Visual MINTEQ ver 2.61
Introduction
You are invited to download a freeware version of Visual MINTEQ!!
Visual MINTEQ is
a Windows version of MINTEQA2 ver 4.0, which was released by the USEPA in
1999. MINTEQA2 is a chemical equilibrium model for the calculation of
metal speciation, solubility equilibria etc. for natural waters. It is
probably the most widespread model for these purposes today, and it is
renowned for its stability. As the development of a Windows version of
MINTEQA2 is being supported by the two Swedish research councils VR and MISTRA,
the program is distributed via Internet from this server free of charge.
Visual MINTEQ
has been developed to make the powerful features of MINTEQA2 more easily
accessible for graduate and post-graduate students in soil and water
chemistry. However also for research purposes the program has the potential
of speeding up the management of input and output data. Visual MINTEQ has
also been modernised to include new options for adsorption modelling. Here
are some examples of what Visual MINTEQ can do:
- Ion
speciation using equilibrium constants from the MINTEQA2 database,
which has been updated using the most recent NIST data to contain
> 3000 aqueous species and > 600 solids
- Solubility
calculations involving solid phases
- Adsorption
calculations with adsorption isotherms, five surface complexation
models (Diffuse Layer, Constant Capacitance, Triple Layer, Basic Stern
and Three Plane), with the 1-pK or 2-pK formalisms, and with the
CD-MUSIC concept
- Ion-exchange
calculations using the Gaines-Thomas formalism
- Metal-humic complexation
can be simulated using the Gaussian DOM, the Stockholm Humic Model, or
the NICA-Donnan model.
- Calculations
with redox couples and gases (e.g. CO2)
- Sweep
runs in which one parameter is varied, e.g. pH or the total concentration
of a component.
- Titrations
in which a titrant with a given composition is added in steps to the
original solution.
- Data
import from Excel
- Presentation
of results from Visual MINTEQ runs on separate output tables; export
of results to Excel
- Management
of Visual MINTEQ's thermodynamic databases from within the program
- HTML
help files assist you in getting started. Help is initiated by opening
the file "Vminhelp.htm" from the
help menu.
Technical notes:
- The
program was written with Visual Basic 6.0, professional edition, and
Visual Basic 2003 .NET.
- You
will need Windows 95 or NT 4.0 or higher to run this program.
- Since
Visual MINTEQ interfaces with Excel, it is desirable that you have
Excel 5 or higher installed on your computer.
- The
program will NOT fit on your screen resolution is low; adjust
it if necessary.
- I
do not take any responsibility for possible problems that arise
because of the installation of this program. However, I would be
grateful if problems and bugs are reported to me; this will benefit
future users of this program.
- The
.NET version of the program requires .NET framework 1.1 or higher (can be downloaded from
Microsoft). In addition, if you plan to run the program on a
network server, you may have to change the security settings in .NET
framework to allow execution of "Mintrun.exe" in the local
intranet zone.
- Decimal symbols: The program works best if you use the . (point) as the decimal
symbol in Windows. The use of decimal commas may lead to "Type
mismatch" errors in some cases. Therefore, if you use a ,
(comma), which is the case for many European users, go to the Control
panel and choose 'Date, Time, Language, and Regional options',
followed by 'Change the format of numbers, dates and times' (in
Windows XP, the name of the menus may be different in other operating
systems), click Customize and change the decimal symbol to a . (point)!
- Permissions / Security settings: To
use the software you need to have the permission to read and write in
the folder where Visual MINTEQ is installed. After updating to version
2.61 on some computers the security settings may cause bug
no. 5 as described below.
Jon Petter Gustafsson 15/6 2000, revised 15/1 2009
Version history:
ver. 2.61. First released 2/4 2009, latest upload from 11/8 2009.
This release addresses some issues found in the code for the new interfaces
for surface complexation and organic complexation of ver. 2.60. A new menu
for “Database selection” is also introduced that facilitates
the change of thermodynamic databases.
