Capital cost battery limits investment

Battery limits investments account for only a fraction of the total amount required for the operation of an industrial installation. An evaluation calculation based on the use of an economic criterion, designed to allow an economic comparison between several processes or flow eets, hence requires the consideration of all the capital costs. 

Table 8.18. Ammonium Nitrate Prilling Process Requirements F roduct Ammonium nitrate Capacity 1,400 tpd Capacity utilization 90% Annual production 415,800 tpy Process Hgh-density prilling Investment cost - battery limits, US 28 million - storage, US 7 million Working capital, US 3.6 million...

As an example, the battery-limits capital cost can be estimated for the production of 10,000 t/yr of ethylene (qv) from ethanol (11). Seven processing blocks, ie, vaporizer, reactor, water quench, compressor, dryer, distillation, and energy recovery, can be identified. The highest temperature is 350°C (reactor), and the highest pressure is about 1.7 MPa (17 atm) (compressor, two towers). If a materials-pressure factor, + of 1.03 is assumed, then for N = 7 0 = 0.87 1/0 = 1 64 and f =0 K = 6.3. This gives the 1981 cost as 4.4 X 10 . The 1991 battery-Hmits investment can be obtained, by updating with the CE Plant Cost Index, as 5.3 x 10 . ... 

An overall Lange factor, E- j can be used to relate the battery-limits fixed capital investment Jg to the deHvered equipment cost Eg, so that... 

Total Capital Cost The installed cost of the fixed-capital investment Cpc is obviously an essential item which must be forecast before an investment decision can be made. It forms pai4 of the total capital investment Cfc, defined by Eq. (9-14). The fixed-capital investment is usually regarded as the capital needed to provide all the depreciable facihties. It is sometimes divided into two classes by defining battery limits and auxiliaiy facilities for the project. The boundary for batteiy limits includes all manufacturing equipment but excludes administrative offices, storage areas, utihties, and other essential and nonessential auxihaiy facilities. 

Capital investment costs can be divided into two categories (1) costs that are independent of the location (Inside Battery Limits, ISBL), and (2) costs that are dependent on the location (Outside Battery Limits, OSBL). 

Estimate by the turnover-ratio method the fixed-capital investment required for a proposed sulfuric acid plant (battery limit) which has a capacity of 140,000 tons of 100 percent sulfuric acid per year (contact-catalytic process) using the data from Table 19 for 1990 with sulfuric acid cost at 72 per ton. The plant may be considered as operating full time. Repeat using the cost-capacity-exponent method with data from Table 19. 

The total direct cost (TDC) includes both the direct installation costs and the costs of site preparation and buildings. Further, the sum of the total direct cost and total indirect cost (or direct installation costs) is termed the battery limits cost. Finally, the battery limits cost plus the cost of off-site facilities (e.g., a railroad spur) comprise the total depreciable investment. Put simply, this is the portion of the TCI for which the firm is permitted to take a depreciation deduction on its corporate income tax return. The other portion of the TCI, namely, land and working capital, may not be depreciated. Hence, this portion is called the total nondepreciable investment. 

Multiple-factor methods include the cost contributions for each given activity, which can be added together to give an overall factor. This factor can be used to multiply the total cost of dehvered equipment Z (Ceq)del to produce an estimate of the total fixed-capital investment either for grass-roots or for battery-limit plants. The costs may be divided into four groups ... 

An important reason for preparing study reports is to determine the capital expenditure (investment) of a project [Muthmann, 1984, Prinzing 1985, DAdda 1997]. This is made up of the location-independent ISBL (inside battery limits) process plant costs such as investment in the production plant and the associated control rooms, laboratories, employee facilities, tank farms, and loading and unloading stations, as well as the location-dependent OSBL (outside battery limits) costs of all the service facilities. 

The Total Fixed Investment is the total capital cost of the plant. It includes land, the battery-limits costs, storage, utilities and general service facilities, spare parts, preoperational and startup cost, project management and interest during construction. The Total Depreciable Fixed Investment excludes the cost of land, which is not a depreciable cosfitem. . ... 

AH cost estimates should be made with separation of national currency and foreign exchange components to allow for later economic analysis. Order of magnitude capital cost estimates for a battery-limits plant can be made provided plant capadties are set at fairly standardized levels and prices are available for plant and equipment at such capacities. A schedule for a battery-limits plant investment is prepared for a particular place, time, and capadty as shown in Table 21.1 for an ammonia plant in a US Gulf Coast location in 1994. Cost estimates can be at usted to account for changes in any of these parameters. 

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