New: PSE Technology Tree Wiki

We are pleased to announce the Process Systems Engineering Technology Tree Wiki! Powered by WikiTechTree (beta, an open-source plugin we are developing for this project), the PSE Technology Tree is a Wiki in which users can edit articles about PSE technologies, similar to any other kind of wiki.

However, the PSE Technology Tree is unique in that the technology (and articles) are grouped together in a intuitive tree structure. For example, “Mixed Integer Linear Programming” is related to “Linear Programming” and “Integer Programming” by linking to those nodes as parents of MILP. Then, downstream of MILP, other technologies are linked as children of MILP, such as MINLP, superstructure optimization, or transshipment models for heat exchanger network optimization. In this way, information is stored into a dependency tree such that it becomes clear what technologies are needed and used by other technologies.

The tree is automatically drawn based on the current node of interest. For example, here is the current tree for Design Under Uncertainty:

In the image above, the different colors correspond to different technology families, in broad categories such as Optimization, Process Design, Process Control, Numerical Methods, etc.. Users have the power to add, delete, and change the nodes, and their connections, and their families, just like any wiki.  Articles can be edited with the popular TinyMCE editor in WYSIWYG format or HTML format, and images can be added easily with the Add Media button.

We encourage the community to participate by editing or adding to the wiki, or helping with the development of the underlying code.  You can find out more about the development of the software on the Bugs and Features section of our discussion forum. Check out the tree here!

Thomas A. Adams II

Professor of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University