Total plant cost

It can be assumed that P,Jp, and for the cascade have been specified, and that the cost of feed and the cost per unit of separative work, the product of separative capacity and time, are known. The basic assumption is that the unit cost of separative work remains essentially constant for small changes ia the total plant size. The cost of the operation can then be expressed as the sum of the feed cost and cost of separative work ... 

Single-factor methods collect the various items of expenditure into one factor, which is usually used to multiply the total cost of delivered equipment X (Ce( )del lo give the fixed-capital cost for plant within the battery limits ... 

Pricing as a factor of total plant installed cost... 

Table 9-63 uses the data of Fig. 9-44 to compare the relative fixed-capital costs for plant constnic tion in other countries with those for the United States. The relative cost ratios were developed from data similar to those in Table 9-62. Labor ratios were corrected for the different local rates and hours per working week, job duration, and degree of mechanization available in other countries. Some of these factors are difficult to estimate, and the final total ratios give a reasonable order-of-magnitiide value for relative construction costs for equivalent plants in the countries indicated.

As a general rule, the optimum number of effects increases with an increase in steam cost or plant size. Larger plants favor more effects, partly because they make it easier to install heat-recovery systems that increase the steam economy attainable with a given number of effects. Such recoveiy systems usually do not increase the total surface needed but do require that the heating surface be distributed between a greater number of pieces of equipment. 

Regardless of the estimating method, a process contingency should be added to the total plant cost for feasibility studies. As discussed earlier, this contingency depends on the status of the project. For most factored estimates, on a first of a kind process that is fairly well defined, the process contingency should be 30%. 

Electric power systems can be thought of as being comprised of three important sectors generation, transmission, and distribution. For most utilities, generation capital equipment costs account for approximately 50 percent of total plant in costs. Generation also accounts for close to 75 percent of total operation and maintenance expense. 

For routine monitoring of machine vibration, however, this approach is not cost effective. The time required to manually isolate each of the frequency components and transient events contained in the waveform is prohibitive. However, time-domain data has a definite use in a total plant predictive maintenance or reliability improvement program. 

The chapters on establishing and maintaining a total plant predictive maintenance program will provide the practical knowledge required implementing a cost-effective vibration-based program that will provide maximum benefits. 

Catalysts accelerate reactions by orders of magnitude, enabling them to be carried out under the most favorable thermodynamic regime, and at much lower temperatures and pressures. In this way efficient catalysts, in combination with optimized reactor and total plant design, are the key factor in reducing both the investment and operation costs of a chemical processes. But that is not all. 

The exponential factors usually given for total plants should be used for grass-root plants, and not for new units constructed at a developed site or expansions to existing plants. Grass-roots plants are those built in a location that has not been previously developed. They cost more than plants built in an area where the company has other plants. When other plants are nearby, access roads, railroad sidings, sewers, and water lines may only need to be extended a short distance. Dock and steam generation facilities may be available, and office, lunchroom, medical, and change-room space may already be adequate. 

According to the developer, a 5 ton per hour mobile plant could be designed and built for about 2.35 million (Canadian), plus or minus 25% (D17555X, p. 1 D17557Z, p. 1). In 1998, the vendor stated that operating costs for a 5 ton-per-hour plant would be from 30 to 35 (Canadian) per metric ton, excluding excavation and secondary stream costs. Total costs were estimated to be 140 (Canadian) per metric ton (personal communication, Abdul Majid, National Research Council of Canada, 1998). 

In a chemical plant the capital investment in process piping is in the range of 25-40% of the total plant investment, and the power consumption for pumping, which depends on the line size, is a substantial fraction of the total cost of utilities. Accordingly, economic optimization of pipe size is a necessary aspect of plant design. As the diameter of a line increases, its cost goes up but is accompanied by decreases in consumption of utilities and costs of pumps and drivers because of reduced friction. Somewhere there is an optimum balance between operating cost and annual capital cost. 

Current Processes. The development of superactive third-generation supported catalysts enabled the introduction of simplified processes, without sections for catalyst deactivation or removal of atactic polymer. By eliminating the waste streams associated with the neutralization of catalyst residues and purification of the recycled diluent and alcohol, these processes minimize any potential environmental impact. Investment costs arc reduced by approximately one-third over slurry process plants. Energy consumption is minimized by elimination of the distillation of recycled diluent and alcohol. The total plant cost for the production of polymer is less than 130% of the monomer price, when a modem process is used, compared to 175% for a slurry process. 

Site services and infrastructure have a strong impact on total production costs and plant effectiveness, and in times of increased changes of ownership of chemical assets their organizational flexibility is becoming more and more relevant. 

Plant type Capital cost ( /kW) Separation unit Capital cost (% total)... 

For a plant in Brazil it is important to verify that the amount to be paid in foreign currency is about 30% of process equipment and engineering, plus licensing costs. Total imports will represent about 13% to 15% of the total investment costs. 

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