/webteamasp/KB.asp?ID=130806

Recorded tutorials are available at:

Brief Tutorial on relative costing during conceptual design with Aspen HYSYS

Brief Tutorial on relative costing during conceptual design with Aspen Plus

Technical webinars on integrated economics can be viewed on-demand at

DSM Presents how to achieve better process designs with integrated economics

Step-by-step Technical Webinar: Getting started with Integrated Economics with Aspen Plus

Step-by-step Technical Webinar: Getting started with Integrated Economics with HYSYS

Or email us [email protected] get your specific questions answered.


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are trademarks of Aspen Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. 11-748-0711

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Getting Started With Relative Economics in Aspen HYSYS