Subject: REVIEW R&D Mag - Speed Up Your Chemistry

From: Welcome to ARSoftware <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 15:51:51 -0400 (EDT)

(More info available on WWW, open URL:   http://arsoftware.arclch.com)

HSC Chemistry for Windows

Review in the November, 1993 issue of  R&D Magazine

The following material is copyrighted by R&D

"Speed Up Your Chemistry"

by Tim Studt

(The following review was performed on Version 1.1, Version 2.0 has many 
new enhancements and additions.)

After using it for only a few months, Judith Ulan already feels that HSC 
Chemistry for Windows could give her company the ability to patent a new 
process.

Ulan, a research chemist at Chemetics, Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, 
uses the HSC Chemistry software package to evaluate chlor-alkali equilibria 
for different material compositions and temperatures.   She then uses this 
data to evaluate bleaching processes for pulp-and-paper factories.

Outokumpu's HSC Chemistry is a PC-based system that solves chemical 
reaction and equilibrium problems by using data from various 
thermodynamic and electrochemical databases.

"You could perform these analyses by looking up tables in books, but the 
books slow you down and your mind gets tired from all the number 
crunching," says Ulan.  "HSC Chemistry lets you quickly change materials 
and operating conditions in a reaction.  Each iteration of my problems only 
take from 30 seconds to 2 minutes to solve."

Similarly, Barry Verdegan, manager of filtration research analysis at Nelson 
Industries, Stoughton, WI, uses HSC Chemistry to speed up development of 
high-performance filter systems.

"We use HSC Chemistry to evaluate how various filter materials operate at 
different
temperatures," says Verdegan.  "Tests evaluating our filters' solid-liquid 
interfaces and gas vapor effects would take about six months to perform.  It 
only takes about two weeks to perform a software analysis with HSC 
Chemistry."

HSC Chemistry has six calculation options for different types of chemical 
problems:  reaction problems, equilibrium compositions, heat and material 
balances, formula weights, phase-stability diagrams, and Eh-pH diagrams.  A 
special cell equilibrium calculation option also is available for calculating 
charge and phase composition in electrochemical cells, such as batteries.

All HSC Chemistry calculations draw upon a thermochemical data-base 
containing enthalpy, entropy, and heat capacity data for more than 5,600 
chemical compounds.  Users also can edit and save new data to this database.

Reaction equations typed into HSC Chemistry's input field result in a tabular 
display of
thermochemical data - such as heats of reaction and equilibrium constants - 
that is similar to those presented in many thermochemical data books.  The 
results, however, are displayed immediately and exactly at the temperatures 
desired.

The equilibrium compositions section of HSC Chemistry gives you the 
product amounts from a given amount of raw material at a theoretical 
equilibrium state.

"HSC is easy to use, but you really have to be careful about knowing basic 
chemical reactions," says Chemetics' Ulan.  "Occasionally, the program can 
extrapolate to show an impossible condition, which is obvious if you know 
your basics.  The software helps by giving you a warning when it is 
extrapolating."

Verdagen agrees.  "You really have to know your basics and set realistic 
boundary conditions."

"Additionally, since HSC Chemistry was developed in Finland, technical 
support questions that can't be answered by local representatives have to be 
handled through long-distance conversations," says Verdagen.

HSC Chemistry requires 386 or better PC, 2 MB RAM, and Microsoft 
Windows 3.0/3.1.  Paper copies of all calculations and diagrams can be 
printed on any Microsoft Windows-supported printer.

Available exclusively in North America from ARSoftware
for more info e-mail   [email-masked]
George West (800) 257-0073, or (301) 459-3773