For later releases, three bugs were corrected (one that caused
problems for the titration manager, another one that led to errors when
adding new species to surface complexation databases, and a third one
causing “File not found” errors when opening certain forms).
If you already have version 2.53 or later installed,
you can upgrade to the latest version also by downloading this zip file. To proceed, follow this
procedure:
1.
Extract the
contents to your VMINTEQ folder and replace the old files with the same
names
2.
In case you
upgrade from version 2.53, add or change the shortcut to Visual MINTEQ on
the main menu and/or on the program menu from “vminteq.exe” to
“vminteq08.exe”.
3.
Open Visual
MINTEQ, click “Help” – “About” and check that
you are in fact opening version 2.61. If not, the shortcut is not working;
go back to point 2
4.
Check that bug no. 5 does not occur after updating the files.
Click here
for information on earlier versions
Future plans
The next version (3.0) will be a
significantly enhanced version, rewritten entirely in the .NET environment and
with a number of new features. A beta version will be available for
download from October 2009.
Download
The components of Visual
MINTEQ, ver. 2.61, can be downloaded from this server. All essential
components required for the program are included in the Visual MINTEQ setup
program. NOTE! Before downloading, you should remove any previous
versions of Visual MINTEQ from your computer (remove it / them from the
Control Panel). If you don't, installation may be incomplete.
(Old input and output files will not be destroyed by this procedure;
however, if you have made changes to one of the databases that you would
like to keep, save it in a name different from its default name before
removing).
When you have downloaded the files, you will have to unzip them using
WinZip or PKUNZIP. I would be grateful if you mailed me to register as a user. As a
registered user I will keep you notified of future updates of the program.
NOTE! I have
accidentally dropped part of my e-mail lists, so if you registered before
2005 there is a risk I have lost your e-mail address. To be notified about
updates again, please e-mail me.
The Visual MINTEQ setup program, Setup.exe, is included in the zip file
below. Normally this is initiated automatically if you use a recent version
of WinZip to unzip the file. Alternatively, when you have unzipped the
files, double-click on 'Setup.exe'. After installation, use Windows
Explorer to create a shortcut to "vminteq08.exe" and copy it to
your desktop.
Version 2.61
|
Name of file
|
Last modified
|
Compressed size
|
Expanded size
|
|
vminsetup.zip
|
11/8 2009
|
3.4 MB
|
c. 5 MB
|
NOTE!!!
.NET Framework is required for this program. If you don't
have .NET Framework installed on your machine, please download the .NET
Framework redistributable package from here!
By far the most common e-mail message I get from users is what causes the
"File not found" error when clicking "Run" on the main
menu (the correct reason in a large majority of the cases is that .NET
Framework is not properly installed, see bug no. 3
below).
To
access the help file system, locate the file "vminhelp.htm" (in
your VMINTEQ folder) in Windows Explorer, and then double-click on this
file to open it in your browser. The help files can now also be opened
directly from the program (this requires Internet Explorer). Apart from the
help files, there is no manual; however, the EPA manual for MINTEQA2
contains background information of how MINTEQ works.
Alternative databases
In general, I recommend the use of the databases that accompany the
standard version of the program, as included in the above setup package.
However, there are other alternatives. Below two alternative packages of
thermodynamic databases can be downloaded, the Original Database for
MINTEQA2 ver. 4.0, and Lindsay's Revised Database. For more information,
please read the "readme.txt" file in the downloadable zip
file.
The main Visual MINTEQ databases are available also in GWB format, for modellers
who work with GWB (Geochemist's Workbench):
thermo_minteq.dat
– The thermodynamic database from Visual MINTEQ release 2.40, for use
with GWB releases 5.0 and later. This dataset invokes activity coefficient
calculations consistent with the implementation in Visual MINTEQ.
thermo_minteq_gwb4.dat
– The thermodynamic database from Visual MINTEQ release 2.40, for
use with GWB release 4.0.x. This dataset invokes the default method in the
GWB for calculating activity coefficients; hence the results will vary
slightly from the Visual MINTEQ output.
