FACT-PC Newsletter #73 2006-05-30
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Topics in this newsletter:
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1. 2nd Notice - Notification of a Bug in FactSage 5.4 and 5.4.1 involving the Slag and Monoxide Phases in the
2. FactSage 5.5 - What's new in the next version?
3. FactSage Workshop, June 26 - 27, 2006, Shanghai, China
4. FactSage Workshop, October 10 - 12, 2006, Trumansburg, New York
5. Report on "F*A*C*T Workshop and Conference", May 2006, Montreal
6. Report on "A Virtual Laboratory for the Aluminum Industry", May 2006, Montreal
7. CRCT Graduate Courses - Autumn 2006 - Ecole Polytechnique, McGill U. and Concordia U. Students
8. News from GTT-Technologies
9. Some Useful Links
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1. 2nd Notice - Notification of a Bug in FactSage 5.4 and 5.4.1 involving the Slag and Monoxide Phases in the
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(This notice was first posted in Newsletter #72).
We have recently found a bug in FactSage 5.4 and 5.4.1 which may cause
incorrect calculations in certain cases involving ternary and higher
order liquid slag (or monoxide) phases using data from the FToxid
database.
This bug did not exist in FactSage 5.3.1 (or earlier versions). Also
the bug does not occur when you use the old FACT solution database.
Note, this is a software and not database error.
Specifically, calculations with the Equilib and Phase Diagram modules
may be in error when the phase FToxid-Slag (molten oxide phase in the
FToxid database) or FToxid-MeO (monoxide phase in the FToxid database)
is used for the following ternary systems and for any system of four
or more components involving one or more of these ternary
systems. Calculations involving only binary sub-systems of these
ternary systems will not be in error.
FToxid-Slag phase:
FeO-Al2O3-SnO CaO-Al2O3-SnO MnO-Al2O3-CaO MgO-Al2O3-CaO
FeO-Al2O3-CaO FeO-Al2O3-MgO FeO-Al2O3-MnO MnO-Al2O3-MgO
MgO-Fe2O3-CaO CaO-Al2O3-Fe2O3 MgO-Al2O3-Fe2O3 FeO-CaO-MgO
FToxid-MeO phase:
FeO-MgO-Fe2O3 CaO-MgO-Fe2O3 FeO-CaO-MgO
The error is due to an incorrect calculation of the thermodynamic
properties of the ternary liquid slag and monoxide phases. The error
may or may not be serious in a given calculation, depending upon the
system and composition ranges involved. Furthermore, whether an error
or not occurs will depend unpredictably upon the previous calculation.
If you have performed such calculations using FactSage 5.4 or 5.4.1, we
strongly recommend you repeat the calculations after you have installed
the corrective patch which can be downloaded from the internet:
http://www.factsage.com/ > 'FactSage 5.4.1 - News'
- News and bugs in FactSage 5.4.1
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2. FactSage 5.5 - What's new in the next version?
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It is planned to release FactSage 5.5 during the summer.
The programming and database changes are listed on the internet at:
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/fact/facthelp/FS55New.htm
More changes will be made before the final version is released.
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3. FactSage Workshop, June 26 - 27, 2006, Shanghai, China
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A two-day FactSage Workshop will be presented in Shanghai on the main
campus of Shanghai University.
The Workshop is being organized by the University of Science &
Technology Beijing and by Shanghai University in collaboration with
the CRCT.
The Workshop will be presented by Prof. Arthur D. Pelton, one of the
original developers of FactSage, and assisted by Prof. Qiao Zhiyu and
Dr. Cao Zhanmin of the University of Science and Technology Beijing.
The Workshop will be presented in English, but Dr. Cao will provide
some translation where necessary.
For more details (English & Chinese) visit:
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/fact/workshop-shangai-english.htm
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/fact/workshop-shangai-chinese.htm
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4. FactSage Workshop, October 10 - 12, 2006, Trumansburg, New York
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The Spencer Group invites you to its Annual Computational
Thermodynamics Workshop on October 10th to October 12th, 2006 at
Trumansburg, near Ithaca, New York.
Central to the workshop will be the FactSage 5.5 software package and
the solution (old and new) databases.
For complete details on the program please visit:
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/workshop_ny_2006.htm
For the registration form and other information please visit
http://www.spencergroupintl.com
or contact Dr. Philip Spencer:
E-mail: info@spencergroupintl.com
Tel. (607) 387-4038
Fax. (607) 387-4039
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5. Report on "F*A*C*T Workshop and Conference", May 2006, Montreal
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Not including the CRCT personnel, there were over 35 participants at
the F*A*C*T Workshops and Conference - this is one highest levels of
participation we have ever experienced. In order to accommodate the
increased numbers we moved to larger and more modern class rooms
- see http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/fact/poly_plan.jpg
The new facilities proved popular. For future meetings we plan to
continue offering the regular and advanced workshops at this new
location.
