Feedstock price

Olefin Feedstock Selection. The selection of feedstock and severity of the cracking process are economic choices, given that the specific plant has flexibiUty to accommodate alternative feedstocks. The feedstock prices are driven primarily by energy markets and secondarily by supply and demand conditions ia the olefins feedstock markets. The prices of iadividual feedstocks vary widely from time to time as shown ia Figure 2, which presents quarterly prices of the various feedstocks ia the United States from 1978 through 1991 ia dollars per metric ton (1000 kg) (4). 

Fig. 2. Quarterly olefin feedstock prices, 1978—1991, for (D) ethane (+) propane (<)) light naphtha, and (A) naphtha.

Simply looking at the feedstock prices or price ratios is iasufficient to accurately identify the most attractive feedstock because the values of all of the co-products and by-products must also be taken iato account. This is usually accompHshed by calculating the cost to produce ethylene with all other coproduct and by-product yields credited against the cost of ethylene. An example of the cost of ethylene is presented ia Table 4. The cash costs of ethylene from various feedstocks are compared for the months of July and November of 1991. Cash costs reflect all plant manufactufing costs except depreciation and are a measure of the out-of-pocket cash costs generated by the operation. 

This in itself draws attention to one of the artistic aspects of the industrial catalyst designer s job. Money values are neither absolute, invariant, nor always logically desirable entities. For example, resource producing nations can increase feedstock prices and they may do so for political rather than for hard, technological reasons. One very important consequence is the fact that a catalytic process that is economic in one year but not in the next is not as attractive as one that can adapt. 

Table 7.22. Assumptions for energy and feedstock prices, basis 2010 (GEMIS, 2005 JEC, 2007)...

Table 7.22 shows the assumption for energy and feedstock prices underlying the portfolio analysis in Fig. 7.9. In general, energy costs are highly time dependent. The analysis also needs to be seen in the context of complete energy systems and... 

Cost assessments of technologies and, even more, projections into the future inherently bear high uncertainties, with assumptions on feedstock prices having a major impact on economics (also closely related to efficiencies via the feedstock volumes). The economics presented here should, therefore, not be interpreted as... 

Section 14.4.2 (but excluding C02 prices for fossil fuels, unlike in the MOREHyS model) the dotted lines for the CCS cases indicate the additional costs for C02 transport and storage. Increases in feedstock prices could significantly increase hydrogen-production costs, owing to their high shares of total costs for some... 

The hydrogen production mix is very sensitive to the country-specific context and strongly influenced by the assumed feedstock prices resource availability and policy support also play a role, in particular for hydrogen from renewable and nuclear energy. 

The fossil hydrogen production option dominates during the first two decades while the infrastructure is being developed, and also in later periods if only economic criteria are applied initially on the basis of natural gas, later with increasing gas prices more and more on the basis of coal (where available). Carbon capture and storage will be critical for these pathways, if hydrogen is to contribute to an overall C02 reduction in the transport sector. The production mix between gas and coal is highly sensitive to the ratio of feedstock prices a switch occurs at a gas coal price ratio of about 2.5. 

The SSCHISM infrastructure model calculates the cost of the potential hydrogen pathway-supply options shown in Table 15.3 for 73 of the largest US urbanised areas and selects the cheapest supply pathway in each city at a specified market penetration. The cheapest pathway choice for any given city depends on the size of the city, level of demand, demand density, and local energy and feedstock prices. 

Hydrogen production costs depend, to a very large extent, on the assumed feedstock prices. The typical range until 2030 is between 8 and 12 ct/kWh ( 2.6- 4/kg). In the long term, until 2050, with an expected increase in feedstock prices (fossil fuels) and C02 prices, hydrogen production costs will increase as well. 

This significant difference in projected feedstock price is key to a large raw material economic advantage for butadiene oxycarbonylation technology. Recent softening of worldwide oil prices has resulted in 0.85 per gallon benzene and 0.26 per pound butadiene. Butadiene oxycarbonylation economics based on these feedstock prices are less attractive. It may be well into the year 2000 before decreased oil reserves make a synthesis gas route to adipic acid economically attractive. 

Table 6 Biodiesel feedstock pricing and impact on production cost (2004) ...

In order to enhance production flexibility and to take advantage of different feedstock pricing patterns, chemical plants in some productive segments or product lines are designed to use a variety of alternative process inputs to produce a variety of products. Although economically attractive in a narrow production sense, such... 

Between 1976 and 1996 the average price of polymer-grade ethylene was about 500 US per ton. As shown in Figure 8.2-5, top, the global price of ethylene varies greatly. During this period, a first maximum of about 750 US /t was observed in Western Europe in 1980. The ethylene feedstock prices increased to 900 US /t in 1991. A minimum of 300 US /t in 1976, followed by two further minima of 350 and 400 US /t in 1986 and 1994, were reported [2]. 

Figure 3. Effect of feedstock price on European ethylene production costs (1000 MM Ibs/yr ethylene production premium value by-products)...

Figure 6. Effect of feedstock price on U.S. ethylene production costs (1000 MM Ibs/yr ethylene production premium value by-products). Note by-proauct prices as given in Table V. However, for n-butane feed9 the butanes contained in the Ch by-product are valued the same as n-butane feed.

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