The major benefits to be had from process modeling are improved understanding of the circuit
concerned and reduced technical risk.

For conceptual circuits, the benefits include the following.

• Calculation of indicative reagent/utility/energy consumptions.
• Calculation of indicative product/residue/effluent quantities.
• Quantitative ranking of potentially applicable circuits.
• Early definition of critical assumptions and/or exposure of “fatal flaws”.

For circuits under development, the benefits include the following.

• Substantially more cost effective laboratory and pilot-scale development work.
• Much earlier detection of technically/economically flawed concepts, enabling the project concerned to be modified or rationally discarded and the resources deployed elsewhere without the waste of substantial amounts of time and money.
• Better engineering feasibility studies from better mass/energy balances.

For existing operations, the benefits include the following.

• Optimization of the circuit.
• More effective training of operating and technical staff.
• Evaluation of changes to operating parameters substantially reduces the risk of such changes being ineffective or adversely affecting the financial/environmental performance of the circuit.
• Evaluation of the effect of feed composition on the financial and environmental performance of the circuit substantially reduces the risk of processing unsuitable feed.
• Quantifying the impact of envisaged changes to the circuit on its financial/environmental performance substantially reduces the risk of ineffective or detrimental changes to the process equipment.