Cost, capital

The SMR-based technologies typically have a somewhat higher capital cost because the SMR furnace with its high alloy tubes and large flue gas heat recovery section is inherently more expensive than the ATR or POX technologies which are refractory lined carbon steel vessels without external flue gas heat recovery. 

An SMR has a lower capital cost than an SMR/O2R when the operating pressure is relatively low. Since low pressure favors the reforming reaction, imder such conditions most of the reforming occurs in the SMR, and the O2R does not significantly reduce the size of the SMR. But at higher pressures, an SMR/O2R can cost less, because more of the reforming is done in the O2R, and the size of the SMR can often be significantly reduced. 

The ATR and POX technologies have offsetting capital costs, depending on the extent of CO2 recycle. 

For full CO2 recycle, the CO2 removal system is much larger for the ATR than the POX, and the added capital cost associated with this difference tends to make the ATR more expensive overall. 

However, for no CO2 recycle, the ATR tends to cost less than the POX because its reaction and heat recovery section is inherently less expensive and it does not carry any third party royalty. 

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If k-2 increases faster than kx, operate at low temperature (but beware of capital cost, since low temperature, although increasing selectivity, also increases reactor size). Here there is an economic tradeoff between decreasing byproduct formation and increasing capital cost. 

An initial guess for the reactor conversion is very difficult to make. A high conversion increases the concentration of monoethanolamine and increases the rates of the secondary reactions. As we shall see later, a low conversion has the effect of decreasing the reactor capital cost but increasing the capital cost of many other items of equipment in the flowsheet. Thus an initial value of 50 percent conversion is probably as good as a guess as can be made at this stage. 

Another variable that needs to be set for distillation is refiux ratio. For a stand-alone distillation column, there is a capital-energy tradeoff, as illustrated in Fig. 3.7. As the refiux ratio is increased from its minimum, the capital cost decreases initially as the number of plates reduces from infinity, but the utility costs increase as more reboiling and condensation are required (see Fig. 3.7). If the capital... 

If the total heat consumed is from an external utility (e.g., mains steam), then a high efficiency is desirable, even perhaps at the expense of a high capital cost. However, if the heat consumed is by recovery from elsewhere in the process, as is discussed in Chap. 15, then comparison on the basis of dryer efficiency becomes less meaningful. 

In the case of a liquid recycle, the cost of this pressure increase is usually small. Pumps usually have low capital and operating costs relative to other plant items. On the other hand, to increase the pressure of material in the vapor phase for recycle requires a compressor. Compressors tend to have a high capital cost and large power requirements giving higher operating costs. 

Having established that there is apparently a mechanism whereby the problems of sequencing and heat integration can be decoupled for simple columns on the basis of energy costs, it is interesting to consider whether there is any conflict with capital cost. A column sequence that handles a large amount of heat must have a high capital cost for two reasons ... 

Thus capital cost considerations reinforce the argument that the nonintegrated sequence with the lowest heat load is that with the lowest total cost. 

There is a tradeoff between energy and capital cost i.e., there is an economic degree of energy recovery. Chapter 7 explains how this tradeoff can be carried out using energy and capital cost targets. 

In addition to being able to predict the energy costs of the heat exchanger network and utilities directly from the material and energy balance, it would be useful to be able to calculate the capital cost, if this is possible. The principal components that contribute to the capital cost of the heat exchanger network are... 

In general, the final network design should be achieved in the minimum number of units to keep down the capital cost (although this is not the only consideration to keep down the capital cost). To minimize the number of imits in Eq. (7.1), L should be zero and C should be a maximum. Assuming L to be zero in the final design is a reasonable assumption. However, what should be assumed about C Consider the network in Fig. 7.16, which has two components. For there to be two components, the heat duties for streams A and B must exactly balance the duties for streams E and F. Also, the heat duties for streams C and D must exactly balance the duties for streams G and H. Such balemces are likely to be unusual and not easy to predict. The safest assumption for C thus appears to be that there will be one component only, i.e., C = 1. This leads to an important special case when the network has a single component and is loop-free. In this case, ... 

FIgur 7.4 If film transfer coefficients difier significantly, then nonvertical h t transfer is necessary to achieve the minimum area. (Reprinted from Linnhoff and Ahmad, Cost Optimum Heat Exchanger Networks I. Minimum Energy and Capital Using Simple Models for Capital Cost," Computers Chem. Engg., 7 729, 1990 with permission from Elsevier Science, Ltd.)... 

Thus, if film transfer coefficients vary significantly, then Eq. (7.6) does not predict the true minimum network area. The true minimum area must be predicted using linear programming. However, Eq. (7.6) is still a useful basis to calculate the network area for the purposes of capital cost estimation for the following reasons ... 

Since the number of shells can have a significant influence on the capital cost, it would be useful to be able to predict it as a target ahead of design. 

To predict the capital cost of a network, it must first be assumed that a single heat exchanger with surface area A can be costed according to a simple relationship such as... 

If the problem is dominated by equipment with a single specification (i.e., a single material of construction, equipment type, and pressure rating), then the capital cost target can be calculated from Eq. (7.21) with the appropriate cost coefficients. However, if there is a mix of specifications, such as different streams requiring different materials of construction, then the approach must be modified. 

Thus, to calculate the capital cost target for a network comprising... 

Choose a reference cost law for the heat exchangers. Greatest accuracy results if the category of streams which makes the largest contribution to capital cost is chosen as reference. ... 

Calculate the capital cost target for the mixed specification heat exchanger network from Eq. (7.21) using the cost law coefficients for the reference specification. 

Heat exchanger capital cost (special) = 40,000 + IlOQA ( )... 

Thus the weighted network area AJ itwork is 9546 m. Now calculate the network capital cost for mixed materials of construction by using AI t ork... 

Total heat transfer area is assumed to be divided equally between exchangers. This tends to overestimate the capital cost. 

These small positive and negative errors partially cancel each other. The result is that capital cost targets predicted by the methods described in this chapter are usually within 5 percent of the final design, providing heat transfer coefficients vary by less than one order of magnitude. If heat transfer coefficients vary by more than one order of magnitude, then a more sophisticated approach can sometimes be justified. ... 

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