Fauske and Associates, LLC (FAI) and Chemstations Team Up to Create New Emergency Relief Design Software “FERST”

With a combined 75 years of being leaders in process simulation and process safety, FAI and Chemstations release a brand new software to revolutionize relief system design.

May 1, 2021, Burr Ridge, IL – FAI, world leaders in chemical, nuclear, and industrial process safety, and Chemstations, expert first principle process simulation software developers and creators of CHEMCAD, announced today the collaborative release of FERST, a new easy-to-use software to set the new standard for safety and relief system calculations. FERST combines the seamless user experience and robust simulation capabilities developed for CHEMCAD with the relief system design expertise and experience gained from FAI’s 40+ years with leadership positions in DIERS (Design Institute of Emergency Relief System) to create a premier emergency relief sizing software. FERST contains extensive built-in material property options and a rigorous thermodynamic package as well as incorporates the latest methodology and applicable standards.

“After extensive research, development, and testing, we are extremely excited to reveal FERST,” says FAI President Zach Hachmeister. “We know that this new tool will be a great addition for our VSP2TM and ARSSTTM users to help them efficiently ensure the safe scale-up of their processes.” FAI has 40 years of experience globally serving the chemical industry to help identify, evaluate, and provide guidance to mitigate hazards to develop and maintain safe processes. FERST encapsulated this experience into a single tool that brings this knowledge to users' fingertips.

The foundation of FERST is the knowledge and equations for relief calculations that FAI has developed and utilized across four decades. These capabilities are combined with the software design and delivery expertise collected by Chemstations throughout 30+ years deploying CHEMCAD to engineers. CHEMCAD is an integrated suite of intuitive chemical process simulating software that fits into the chemical engineering workflow and amplifies an engineer’s efficiency to save time and money. FERST incorporates the positive CHEMCAD user experience to provide a tool to evaluate relief systems that is unparalleled to other tools on the market.

“Chemstations is excited to work with FAI on FERST, as the product promises to be uniquely powerful in the safety and hazard mitigation space. Never before has the storied experience of a company like FAI been combined with the rigorous, first-principles based simulation software like CHEMCAD, and we are proud of our contribution to the product and the industry,” says Steve Brown, President of Chemstations.

Together FAI and Chemstations are releasing FERST, software that combines both companies’ expertise to bring powerful calculation, ease of use, and a wealth of domain expertise to users’ fingertips.

FAI is a world leader in nuclear, industrial, and chemical process safety. Founded in 1980 by Dr. Hans Fauske, Dr. Michael Grolmes, and Dr. Robert Henry, FAI became a wholly owned subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Company, LLC, in 1986. FAI assumed early leadership in the acclaimed DIERS program for AIChE and the IDCOR program for the nuclear power industry. These efforts led to the development of state-of-the-art methodologies and laboratory tools for characterizing reactive chemical systems and computer models for analyzing severe accidents in commercial nuclear power plants. FAI is recognized worldwide for phenomenological modeling and testing services related to the prevention and mitigation of chemical and nuclear power accidents. FAI offers a wide range of process safety and thermal hazards analyses, laboratory testing services, advanced training, and offers onsite safety assessments. Visit www.fauske.com, or call 877-FAUSKE1 (877-328-7531) for more information.

Chemstations, Inc. is a worldwide leader in process simulation software, supplying the process industries and associated fields. Chemstations offers the CHEMCAD suite, several individually licensed and tightly integrated technologies, to increase the productivity and profitability of the chemical engineer's tasks. CHEMCAD is actively used by more than 800 organizations around the world. For more information, see our web site, www.chemstations.com, or call 800-CHEMCAD (243-6223).


Name of Press Contact: Elizabeth Raines
Phone: 312-914-9562
E-mail: ERaines@fauske.com