Cost estimation Miller

Other multiple-factor methods that have been published in the past are those by C. E. Chilton, Cost Estimation in the Process Industries, McGraw-Hill, New York, I960 M. S. Peters, K. D. Timmerhaus, and R. E. West, Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers, 5th ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003 C. A. Miller, Chemical Engineering, Sept. 13,1965, pp. 226-236 and P. A. Holland, P. A. Watson, and V. K. Wilkinson, Chem. Eng., Apr. 1,1974, pp. 71-76. These methods produced preliminary quality estimates. Most companies have developed their own in-house multiple-factor methods for preliminary cost estimation. 

Source Miller, C.A. Factor Estimating Refined for Appropriation of Funds, American Association of Cost Engineers Bulletin, Sept. 1965, p. 92. 

Solve the problem given in Example 9-4 using the Miller method. Let us assume that 10 of the pumps and all the storage tanks are not within the battery limits. The total estimated F.O.B. price of the equipment in 1972 is then 1,105,000. The cost of it delivered, assuming a 5% freight charge (sales tax is not included), is... 

Miller claims that if the basic equipment estimate has an accuracy of 10%, the most likely plant estimate should have an accuracy of 14%. This is much better than the ratio or Lang estimates, and considerably more accurate than Nichols said was possible with this type of data. 12 He claimed that there is a direct correlation between the cost of an estimate and its probable accuracy. Ever since he stated this in 1951, cost engineers have been trying to prove him wrong. 

Gordon Still has estimated that over 2500 studies in the FDA s pediatric subgroups may need to be conducted over the next 3 years (Still 2000). This includes completion of pediatric studies on the FDA priority list of marketed products. Estimates of the annual cost to the industry of these studies vary. The FDA estimated in 1994 that 13.5 20.9 million/year would be spent by industry (Fed Reg 1998). At a press conference, Christopher Jennings, President Clinton s principal health care advisor, said that pediatric label studies would only be about 1% of the development cost of a drug. Dr Henry Miller... 

Dementia, one of the world s most common neuropathic disorders, is also the most common cause of cognitive decline, affecting more than 50% of the world s population over the age of 85 years (Miller 2000). Alzheimer s Disease International (ADI) estimates that there are currently 30 million people with dementia in the world and this figure will increase to over 100 million by the year 2050. With increasing life expectancy, the prevalence of dementia will increase dramatically in the next few years which may increase the cost of care of patients with dementia more than the care of cancer and vascular patients put together. 

Other intangible costs are also legitimate costs to incorporate into cost-benefit analysis. These could be psychological and emotional costs, such as the cost of pain, suffering and loss of quality of life resulting from victimisation (Cohen et al. 2004). Estimation of these costs can be also difficult. However, a number of methods, such as method based on jury award data (Cohen 1988 Cohen 2000 Miller et al. 1996) or willingness to pay (Cohen 2000), have been developed to place monetary estimation on those intangible costs. 

The other important aspect of the development of the succinic acid market is the chemical conversion of succinic acid to other products. Selective and low-cost catalyst development is needed to enable lower-cost economics. The chemistry of succinic acid catalysis has been reviewed by Varadarajan and Miller (1999), and the summary of the various derived products that follow is from that work. Succinic acid can be readily converted into alkyl esters that have uses as industrial solvents and paint removers. Succinic acid, its anhydride or its esters, can be hydrogenated to the product family of 1,4-butanediol however, this conversion has not been as well studied as the hydrogenation of maleic acid or anhydride. A third important product family that can be derived from ammonium succinate, succinimide, or succinic acid is based on 2-pyrroHdinones. They are used for polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) production, which has an estimated minimum market value of 150 million per year. Other uses for 2-pyrrolidinones include solvents and plasticizers. The commercial production depends upon petrochemical-based... 

The major economic issue in whether succinic acid can compete is the low starting cost of petrochemical raw materials. The target cost for succinic acid from a bioprocess is estimated to be around 0.25/lb for a large-scale plant (Zeikus et al. 1999 Varadarajan and Miller 1999). This target cost is necessary to compete with low-cost petrochemical raw materials. 

An estimated 2.8 million capacitors are in use in the USA. About 2000 of them rupture every year, causing spillage into the environment. As in the case of transformers, there are no tools to predict capacitor failure. Soil samples have to be tested for contamination, and the solid PCB-containing material must be shredded prior to incineration. The utility industry considers it to be cost-ineffective to recover the part/parts of the contaminated capacitors. Portable screening devices such as x-ray fluorescence meters for transformer oil, acoustical detectors to detect the ultrasonic sound from a faltering capacitor, and an infrared scanner to measure the temperature-rise of the faltering capacitor have been studied in the field (Miller, 1982). 

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