F*A*C*T CONFERENCE - the Wednesday morning presentations were well
received:
'Spinel Systems for SOFC Electrodes', Tony Petric, McMaster University
'Process Dynamics Simulation with ChemApp/FactSage and SimuLink',
Yuan Xu, Erik Yolstie, Carnegie Mellon University and David J. Roha,
Alcoa Technical Center
'FactSage Usage in SOURCE IST 2.0: Fission Product Release Code',
Duncan Barber, Chalk River, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
'Thermodynamics Sintering', Armand Gabriel,
C. Condolf, Alex Pisch and C. Carry, Alcan.
'The Crystal Structure of Pure and Doped Uranium', Barbara Szpunar,
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd and J.A. Szpunar, McGill University
'Modeling the Volumetric Properties of Multicomponent Liquids :
NaCl-KCl-MgCl2-CaCl2 and Na[+], Al[3+], Ca[2+] // F[-], O[2-] Systems'
Christian Robelin, CRCT
'Viscosity Modeling in FactSage', Nicholas Grundy, CRCT
'Interests in Development of FactSage at SCHOTT', Ulf Dahlmann,
SCHOTT AG
'Interests in Development of FactSage', Sue Schiefelbein, USA
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6. Report on "A Virtual Laboratory for the Aluminum Industry", May 2006, Montreal
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Following the F*A*C*T Workshop and Conference, the 2nd Annual Meeting
of the NSERC-CRD Project "A Virtual Laboratory for the Aluminum
Industry" 2004 - 2007 took place on the 18th and 19th of May 2006.
Recent advances by the research team (Prof. Patrice Chartrand and
colleagues) were reported to the member companies (Alcan, Alcoa and
Hydro Aluminium) on the thermodynamic modeling and physical properties
modeling (density, viscosity, electrical conductivity) of phases
related to aluminum and aluminum alloys production (from electrolysis
to casting). Extensions of the project for the period 2007-2010 were
discussed.
If your company is interested in joining this project in the future,
please contact Prof. Patrice Chartrand (patrice.chartrand@polymtl.ca).
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7. CRCT Graduate Courses - Autumn 2006 - Ecole Polytechnique, McGill U. and Concordia U. Students
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The next graduate course on FactSage (MET 6209, 4 credits) will be
held during the fall of 2006. In addition, a graduate course on
"Solution Modeling" (MET 6208 4 credits) will also be held during the
same term.
Both courses will be held at the CRCT, here in Montreal, and will be
open to all full-time graduate students enrolled at Ecole
Polytechnique, McGill University and Concordia University. Details
will be posted on:
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca
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8. News from GTT-Technologies
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FactSage is a software package developed jointly by the F*A*C*T Group
(CRCT), Montreal, Canada and GTT-Technologies, Aachen, Germany:
http://www.gtt-technologies.de
For the latest news from our partners at GTT-Technologies, Aachen,
Germany, please visit their website at:
http://www.gtt-technologies.de/Company/News
For more information visit their website or contact them at
info@gtt-technologies.de.
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9. Some Useful Links
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http://www.FactSage.com - FactSage home page
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca - CRCT home page
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/fact/ - FACT home page
http://www.gtt-technologies.de - GTT home page
http://www.spencergroupintl.com - Spencer Group home page
http://www.factsage.com/ > 'FactSage 5.4.1 - News'
- News and bugs in FactSage 5.4.1
http://www.FactSage.com/ > 'Installation Instructions'
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/fact/facthelp/show_me.htm
- FactSage installation & update instructions with screen shots
http://www.factsage.com/ > 'Documentation'
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/fact/documentation/
- FactSage database documentation
http://www.factsage.com/ > 'Conferences and Workshops'
- FactSage Conferences and Workshops
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/fact/facthelp/FS541New.htm
- What's New in FactSage 5.4.1
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/newsletters/news.php
- FACT Newsletters, past and present
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/fact/news.php
- latest CRCT, FACT and FactSage news
http://www.crct.polymtl.ca/websites.php
- web sites in inorganic chemical thermodynamics
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Happy Thermodynamics.
Chris Bale
Professor and Co-Director
CRCT - Centre for Research in Computational Thermochemistry
(Dept. of Chemical Engineering)
Ecole Polytechnique (University of Montreal)
Box 6079, Station Downtown
Montreal, Quebec
CANADA H3C 3A7
Tel: +1 (514) 340-4711 ext 4535
FAX: +1 (514) 340-5840
E-mail: CBale@polymtl.ca
Web: http://www.crct.polymtl.ca
and http://www.factsage.com
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