Refprop 9 0 Portable ((better)) Jun 2026

CoolProp is the premier open-source alternative to REFPROP. It is completely free, highly accurate, and inherently portable.

The journey to a portable REFPROP 9.0 begins with purchasing a license from the official NIST Standard Reference Data (SRD) program. As of the latest information, a new license for REFPROP 10 costs $325.00, with upgrades from version 9.x available for $125.00. While the NIST SRD shop may primarily list version 10, existing licenses for version 9.0 are honored, and the installation files can be obtained.

I recently spoke with a freelance thermal systems designer, "Marta" (name changed). She admitted to using a "Refprop 9.0 portable" for a year. Everything seemed fine until a client required her to submit a validation report for a propane heat pump. She ran the same calculation (propane saturation pressure at 50°C) on the portable version vs. the official trial. The portable version reported ; the official version reported 1.847 MPa . The difference is 2.5%—outside of ASHRAE standard tolerance. She had to re-simulate 40 hours of work. Now she uses the academic license. refprop 9 0 portable

If you need help setting this up, let me know (Excel, Python, MATLAB) or what specific fluid mixtures you will be modeling. Share public link

Standard installers write to the Windows Registry and user application folders. A portable setup keeps everything in one directory, leaving the host computer clean. CoolProp is the premier open-source alternative to REFPROP

The portability of RefProp 9.0 proved to be a significant advantage, as team members could work on projects from anywhere, without being tied to a specific computer or location. This flexibility allowed them to collaborate more effectively with colleagues and clients worldwide.

If you already have Refprop 9.0 installed on one machine, follow these steps to make it portable: As of the latest information, a new license

Corporations caught using unlicensed REFPROP copies face fines of up to $150,000 per copy under the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) audits. For a student or freelancer, the risk is lower but real: your university’s IT department actively scans network traffic for known peer-to-peer hashes of illegal software.

CoolProp is an open-source thermophysical property database and library that offers similar functionality to REFPROP. It was originally developed by Ian Bell, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Liege in Belgium, and has since grown into a community-driven project.

: The models are primarily based on Helmholtz energy equations of state, ensuring uncertainties approach the level of underlying experimental data. Portable & Integrated Use Cases

The Pocket Scientist: Unpacking the Power of REFPROP 9.0 Portable