How can we capitalize on, ensure the reliability of, and fully exploit physical and chemical properties? The e-thermo™ approach

The creation of e-thermo on 2004 was in response to a simple observation: the physical and chemical data from Processium’s many R&D projects were difficult to centralize, compare, and preserve. This led to several risks:

• Dispersion of information in various formats
• Insufficient traceability of sources and assumptions
• Difficulty in comparing different data sets
• Loss of knowledge during project transitions

To address these challenges, Processium designed a tool capable of centralizing information, ensuring its traceability, and facilitating its comparative analysis and visualization.

Initially deployed on internal projects and with long-standing customers, e-thermo quickly demonstrated its operational value. Interest expressed by several industrial partners led to its release for commercialization. Since then, the tool has been continuously evolving, enriched by feedback from the field and new needs identified in industrial projects.

1. Data centralization and structuring

e-thermo™ is cloud-based software hosted in France that centralizes, facilitates access to, and sharing of data relating to physical and chemical properties. The tool brings together the following in a single repository:

• A database compiled by Processium from public domain data, particularly scientific literature.
• The customer’s private database, entered by our data experts.
• Access to the external DETHERM database
• The DIPPR Project 801 database, available as a paid option.

Each piece of data is structured according to operational criteria: pure substance or mixture, type of property, domain of validity, method of determination. This organization ensures consistency, readability, and direct use in process studies.

2. Data traceability and reliability

In a demanding industrial environment, traceability is essential to secure technical decisions and ensure compliance with HSE and regulatory standards. e-thermo™ associates each data point with:

• Its source (bibliographic or experimental)
• The selected assumptions and technical metadata
• A complete version and update history

A color-coding system enables quick assessment of data reliability, facilitating critical review and technical arbitration.

3. Advanced use and analysis

The tool goes beyond storage by transforming data into an operational and analytical resource:

• Comparison and visualization: overlaying multiple datasets or correlations to quickly analyze discrepancies and identify inconsistencies or uncertainty areas.
• Export and integration: consolidation and structuring of data for direct export to Aspen Plus or Microsoft Excel, facilitating their use in process simulations.

4. Collaborative approach

e-thermo™ promotes structured data sharing among process, R&D, and industrial teams.

By centralizing information and ensuring continuity between development, pilot, and production phases, the tool:

• Reduces organizational silos
• Limits redundant testing and literature research
• Transforms project results into sustainable technical capital, immediately reusable for future studies