The Biorefinery Simulation and TEA Modules#

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BioSTEAM is an open-source platform that streamlines the design, simulation, techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) of biorefineries across thousands of scenarios. BioSTEAM is also leveraged by QSDsan, a library for the quantitative sustainable design of sanitation and resource recovery systems. The long-term growth and maintenance of BioSTEAM is supported through both community-led development and the research institutions invested in BioSTEAM, including the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation.

Getting Started
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Tutorial on BioSTEAM’s features.

Bioindustrial-Park
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Repository for biorefinery models.

API Reference
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Documentation on all functionality.

QSDsan
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Sanitation and resource recovery.

Installation#

If you have an installation of Python with pip, simple install it with:

$ pip install biosteam

To get the git version, run:

$ git clone --depth 10 git://github.com/BioSTEAMDevelopmentGroup/biosteam

Common Issues#

  • Cannot install/update BioSTEAM:

    If you are having trouble installing or updating BioSTEAM, it may be due to dependency issues. You can bypass these using:

    $ pip install --user --ignore-installed biosteam
    

    You can make sure you install the right version by including the version number:

    $ pip install biosteam==<version>
    
  • Unit and system diagrams are not displaying:

    BioSTEAM uses Graphviz to make flowsheet diagrams. To properly install Graphviz in an anaconda distribution, please run the following line:

    $ conda install graphviz
    

    Additionally, please follow the following instructions for installing graphviz on windows.

Scientific Papers#

Several studies have leveraged the BioSTEAM platform to compare conversion technologies, chart development pathways for various bioproducts, and build new tools for sustainability assessments. Here is a short list of related publications:

Indices and tables#