Direct capital costs

For ROPE applications to tar sand mining, economic projections were published for capital costs and operating costs. Total capital costs were estimated at 53,336,000 and annual operating costs were estimated at 9,683,000. For the estimation of capital costs, direct field cost was estimated at 35,558,000. Other capital costs were based on percentages of that estimate. These cost estimates were based on mid-1989 dollars (D13089C, pp. 242-243). 

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... 

Direct Contact Heat Exchangers. In a direct contact exchanger, two fluid streams come into direct contact, exchange heat and maybe also mass, and then separate. Very high heat-transfer rates, practically no fouling, lower capital costs, and lower approach temperatures are the principal advantages. 

As capital costs increase, operating costs decrease, as shown in Table 13 those costs involved in the production of HCl by various routes are presented in Table 13 for some nominal production capacities. These data indicate the direct route from 2 most economic among all the... 

Second, development efforts ia direct reduction and direct smelting processes have also iacreased. Whereas these developmeats require significant commitment of finances and labor to achieve commercialization, the rewards promised by avoiding cokemaking and hy utilizing smaller scale units which have relatively low capital costs make the commitment worthwhile. 

Alternating current is converted to direct current (dc) for the smelting cells by siUcon rectifiers. High conversion efficiency (over 99%) and minimum capital costs are achieved when the rectified voltage is 600—900 V dc. Because aluminum smelting cells operate at 4.5—5.0 V, 130 or more cells are coimected in series, forming what the industry calls a potline, which may operate at 50—360 kA. 

Modijications to the Recope Cycle. The recovery system is a principal capital cost in a kraft mill. Consequently, any recovery process that is less expensive to build can improve pulping economics. There have been numerous attempts to improve the kraft recovery process. Two examples are the direct alkaline recovery scheme (DARS) and the autocausticizing scheme using sodium borates (37). Both schemes eliminate the lime loop of the conventional kraft mill. As of 1996, neither is commercially used. 

The most volatile product (myristic acid) is a small fraction of the feed, whereas the least volatile product (oleic—stearic acids) is most of the feed, and the palmitic—oleic acid split has a good relative volatility. The palmitic—oleic acid split therefore is selected by heuristic (4) for the third column. This would also be the separation suggested by heuristic (5). After splitting myristic and palmitic acid, the final distillation sequence is pictured in Figure 1. Detailed simulations of the separation flow sheet confirm that the capital cost of this design is about 7% less than the straightforward direct sequence. 

Annual iadirect costs are estimated as percentages of the direct labor and fixed capital costs. Typical direct labor percentage ranges are 25—30% for payroll overhead, 15—20% for stores and suppHes, 10—20% for control laboratory, 10—20% for security, 10% for yard, and 10—15% for process improvements. That is, total iadirect costs are usually 80—115% of the direct labor cost (1). 

Because each effect of an evaporator produces almost as much vapor as the amount it condenses, the total evaporation accompHshed per unit of prime steam, or steam economy, iacreases ia almost direct proportioa to the number of effects used. The total heat load is also spHt up betweea the effects so that each effect has a much lower heat duty than a single effect for the same total evaporation load. However, the total available AT is also spHt up similarly so that each effect of a multiple effect requites about as much heating surface as a single effect operating over the same total temperature difference. Thus ia selecting the number of effects to use ia any iastallatioa, steam cost savings and capital cost of effects have to be balanced. Even before... 

An alternative to allocating overheads by using a single method is to classify the various overheads into groups and to use the most appropriate allocation for each group. For example, depreciation would be allocated on the basis of capital cost, while indirect labor might be allocated either on the basis of direct labor cost or on the number of employees. Clearly, this alternative method is more complex, increases the associated accountancy costs, and is prone to misinterpretation and possibly abuse. 

Miscellaneous Direct Costs Estimates for the cost of maintenance and repairs, operating supplies, royalties, and patents are best based on company records for similar processes. A rough average value for the annual cost of maintenance is 6 percent of the capital cost of the plant. This percentage can vaiy from 2 to 10 percent, depending on the severity of plant operation. Approximately half of the maintenance costs are for materials and half for labor. Royalty and patents costs are in the order of 1 to 5 percent of the sales price of the product. 

Direct fixed-capital cost for plant (batteiy-limit capital), Cfc)bl... 

An estimate of the cost for each corrective measure alternative should be developed, including capital, operating and maintenance costs. Capital costs consist of direct (construction) and indirect (nonconstruction and overhead) costs. 

The main factors in the design of an adsorption system are the (1) Carbon consumption - The amount of earbon required to treat the liquid or gas, normally expressed per unit of the fluid treated and (2) Contact time - For a fixed flow rate, the contact time is directly proportional to the volume of carbon and is the main factor influencing the size of the adsorption system and capital cost. 

Step 1 Set out the alternatives, ensuring that there is the same basis of comparison. Eliminate capital and revenue costs common to all protection systems. Write in the extra capital arising from the need to protect the structure. This capital cost may be a direct quotation from a processor or be calculated see Note 3 below). Make sure quotations or calculations refer to the same data. 

This is a rough calculation, based on direct capital cost and not on interest rates, and needs to be analysed in terms of the general plant economics. It should also be borne in mind that this is based on present-day electricity costs, and a greater saving will be made as fuel costs rise. 

Type 1 Costs Direct costs. Traditional capital investment and operational costs, including Equipment Labour Raw materials Waste treatment... 

When a metallic material of construction (MOC) is selected to contain, transport, and/or to be exposed to a specific chemical, unless we make a correct, viable, and optimum MOC selection, the hfe expectancy of those facihties, in a given chemical exposure, can be very short. For the inexperienced in this field, the direct capital costs of the MOC facet of the production of chemicals, the funds spent to maintain these facilities (sometimes several times those initial capital costs), the indirect costs that are associated with outages and loss of production, off-quahty product (because of equipment and facility maintenance) as well as from contamination of the product, etc., are many times not even considered, let alone used as one of the major criteria in the selection of that MOC as well as its costs to keep the plant running, i.e., a much overlooked cost figure in the CPI. To emphasize the magnitude and overall economic nature of the direct and indirect (nonproductive) costs/losses that result from the action of corrosion of our metallic facihties, equipment, and the infrastructures, within the United States, Congress has mandated that a survey of the costs of corrosion in the United States be conducted periodically. 

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