Why do I prefer Aspen Plus?

This is a blog post based on my PERSONAL OPINION. It shows why I prefer Aspen Plus software over other software such as UniSim, Pro-II and even HYSYS.

All the "Extras" & Plugins

Aspen Plus has plenty of plug-ins, user models and extra software which can be attached to the simulation.

Its community online

I don’t mean the Community you will find on Aspen Tech site. I mean all the engineers you will find online in several places: forums, facebook groups, quora, reddit and so on. They are very helpful and cool, most of them have lots of experience working with AP, even from V3.0

Aspen Plus GUI

I love the clean layout of AP since V8.0, I must admit I really didn’t like V6 and V7 as they were very “boring” but now all is cleaner, more intuitive and can be found easily. In my opinion, they keep upgrading for good (please keep doing so!)

Is THE "standard"

Whenever I talk about process simulation, most of people think about Aspen Plus, which is easier for me, as that is actually the software I use. I would hate it when people would guess “HYSYS” or “Do you mean UniSim?” and so on…

Aspen Plus has become a Industry Standard in the Chemical Engineering Niche and even now in the petrochemical industry.

It is commonly said that if you learn Aspen Plus, you will be able to learn other software, as AP is the standard in which we base process simulation.

Resources everywhere!

I love it when you have resources everywhere, when you just type “process simulation” and you will get books based on AP, or you check out some videos online and most of the material in YouTube is using AP.

Also, most of tutorials and exercises you will find online are either AP or HYSYS 🙂

Getting help is easier than ever nowadays!

It is the one I was taught & practiced the most

YES… that is also one of the main reasons I love AP.

I was taught AP in university since my Mass Transfer courses, them Plant Design & Operation.

Then, when working at Ineos, I also had the luck of them using AP instead of other software, it really helped me to adapt faster to the new working environment.

So, yes, my opinion is definitive biased due to this 🙂

So, that was my personal opinion on why I love Aspen Plus! Have you tried AP already? Do you like it? Or maybe even hate it? Let me know in the comments about your experience with Process Modeling Software!