Compare · ProMax alternative · FlowSync, the WorkSync engineering platform
WorkSync FlowSync vs. ProMax: which gas-processing simulator fits the daily-driver work?
ProMax (Bryan Research & Engineering, LLC) earned its place as the deep-bench tool for gas-processing simulation, especially amine sweetening, glycol dehydration, sulfur recovery, and the tricky thermodynamic packages those workflows lean on. WorkSync FlowSync Process Simulator is right-sized for the fast, everyday revamp, debottleneck, and troubleshooting work that fills an engineer's day, and feeds the same asset spec ProMax uses. ProMax stays the call for the deep amine and sulfur work.
WorkSync vs Bryan Research & Engineering ProMax: the honest comparison.
| Capability | ProMax | WorkSync FlowSync Process Simulator |
|---|---|---|
| Amine sweetening (deep thermodynamic packages) | Industry-leading. Decades of refinement on amine chemistry. | Daily-driver amine work covered. ProMax remains the right tool for the deepest packages. |
| Glycol dehydration | Strong | Strong, sized for routine sizing and revamp work |
| Sulfur recovery (Claus, tail-gas treating) | Industry standard | Not the target use case. ProMax remains the right tool. |
| Gas processing (separation, compression, JT, low-temp) | Full coverage | Full coverage for the daily-driver work |
| Equipment sizing (separators, compressors, heat exchangers) | Yes | Yes |
| Time-to-answer for typical sensitivity | Hours-to-day (build the file, run, interpret) | Minutes (model already built; sensitivity in-place) |
| Live operating data integration | Manual data load | Connected to the WorkSync DataHub; sims see current SCADA conditions |
| AI engineer agent (cited answers, MOC drafting, sensitivity runs) | Not native | Yes. Taylor reads every drawing and cites every answer |
| Pricing model | Licensing set directly with Bryan Research & Engineering | Per-module annual license. Below VP signing authority. |
| Co-exist with each other? | , | Yes. Many teams run ProMax for the deep amine + sulfur work, FlowSync for the daily revamp work |
Because your evaluation deserves it.
Bryan Research & Engineering ProMax is the right call in some situations. WorkSync is the right call in others. Here’s the real-world split.
01When Bryan Research & Engineering ProMax wins
You run a sour gas plant with deep amine work
Amine selectivity, blended-amine systems, MDEA-piperazine optimization, regenerator troubleshooting where the chemistry actually matters, ProMax has decades of investment in the thermodynamic packages that make these calls. Use it.
You operate a sulfur recovery unit
Claus reactor modeling, tail-gas treating, SRU optimization. ProMax's sulfur work is industry-standard and FlowSync does not aim to replace it.
Your team has years of ProMax muscle memory
If your process engineering team thinks in ProMax, the change-management cost of moving daily work into a different simulator may not pencil. Co-exist is the right pattern: ProMax for the deep work, FlowSync for the daily questions.
02When WorkSync wins
Most of your engineering work is the daily revamp / troubleshooting
The 3-phase separator carrying-over after a new well came online. The amine reboiler duty for the next month's gas composition. The compression train hitting recycle on a hot day. These are the questions that fill the engineer's week and they do not need a full ProMax license per seat.
You want answers in minutes, not hours
FlowSync Process Simulator runs against the same Model Builder output as Flow Simulator. The model is already built. The sensitivity is a minute. If your engineering team has a queue of "quick" questions waiting for someone with a ProMax seat, FlowSync clears the queue.
You want simulations on live operating data
ProMax runs whatever you load. FlowSync runs against the DataHub, so the inlet composition, the operating pressure, and the duty are current. Daily-driver process work is accurate without a manual data refresh.
You want an AI engineer agent on tap
Taylor reads every drawing, every MOC, every operating procedure in your project folder. She cites the source. Cuts the bottleneck of the senior engineer who is in a meeting without replacing the simulator your team already uses for the deep work.
ProMax for the deep amine + sulfur work. FlowSync for the daily revamp.
The cleanest pattern: keep ProMax seats for the engineers who own the amine system and the SRU. They are the right tool for that work. FlowSync handles the daily revamp, debottleneck, equipment sizing, and troubleshooting that the broader team does every week. Both run on the same Model Builder output, so the asset spec is one source of truth.
Net effect: same ProMax seats for the engineers who need them, but the rest of the engineering team gets a right-sized tool for the work they actually do every day. Engineering throughput goes up without anyone losing the depth they relied on for the regulated and chemistry-heavy work.
How to evaluate any AI vendor in oil & gas, including this one.
The head-to-head above is useful if you already know which AI initiative you are pointed at and what it costs. If you do not, four diagnostic questions apply to Bryan Research & Engineering ProMaxand to WorkSync equally. If any of these come back unclear for the vendor you are evaluating, the comparison has not really started yet.
Which of the three objectives is this AI initiative actually pointed at?
Replace a SaaS contract, speed up a costly decision, or automate a process. Anything else is dashboard theater. Score it in dollars before evaluating any vendor.
Which of the four closed loops does this vendor cover, and where do they stop?
Operations, Automated Engineering, Safety Analysis, Preventative Maintenance. The QA discipline (six elements) runs underneath. Vendors that ship one loop force you to stitch the rest yourself.
What is the Year-3 TCO at full deployment, not the Year-1 pilot quote?
Personal-use AI subsidies do not scale. Token spend, inference compute, integration, ongoing maintenance. Vendors who cannot give you a defensible Year-3 number with a confidence range have not thought about their own cost curve.
Is this designed for the workflow, or are you stitching tools together that were not?
Build-it-yourself runs seven figures and degrades quietly. String-tools-together fragments the data layer and multiplies SaaS contracts. The third path is a system designed for the loop from the data layer up.
“ProMax is the right tool for our amine units. We never thought about replacing it. But we had a backlog of revamp questions for the rest of the plant that nobody had time to answer. FlowSync cleared that backlog without touching how we run amine work.”
Process engineering leadership · Mid-tier producer · Multi-basin
Common questions
Will FlowSync replace ProMax for amine and sulfur work?
No. ProMax has decades of investment in amine and sulfur thermodynamic packages, and that depth is the right call for the work it was built for. The recommendation is co-existence: ProMax for the deep amine + SRU work, FlowSync for the daily-driver revamp and troubleshooting work across the rest of the plant.
What unit operations does FlowSync Process Simulator cover?
Gas processing, dehydration, sweetening, compression, separation, and small-facility design. Equipment sizing for separators, compressors, heat exchangers, dehy units, and amine systems. Right-sized for the daily-driver work; deep amine selectivity work belongs in ProMax.
Can FlowSync export its model into ProMax?
The canonical asset model FlowSync builds (topology, equipment, operating data) is the same input ProMax expects. The export keeps your existing ProMax workflow intact and removes the manual model-build step.
How does pricing compare to ProMax?
ProMax licensing is set directly with Bryan Research & Engineering. FlowSync Process Simulator is a per-module annual license, below VP signing authority. Many gas processors keep ProMax seats for the amine and SRU teams and run FlowSync as the daily-driver simulator for the broader engineering team.
Does FlowSync handle Claus reactor modeling?
No. SRU modeling is one of the use cases where ProMax has the right depth and we leave it there. We will tell you honestly when the work belongs in ProMax instead of in FlowSync.
See WorkSync on your data, alongside your existing stack.
See it on your data. Qualified operators get a 4-week proof of value at no license cost. Integration in under 1 week; full standup in 2.