Repository - Open-source process simulation in DWSIM: A Biorefinery case study

These documents are part of an open-access publication in Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering. The publication can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cscee.2026.101512. 

Chemical process simulation underpins modern chemical plant design by enabling optimization of sustainability, yield, and economics. However, the prohibitive cost of commercial software suites limits early-stage evaluations. We demonstrate DWSIM, an open-source simulator with a graphical user interface comparable to commercial platforms, as a viable alternative for lignocellulosic biorefinery through two case studies: (i) an ethanol organosolv plant using rectification for solvent recovery, and (ii), a γ-valerolactone (GVL) process employing liquid-liquid extraction with toluene, followed by heteroazeotropic distillation of the water/GVL/toluene system.

The files "Ethanol_Design" and "GVL_Design" contain the respective DWSIM simulation files, designed to process 100 t/h corn stover. The digestor and liquid regulators were implemented in Python. Custom compounds (solid cellulose, dissolved cellulose, solid hemicellulose, dissolved hemicellulose, solid lignin, dissolved lignin, "others" (undefined biomass compounds, to complete the mass balance), sulfuric acid, and GVL) are provided as .json files. 

Furthermore, "xml_to_table.py" is provided, which can be used to reformate DWSIM's XML output into spreadsheet-ready table format. To use: export the DWSIM report (DWSIM/Results/Create Report). Deactivate all utilities during the export step, as these will interfere with the reformating. Make sure the "Material Streams" checkbox is checked, and that the "Include conditions", "Include Molar Composition" and "include Mixture Properties" boxes are all checked under "Options". Then select "Export data to file", and save the report as "Data.xml". Then run xml_to_table.py, which creates a .csv that can be imported into Excel.