Open chemasimTM: Breaking paradigms in process simulation

Abstract Since September 2005 OPEN CHEMASIM ™ , a process simulator with features similar to commercial programs is available to the academic community as an Open Source Code. The code was developed by BASF for over 30 years as an in-house tool, and has now been transformed into an Open Source Code for academic use. For the distribution, the internet platform http://chemasim.itt.uni-stuttgart.de was set up at ITT, University of Stuttgart. Academic institutions may use OPEN CHEMASIM ™ freely for teaching and in research as long as the results are published unrestrictedly. The code can be distributed to students, e.g., for project work. The present paper reports on this unprecedented project in process simulation. Features of the OPEN CHEMASIM ™ program are briefly described and it is explained how the OPEN CHEMASIM ™ as an acaedemic non-commercial project works.