Multi-Physics Simulations for Pyrolysis Plants — CFD, FEA, and Process Solvers Coupled

Two interactive 3D simulations below. Click ▶ Play, drag the time slider to scrub, left-drag the model to rotate, right-drag to pan, scroll to zoom. Both run the actual physics in your browser via WebGL — same library family as the simulations we deliver to every commercial project.

Sim 1 — Reactor Thermal Bending (CFD + FEA coupled)

A horizontal cylindrical reactor heated by two floor burners. The bottom side runs hotter than the top, the steel weakens at temperature, and the cylinder sags downward at the midspan under its own weight. Where the curvature is highest — at the welded joints near the endplates — the steel yields and the welds crack. The simulation predicts both the temperature field and the deformation in a single coupled solve.

What is shown: Vertex-colored temperature field on the reactor surface (blue = 300 K, red = 690 K) — the bottom runs hotter because the burners are below. Two coupled deformations are visualised: (a) vertical sag at the midspan (bimetallic + gravity creep) and (b) thermal expansion in one direction — the left end is anchored, the right end slides outward as the cylinder grows (see the yellow expansion arrow). Drag the Deformation × slider (0–50×) to exaggerate both. Toggle Stress to see the high-stress zones near the welded flanges.

Sim 2 — Tar Settling & Clogging Tendency (horizontal vapor pipeline)

A horizontal vapor pipeline with a multi-modal particle population — fine carbon black (5 μm) through to coarse tar splash (400 μm). Heavy particles settle under gravity as the vapor decelerates; sticky tar adheres to the pipe bottom and grows a solid deposit layer. The simulation predicts the clogging rate and the cleaning interval — not just the particle trajectories.

What is shown: Each sphere is one tar/carbon particle, coloured by diameter on a log scale (blue = 5 μm fine carbon, red = 400 μm tar splash). The dark layer growing on the pipe bottom is the predicted solid deposit. Use the Gas velocity slider to see how flow rate trades off against settling — low gas velocity means more carbon drops out and more cleaning shutdowns.

Why Simulate Before You Weld

Every pyrolysis plant operator we have ever worked with has the same story: the plant ran for a few months, then a weld cracked, or the condenser clogged with tar, or one side of the reactor heated faster than the other and the cylinder bent. Each event is a one-month repair shutdown, plus capacity loss, plus the insurance and warranty conversations that come with it. The cost of finding these failure modes after construction is between $200,000 and $2 million per incident — and the learning curve is just that: you learn one expensive lesson at a time.

Multi-physics simulation finds every one of these failure modes before the first weld goes in. The cost of simulation is a fraction of the cost of one repair shutdown. Both interactive visuals above are the same class of simulation we run for every commercial project.

What We Simulate — 8 Solvers + 7 Coupling Libraries

Every project we deliver is solved on a custom multi-physics framework that integrates the following modules in a single coupled solve, rather than running them sequentially:

What Commercial CFD Cannot Do

Ansys Fluent and Siemens STAR-CCM+ are excellent for the standard CFD physics (compressible flow, energy transport, single-phase Lagrangian tracking). For pyrolysis, four critical capabilities are missing — and the workaround is to stitch separate simulations together by hand, which loses accuracy at every interface.

Mesh and Compute

Mesh density and compute budget scale with the question you are asking. A preliminary screening to identify the dominant failure mode runs in 10 days on a coarse mesh. A full coupled multi-physics study with sub-millimetre wall-film resolution and per-nozzle spray refinement takes 2–3 months on 64-core MPI hardware.

How Pricing Works

Engineering and simulation effort is billed against a fixed scope at hourly rates ($50/hr engineer, $150/hr senior). For full technology-license engagements where simulation underwrites a performance warranty, we charge 10–20% upfront (advance + disclosure milestones), the simulation fees as delivered, and the remaining 70–80% as success fees — paid only when your plant runs at the contracted 300–330 working days per year.

For external benchmarking: a commercial single-solver agitator simulation (one physics, off-the-shelf solver) is quoted at ~$10,000 from US providers or ₹6–8 lakh from Indian providers, plus the recurring Ansys / Simcenter license fee. The simulations on this page combine 8 solver modules and 7 coupling libraries in a single coupled solve — scope that scales accordingly.

Track Record

Partnerships: Shell Petrochemicals (Singapore — Technip Energies collaboration) · BASF (plastic-to-naphtha, government-cofunded in India) · ISCC Plus certified for refinery-grade pyrolysis oil supply.

Frequently Asked Questions