Guide · Layer 2

Mass & Energy Layer

Written for: seed / Series A scientist-founder

By the end of this layer you’ll have a system of equations that steps through each unit operation: put your feedstock in at one end and the model carries it through every box to the product, with the energy each step uses coming out alongside. That chain of physical numbers (every flow, split, and duty) is what Layer 3 puts dollars on.

Layer 1 laid the piping: the boxes and arrows, like the pipes run through a house before the water is on. This layer turns on the faucet. Your job is to find reasonable assumptions for how much is flowing, and what happens at each stop. Everything has to reconcile through the mass and energy balances, and we’ll have analytics layers later to also help catch issues / guide development.

Keep it at the right altitude for the stage: simple arithmetic — basic equations and engineering proxies, we don’t need simulations at this stage.

1. Build the core technology in Excel — turn your Layer-1 boxes and arrows into formulas and a system of equations, starting from the core reaction.
2. Build out the rest of the process — repeat the move for every other unit operation, and roll the flows up across the whole system.
3. Close the balance — charge through end to end, then come back and make every stream reconcile.

Start with 2.1 — Build the core technology in Excel →