COMSOL: New Chemical Reaction Engineering Module

COMSOL Inc, the developer of the market leading COMSOL Multiphysics simulation environment, today releases the Chemical Reaction Engineering Module. This new module is built on the COMSOL platform to create a single environment where engineers and scientists obtain highly accurate studies of material transport and chemical reactions of a wide assortment of chemistries under different operating conditions. Users can simulate reaction systems ranging from micro-reactors in biotechnology to unit operations in chemical processes and gain essential knowledge early in the development phase. The net result is more cost-effective and efficient development cycles for both products and processes.

Custom Interfaces for Chemical Reactions, Mass and Energy Transport, and Porous Media Flow

The Chemical Reaction Engineering Module’s easy-to-use customizable interfaces for defining chemical reactions, mass and energy transport, and porous media flow help users simulate reacting systems accurately. Fully integrated in the COMSOL Multiphysics model set up, the chemical reaction interface enables users to simply type in their chemical reaction formulas. The software then automatically computes the reaction kinetics as well as defines the mass and energy balances. When done, the resulting mass and energy balances are ready to be used to solve the reactor models for perfectly mixed systems of batch reactors, semi-batch reactors, CSTR, and plug-flow reactors.

Chemical Reaction Engineering Module Highlights

• Automatic generation of reaction kinetics, mass, and energy balances from chemical reaction formulas
• Allows combinations of perfectly mixed reactor models to detailed time- and space-dependent descriptions in one model
• Extensive interfaces for simulating mass transport by diffusion, convection, and migration in dilute and concentrated solutions as well as in free and porous media
• Functionality for investigating different chemistries and operating conditions by adding and removing reactions, chemical species, and mass transport effects in different studies in a single model
• Predefined chemical reactor types such as batch and semi-batch reactors, CSTR, and plug flow reactors for continuous volume and variable volume simulations
• User-defined functions and expressions that extend usability for defining arbitrary reaction kinetics and for describing physical properties as a function of composition and temperature
• CAPE-OPEN interface for rapid thermodynamics and physical property calculations through connecting to third-party chemical engineering simulation software
• CHEMKIN file import for combustion, atmospheric chemistry, and other gas-phase reacting systems

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