Lab 9 Equipment Sizing and Cost Estimation by Aspen Process
Economic Analyzer (PEA)
1. Introduction to Process Economic Analyzer (PEA, formerly known as Icarus
Process Evaluator - IPE)
(1) What PEA can do?
Detailed design (rigorous sizing);
Cost estimation (capital cost, operation cost and total capital investment);
Investment analysis
(2) PEA Interface
PEA Interface includes:
 Project Explorer (left side window)
o Project Basis View - project basis specifications.
o Process View - simulator data information. Simulator items (blocks/units) mapped
(green) or unmapped (red) to PEA project components. Mapped items can then be
sized, modified, and/or deleted.
o Project View - project data information. The mapped items can be sized, modified
and/or deleted.

Main Window (middle window) is a workspace.
o List View: details on items selected in Project Explorer.
 Palette (upper-right) contains elements that can be used in the project scenario.
o Projects: you can also open scenarios, view their properties, and delete scenarios.
o Libraries
o Components
Properties Window (lower-right)
2. Getting Started
PEA’s Project Workflow:
(1) Create a PEA project scenario;
(2) Load Data – load and translate process simulator data into PEA;
(3) Map Data – map data to PEA project components;
(4) Size Items – one item at a time or all items at once;
(5) Run project evaluation to produce reports;
(6) View/Print Reports – review capital cost, design and basis, investment analysis, and other
reports.
(1) Create a project scenario
[File] –> [New…];
Project Basis View:
(a) Project Properties form:
Project Name: tutorial3
Scenario Name: BaseCase
Project Description: my first example of PEA for Process Design.
Units of Measure: IP (Inch-Pound)
(b) General Project Data form: Country base and currency
(c) Basis for Capital Costs
(d) Process Design – allows PEA to map simulator models into PEA project components.
Simulator Type: Hyprotech’s HYSYS
Simulator File Name: tutorial3.hsc
(2) Load the Simulator Data
To load the simulation data into a PEA project scenario, an analyzer-compatible format of ASCII
output report needs to be generated from the simulator.
PEA’s External Simulation Import Tool in the [Tools] menu can import Hysys simulator data
into PEA database files, which can then be loaded into PEA.
[Run] -> [Load Data] -> [Connect] -> [Export] -> [Disconnect] -> [Exit].
(3) Map Simulator Items to PEA Project Components
[Run] -> [Map Items], or click on the toolbar.
(4) Modify and Size items
Click [Project View] on the bottom of Project Explorer, then right click the item that you want to
modify. Select [Modify Item] to change the design parameters of the item. After that, right click
the item again and select [Size Item] to size the item.
(5) Evaluate Project
[Run] -> [Evaluate Project], or click on the toolbar.
(6) View/print reports
Right click the item and select [Item Report] to view the Item’s report. And then right click any
part of the opened report content, you can select [Print…] to print the report.