Process simulation models the whole treatment plant as a connected flowsheet — tracking flow, mass and energy through every unit. It answers the design and operating questions a single hand calculation cannot: what the plant does at peak load, how a change ripples downstream, and where the cost really sits.
The questions this modelling discipline answers
A steady-state flowsheet closes the mass and energy balance across the whole train, sizing each unit and revealing the recycle, sludge and chemical loads that one-off calculations miss.
Dynamic models add time: diurnal load swings, batch discharges and start-up transients, so the plant’s controllability and resilience are tested before it is built.
Scenarios are run in minutes — alternative trains, load growth, energy or chemical trade-offs — turning the design into an evidence-based choice rather than an assumption.
Linking the balances to energy, chemical and sludge rates gives a true operating-cost and carbon model, not just a capital estimate.
Most sizing starts steady-state: conservation of mass and energy across the flowsheet (in = out + accumulation ± reaction) fixes unit duties, recycle ratios and chemical demand. But a plant is not steady — influent, temperature and operations vary — so where controllability, peak response or start-up matter, a dynamic run is used, integrating the same balances over time with the control logic in the loop. The art is matching the model to the question: a feasibility study rarely needs a dynamic model, while a tight nutrient consent or a heavily-loaded plant usually does. Either way the simulation is only as good as its inputs, which is why it is calibrated against measured data wherever possible.
Reynolds & Bauhm applies the right modelling discipline to the question — from a steady-state flowsheet to a calibrated digital twin — so design and operating decisions are made on evidence, not assumption.
Our expertise spans multiple industries with sector-specific water treatment solutions.