Chemical engineering projects organization

In 1988 the Design Institute for Physical Property Data of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers established Project 881 to develop a Handbook of Polymer Solution Thermodynamics. In the area of polymer solutions, the stated purposes were (1) provide an evaluated depository of data, (2) evaluate and extend current models for polymers in both organic and aqueous, solvents, (3) develop improved models, and (4) provide a standard source of these results in a computer data bank and a how-to handbook with accompanying computer software. During the four years of this project most of these objectives have been met and the results are presented in this Handbook. 

Rich and Extensible Type System. The organization of flowsheet components in an expressive type system is an indispensable prerequisite for guiding consistent flowsheet refinement. However, the richness and the rapid growth of knowledge goes beyond the abilities of typical object-oriented type systems there are many conceivable process steps and possible stream types. Thus, the type system of the flowsheet provides a semantically rich characterization of individual flowsheet components that is extensible. The chemical engineer is empowered to define his own flowsheet components and characterize them semantically in order to promote their reuse in future projects. 

The prototypical integrated simulation tools for workflow management of IMPROVE subproject 14 have sparked interest in discussions with managers from the process industries. The demand for constant software-supported methods and tools for simulation-based optimization of design projects in chemical engineering was also emphasized during the workshops organized by IMPROVE (cf. Sect. 7.1). 

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