FlowState User Guide
FlowState is a desktop process simulator for batch, continuous and hybrid plants. It solves material and energy balances with phase equilibrium, kinetics and separations, schedules the recipe, sizes and costs the equipment, evaluates the economics, and assesses the environmental footprint, all in one application that re-simulates on every edit.
A continuous monoclonal antibody process from the Examples Library.
This guide is written for engineers who use the app. It follows the menus and labels you see on screen, so menu paths are written like File ▸ Examples Library….
What is in this guide
| Chapter | Read it to… |
|---|---|
| Installing FlowState | install on Windows, macOS or Linux |
| Your first flowsheet | build the “Getting Started” process step by step |
| The workspace tabs | understand the Flowsheet, Streams, Equipment, Schedule, Resources, Economics and Environment tabs |
| Components, mixtures and property methods | register components, define media and buffers, choose a thermodynamic model |
| Unit procedures and operations | find the right one of the 98 unit procedures and build recipes |
| Scheduling | set batches per year, cycle time, campaigns and equipment sharing |
| Economics | estimate capital and operating cost, profitability, minimum selling price and sensitivity |
| Environment and LCA | report waste and emissions and run a life-cycle assessment with SimaPro exchange |
| Examples Library | open one of the 38 ready-to-run models and see how they compare with the published studies |
| Importing .spf project files | bring existing project files into FlowState |
| Reports and exports | produce HTML, Word, Excel, CSV and SVG output and batch sheets |
| Command line and automation API | script FlowState with flowstate-cli, Excel or Python |
| Keyboard shortcuts | work faster |
| FAQ and support | get help |
Key ideas
- A process is a flowsheet of unit procedures connected by streams. Each unit procedure holds a recipe: an ordered list of operations (charge, heat, react, filter, transfer out…) carried out in one equipment item.
- Simulation is automatic. There is no “run” button. Every change re-solves the balances, the schedule, the economics and the environmental results; a typical process solves in well under a millisecond. The status button at the right of the toolbar shows ✔ Solved, ⚠ Warnings or ⛔ Errors.
- Everything is per batch for a batch plant (per hour for a continuous plant), and annualised with the number of batches per year from the schedule.
- Your data stays local. FlowState has no account and no telemetry. Projects are ordinary
.flowfiles (JSON) that you can keep under version control.
Results are engineering estimates. Verify them independently before relying on them for design, investment, regulatory or safety decisions.