Hi all,
I’m new to DYAD, so apologies if this is a basic question. I’m exploring whether DYAD is a good fit for modeling for my purposes, particularly modelling and analyzing the feasibility of fermentation systems.
My background is in biological fermentation, where we model reactors (batch/fed-batch/continuous) with mass and energy balances, along with kinetics (e.g., Monod-type growth). From what I can tell part seems reasonably compatible with DYAD’s existing physical types and component libraries.
What I’m less clear about is how to handle scale-up and economic considerations within this framework.
In practice, we often care about things like:
- Scaling reactor volume and feed strategies from lab to industrial scale
- Utility usage (e.g., cooling, agitation, aeration)
- Cost contributions from raw materials, energy inputs, and downstream processing
- Overall process efficiency and cost per unit product
So my questions are:
- Is DYAD typically used only for physical/process modeling, or is it reasonable to incorporate economic calculations (e.g., costs tied to material and energy flows) within the same model?
- If so, what’s the recommended approach—would you define additional variables (e.g., cost flow rates) alongside physical quantities, or keep economics in a separate layer?
- Are there established patterns for handling scale-up effects (e.g., changing transport limitations, mixing, heat transfer) within DYAD models and can I run it?
- Any examples or best practices for combining process simulation with other metadata or parameters (example economic data to be used in an economic feasibility analysis)?
- Would I need to design a new component library for this?
From what I can tell, Dyad has a rich component library for modelling physics, but is it overengineering to build an industrial scale bioprocess component library on top of it and also embed an economic layer on top of it?
Thanks in advance for any insights!