CPFD Software releases Barracuda 14.4

CPFD Software LLC, the creators of the Barracuda® simulation package for particle-fluid systems, has announced the release of Barracuda version 14.4. Some of Barracuda 14.4’s enhancements include radiation heat transfer between thermal walls and particles, custom units for output variables, and an easier-to-use grid setup in the GUI. This version has also been provided to CPFD Software’s international distributors.

Barracuda is used by major oil & gas, chemical, petrochemical, and power equipment manufacturers for simulating, understanding, and optimizing the operation of fluidized systems. Common applications are FCC (fluidized catalytic cracking) reactors and regenerators, fluidized bed reactors (FBRs) for chemical manufacturing, CFB (circulating fluidized bed) boilers in coal-fired power plants, and both coal and biomass gasifiers and chemical looping combustion (CLC) units.

The company earlier signed an International Distribution Agreement with CAEZEN Technologies of Bangalore for the distribution and support of Barracuda in India.

India is a very promising market for Barracuda, which has applications in several key industries there, particularly in refining and petrochemicals. India is a major refined product producer and exporter, with refiners like Reliance Petroleum, Indian Oil Company, and Bharat Petroleum among the largest employers in India. Barracuda is a proven solution for design, optimization, and troubleshooting of FCC units, including reactors, regenerators, cyclones, and other components.

India also has domestic chemicals manufacturing companies with technology demands for FBRs, an application where Barracuda has demonstrated significant advantages over traditional CFD tools. Barracuda is already used by global chemical companies for the simulation and design of titanium chlorinators, acrylonitrile reactors, and FBRs used in the production of semiconductor-grade and solar-grade polysilicon.

India is also one of the world’s fastest growing markets for power generation, including thermal power, with a strong thrust on clean coal and both, coal and biomass gasification. Barracuda has demonstrated strengths in predicting the complex hydrodynamics and chemistry in these units and enables engineers to make informed design decisions.

“We are very happy to be working with CPFD Software to bring Barracuda to India,” said Hari Doss, Director at CAEZEN Technologies in Bangalore. “We are already finding very significant interest and expect to have several licenses in place both commercially and in the academic world before the end of FY 2010.” Scott Thibault , Vice President of Sales & Marketing at CPFD Software, added “We are confident that CAEZEN will prove an effective distribution partner for us in India, providing not only sales, training, and post-sales technical support but also related engineering services to our clients in India.”