Why Fortran is Making a Comeback in Chemical Engineering: Performance, Precision, and Modern Applications

Fortran, one of the oldest high-level programming languages, has been making a resurgence in specific fields, particularly in scientific computing and engineering disciplines like chemical engineering. Fortran's return can be attributed to several key factors that align well with the demands of modern computational tasks in chemical engineering, where performance, numerical accuracy, and legacy code integration are crucial.

1. Legacy Code and Established Libraries

Fortran has a long history of being used in scientific computing, particularly in areas involving numerical simulations, mathematical modeling, and complex calculations. As a result, a massive amount of legacy code and well-validated libraries, such as LAPACK (Linear Algebra Package) and BLAS (Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms), are written in Fortran. These libraries are heavily relied upon in many chemical engineering applications, including simulations, process optimization, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Chemical engineers often use simulation software, such as Aspen Plus or gPROMS, which might rely on or interface with Fortran code under the hood. By continuing to use Fortran, engineers can tap into decades of research and development without reinventing the wheel, preserving the reliability of existing tools while integrating new advancements.

2. Superior Performance in Numerical Computation

Fortran remains one of the fastest programming languages for numerical computations due to its efficient handling of array-based operations, optimization features, and straightforward memory management. In chemical engineering, where simulations such as fluid dynamics, reaction kinetics, or heat and mass transfer often require large-scale, computationally intensive models, Fortran’s optimized performance allows for faster and more efficient computations.

Unlike more general-purpose programming languages like Python, which may rely on external libraries for numerical performance, Fortran is inherently optimized for such tasks. This makes it particularly well-suited for chemical engineering applications that demand high-performance computing (HPC), where precise numerical results are critical for processes like reactor design, distillation modeling, or materials simulations.

3. Parallelism and High-Performance Computing (HPC)

Chemical engineering applications increasingly require the ability to run simulations on parallel architectures, such as multi-core processors or clusters. Modern Fortran supports parallel programming models like OpenMP and MPI (Message Passing Interface), making it easier to scale chemical engineering simulations over multiple processors. This scalability is essential in areas like CFD, where chemical engineers may simulate turbulent flows in complex reactors or analyze multiphase flows.

HPC infrastructure is vital for solving large-scale models in areas like thermodynamics, reaction engineering, or molecular dynamics. Fortran’s support for parallel computing makes it one of the preferred languages for these tasks, helping engineers achieve faster simulation times and enabling them to tackle larger and more complex systems.

4. New Fortran Standards and Modern Features

Fortran has evolved significantly since its inception, with modern standards like Fortran 2003, 2008, and 2018 introducing features that make the language more versatile and accessible to contemporary users. These include support for object-oriented programming (OOP), modules for better code organization, and enhanced error handling. While Fortran may still be seen as a legacy language, these improvements make it more appealing to a new generation of engineers and scientists who are looking for both performance and modern coding practices.

In chemical engineering, where process simulations, reaction mechanisms, and optimization routines can be highly complex, these new features help structure and manage code more effectively. For example, object-oriented programming allows engineers to better model real-world processes by encapsulating data and functions in a way that mirrors the physical and chemical behavior of systems.

5. Accuracy in Numerical Solutions

One of the key reasons Fortran continues to be favored in chemical engineering is its focus on numerical precision and stability. Chemical engineering simulations often involve solving systems of differential equations, performing linear algebraic computations, and conducting finite element analysis (FEA), where small errors can propagate and lead to incorrect results.

Fortran’s numerical precision capabilities, particularly its handling of floating-point arithmetic and its support for high-precision data types, ensure that calculations remain accurate, even when working with very small or very large numbers. This level of accuracy is critical when modeling chemical reactions, designing safety-critical processes, or optimizing energy consumption in chemical plants.

6. Interoperability with Other Languages and Tools

In modern computational environments, Fortran can be easily integrated with other popular programming languages, such as Python, C, and MATLAB, which are commonly used in chemical engineering research and practice. This interoperability is particularly important for chemical engineers who use Python for data analysis or machine learning but rely on Fortran for the heavy lifting in simulations.

For example, Fortran libraries can be called from Python using tools like f2py (Fortran to Python interface), allowing engineers to leverage the strengths of both languages. Fortran handles the intensive numerical computations, while Python is used for scripting, data visualization, and integrating machine learning algorithms into the workflow. This ability to blend languages allows chemical engineers to use the best tool for each aspect of their work, optimizing both development speed and computational performance.

7. Energy and Process Optimization

Energy efficiency and process optimization are key concerns in chemical engineering, especially in the context of sustainability and the circular economy. Fortran is used in modeling and simulating energy-intensive processes such as distillation, heat exchangers, or chemical reactors. The efficiency of Fortran in handling large-scale optimization problems, such as minimizing energy consumption in process plants or optimizing reactor designs, makes it valuable in the pursuit of greener and more cost-effective chemical processes.

In conclusion, Fortran’s resurgence in chemical engineering is driven by its unparalleled performance in numerical computation, the wealth of established libraries, and its suitability for high-performance computing. Modern updates to the language, combined with its legacy of precision and reliability, make Fortran an excellent choice for handling the complex and computationally intensive tasks found in chemical engineering. Whether it’s simulating chemical processes, solving large-scale optimization problems, or integrating with newer languages like Python, Fortran continues to play a critical role in the field.