This book is a companion to ChemSep, a set of programs that perform multicomponent separation processes simulations. It is not designed to be a textbook for teaching separation processes. Instead, the reader will find a guided tour on how to use ChemSep, many examples solved with the help of ChemSep, and a complete technical reference with detailed descriptions of all the models and algorithms used in the programs. We hope this book provides the ChemSep user with all the information needed to make good use of the program.

The ChemSep project was started in February 1988 at the University of Technology Delft in the Netherlands, by Arno Haket, Harry Kooijman, and Ross Taylor. ChemSep was designed to be easy to use by students with no experience of engineering software, while having sufficient flexibility and power to appeal to expert users. In pursuit of these objectives ChemSep features a menu-driven, user-friendly interface with an integrated help system and an autopilot mode that leads the novice user through the data input phase. In March of 1991, when the nonequilibrium model was added, the programs and user interface were completely rewritten. Over the years various extensions of the nonequilibrium model were published and added: an extractor model, various dynamic models, a (reactive) cell model, a three phase distillation model, and a total reflux model (for simulating distillation test data). In 2004 a start was made with a new windows GUI that is still being further developed to include all the column models. In 2005 ChemSep became Cape-Open compliant. As a result it is now possible to use the program inside flowsheeting tools such as Aspen Plus (Aspentech), PRO/II (SimSci/Escor) and COCO (Amsterchem). In 2006 we made a LITE version of the Cape-Open version of ChemSep available so that anybody can test-drive the program. The LITE version is included in the COCO flowsheeting package (http://www.cocosimulator.org).

We continue to develop the simulators to enable more accurate simulation of industrial chemical and petroleum column operations. We do this by developing and adding published thermodynamic and physical property models as well as by developing and implementing of published mass transfer models. Please visit the ChemSep website at http://www.chemsep.org) for more information. Since ChemSep is a work in progress, so must be this book. We welcome your suggestions on how the material presented here can be improved.