FeOH_minteq.dat
– Surface complexation data from Visual MINTEQ release 2.40, for use
with all recent (4.0 and later) GWB releases.
See the GWB pages
for more information
References
Visual MINTEQ has been
used in both research and teaching, and in many different applications.
Many examples can be found in the literature - it is estimated that Visual
MINTEQ has been used in > 400 journal papers.
Known bugs (ver. 2.60 / ver. 2.61)
# 1.
MINTEQ does not always converge when counter-ion accumulation to a charged
surface is considered, and when the the NICA-Donnan or SHM models are used.
In both cases, convergence may often be obtained either when a minute
change is made to the total concentration of components, or when a low
initial activity guess for one of the components is made.
# 2.
"Type mismatch" errors may be a problem for some European users,
because of the use of the decimal comma as the decimal symbol. To avoid
this problem, see instructions above under "Technical notes".
# 3. If
you get a "File not found" error when clicking the
"Run" button in Visual MINTEQ, the reason can be that .NET
Framework is not properly installed. If so, follow
this link to download and install .NET Framework, and then try again!
# 4.
Although the software should generally run with Windows Vista, some users
report problems with missing OCX files, which results in an error message
when starting the program. As this software uses OCX files such as
comdlg32.ocx, it is necessary to have these installed. Ask your computer
administrator for how to fix this problem if it occurs.
# 5. If
you used an older Visual MINTEQ version, and you used one of the zip files
above to update files or to reinstall, there is a risk that Visual MINTEQ
uses the wrong databases (i.e. the old databases) when you use it for the
first time. This is the case if component names such as
“ADS1TYP1” etc appear in the component list on the main menu.
If this happens, go to “Various default settings” and check
that the default databases are “thermo.vdb”,
“type6.vdb”, “comp_2008.vdb”, and
“gaussian.vdb”. If not, this bug is a reality and you need to
change the default databases to the ones mentioned above. The software
should then run normally.
As the
program is subject to development, it probably contains some bugs which are
unknown to me. Please mail me
whenever
you encounter any bugs!!
Links.
I. EPA
MINTEQA2 homepage at
the EPA . From here important background documents can be downloaded.
Links.
II. Other chemical
equilibrium programs
Here is my selection of
related software, which may be worth taking a look at if you consider other
alternatives than Visual MINTEQ. It is your decision which is the best one
for your needs (maybe you need more than one to cover your needs!):
Freeware
PHREEQC-2
(Parkhurst and Appelo). A powerful Windows program which, among other
things, allows inclusion of physical transport in your calculations.
CHEAQS (Verweij).
Windows-based speciation program, with a database similar to Visual MINTEQ.
HYDRA / MEDUSA
(Puigdomenech). Another Windows-based speciation program, which can create
many kinds of diagrams.
PHRQPITZ
(Plummer et al.). This DOS program is one of the few which can be used to
model high-ionic strength waters with Pitzer equations for activity
correction.
WinHumicV
(Gustafsson). Contains Tipping's Model V. See also WHAM-6 below.
ORCHESTRA (Meeussen). This
Java-based application can link equilibrium chemistry to physical transport
in a potentially very efficient way. It is still under development and not
recommended for the beginner, as it requires some coding.
Commercial software
ECOSAT (Keizer). DOS program but with Windows-type
menus. This is the only program which contains the NICA-Donnan model for
humic substances.
WHAM 6.0
(Tipping and Lofts). The only program which has incorporated Tipping's
Model VI for humic substances, and the SCAMP model by Lofts and Tipping.
Geochemist's
Workbench (Bethke). This program can be used for many purposes, such as
speciation, generation of stability diagrams etc.
Other relevant links can be found at:
Geotechnical and
Geoenvironmental Software Directory
Jan van der
Lee's links collection
Last edited 2009-08-11
|
