(CAPE is short for Computer Aided Process Engineering) is a standard for writing computer software interfaces. It is mainly applied in process engineering where it enables a standardized communication between process simulators (e.g. Aspen Plus) and products developed by ourselves. The advantage of CAPE-OPEN is that these products are applicable to more than just one process simulator; they are aimed at all process simulators that are CAPE-OPEN compliant.
The CAPE-OPEN products that we have developed are thermodynamic models
- CPA – an advanced model that is an extension of the SRK equation of state
- PC-SAFT – a model that like CPA accounts for association phenomena
and unit operations
- PT-flash – that allows the user to choose any of the thermodynamic models of the given process simulator, and
- CO2 absorber – based on the latest development of the alkanolamines MEA and AMP.
The CAPE-OPEN developments at the Center have been and are still a substantial part of the industrial funded research project CHIGP (short for Chemical in Gas Processing). Especially, the need for a thermodynamic model capable of a precise description of associating systems has driven the development. Moreover, the newly initiated CO2 capture project is focusing on the tailor-made unit operations for CO2 absorption and desorption.
In 2001, CAPE-OPEN Laboratories Network (CO-LaN) (link til: www.colan.org) was established as a result of a number of projects financed by the European Commission. It is a non-commercial organization for the testing and management of the CAPE-OPEN standards. At the web site of CO-LaN a number of wizards for constructing the computer programs for thermodynamic property packages (i.e. thermodynamic models) and unit operations are presented.