Home » Technology » Scientific Computing » Environmental Simulation with ESP

Environmental Simulation with ESP

© Adam Hughes

We've spent the last few weeks looking at some of the basic principles of simulating complete systems of organisms interacting with their environments (ecosystems). We've seen that everything from resource consumption to resource production to birth rate must be considered for a meaningful study to be carried out. This time around, we'll take a look at how these ideas are being applied in the real world to help engineers and scientists work more productively by surveying the Environmental Simulation Program (ESP) developed by OLI Systems in Morris Plains, NJ.

Developed as a tool to analyze aqueous (water-based) systems, ESP is well-suited to studying environmental problems such as waste treatment. To this end, several types of operations are achievable through the use of this software.

One of the components of ESP which may look somewhat familiar to some readers is the biotreatment modeling. Using this functionality, the engineer can get an idea of the extent and rate of biological breakdown when certain chemicals are present in an aqueous solution. To accomplish this ESP makes use of the OLI Databank, which contains important information about the properties of more than 3000 chemical species. Such a robust collection makes it possible to model practically any solution encountered on the job or that the scientist may want to try.

Along with the capability of biotreatment modeling, ESP offers DynaChem, which is a general-purpose engineering code to allow scientists to model time-dependent behavior of everything from plant activity to natural processes. This is extremely helpful in determining the probable response of a system to a change developed either purposely or accidentally. An example would be the determination of the content change of a degradation pool when a new waste stream is introduced.

In addition to these two facets of the software, ESP provides methods of sensitivity analysis, dynamic simulation with control and a toolkit to make system setup as simple as possible. Also, ESP provides for the simulation of several operations that are commonly used in both environmental and conventional engineering settings. Some of these are mixing, neutralizing, incinerating and dehydrating.

The ESP software package seems to encompass a lot of the ideas we've seen in our study of ecosystem simulation and in simulation in general. To learn more about this product, visit OLI's web site at

http://www.olisystems.com

and click on the "Products" link, and then the one for ESP.