Investment and fuel cost

The results presented In Table III show that as the capital Investment in the tower (Ztower) increases at larger tower heights, the available-energy destruction decreases. Thus the optimal design reflects the classical trade-off between capital investment and fuel cost. It is important to note that heat exchanger design plays a major role in separation systems (16). 

The economics of the fluid catalyst process represent a considerable improvement over the conventional fixed-bed process. This is attributed to reduced investment and operating costs in addition to the improved yield picture. The investment cost now visualized is very nearly the same as that for the thermal reforming plus catalytic polymerization combination mentioned previously. Consequently, the pay-out times are now shorter than for that process in high or low fuel cost areas. 

Different production methods each have different associated investment and marginal costs. The energy and feedstock could originate from a multitude of sources, that is, natural gas, nuclear, solar, wind, biomass, coal, other fossil fuels, and geothermal (Table 18.2). Clearly, the distance from these "resources" can affect the economics. 

The steam electrolysis at high temperature (600-800°C) features a potential efficiency of -100% LHV with extra heat available. Its technology benefits from current developments made of solid oxide fuel cells. However, many uncertainties and issues remain to achieve a commercial viability. Prominent issues include improving the reliability and the lifetime of electrolytic cells and stack of cells and decreasing the investment and operating costs with a view to decreasing the currently estimated production cost from 4 to about EUR 2/kg H2 [from 5.2 to about USD 2.6/kg H2],... 

Example 5.1 Cost of power generation A turbine produces 30 MW of electricity per year. The average cost of the steam is US 0.017/(kW h) of exergy (fuel). The total cost of the unit (fixed capital investment and operating costs) is US 1.1 X 105. If the turbine exergetic efficiency increases from 84% to 89%, after an increase of 2% in the total cost of the unit, evaluate the change of the unit cost of electricity. 

Conversion of wood to fuels, chemicals, and energy in the form of steam or electrical power is the subject of the second section. Chapter 3 deals with large wood conversion systems and presents a very comprehensive economic analysis of the different systems. Chapter 4 discusses the production of fuel gas from wood. A listing of process developers is provided, along with estimates of investment and operating costs. 

The material losses of alternate RDF processing plants depend mainly on the sophistication and plant. This should depend upon economics if it is economically justified to recover more combustibles, it should be done. There is a limit to the investment and operating costs which can be justified to recover the last Calorie. The same applies to recovering aluminum and glass. At this date fuel energy is the valuable product ferrous metals have low economic value, aluminum recovery... 

While these figures would seem to indicate a comfortable advantage for the chemical unit, there are offsetting factors. Investment and operating cost factors favor the fuels unit. That these factors combine to render the chemical unit marginal in the U. S. economy is borne out by the fact that no crude based all-chemical petrochemical refinery has yet been constructed in the United States. 

In relation to the previous section that introduced the basic classification of power burners, let us now focus on fuels combusted in these burners. Selection of a proper fuel is based on specific needs of a given technology, legislative restrictions, current as well as future availability of the fuel, and economic assessment of investment and operating costs. Selection also reflects apprehension about payments for greenhouse gases emissions, especially carbon dioxide [15]. 

Companies benefiting from a diversified portfolio of generating stations can, during low price periods, rely on portfolio bidding , that is, occasionally bid at prices below the generation cost (investment and fuel) of their capital-intensive equipment. For instance, if one company adds... 

Most important industrial applications of RD are in the field of esterification processes such as the famous Eastman Chemical Co. s process for the synthesis of methyl acetate [1]. This process combines reactive and non-reactive sections in a single hybrid RD column and thereby replaces a complex conventional flowsheet with 11 process units. With this RD technology investment and energy costs were reduced by factor five [2]. Another success story of RD was started in the 1980s by using this technology for the preparation of the ethers MTBE, TAME, and ETBE, which are produced in large amounts as fuel components because of their excellent antiknock properties [3]. 

For the production of fuel-grade ethanol, the ethanol has to be dried . Anhydrous ethanol cannot be produced by simple distillation because ethanol forms an azeotropic mixture with water. The maximum ethanol content achievable by distillation is approximately 97.2vol.%, which is usually not sufficient for the application as fuel-ethanol. The residual water can be removed either by azeotropic distillation by the addition of, e.g., cyclohexane or by the application of molecular sieves. Today, state-of-the-art plants operate with molecular sieves which provide considerable advantages in terms of investment and operating costs. 

The financial analysis program can estimate fuel or power sale prices for a range of values of plant investment and operating cost. Comparisons can also be made of the effects on profitability of improvements or deficiencies in performance or cost, which might result from changes in interest rates, capital investments, or from further R D... 

The following sections illustrate the total revenue requirement method (TRR method) which is based on procedures adopted by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI 1993). This method calculates all the costs associated with a project, including a minimum required return on investment. Based on the estimated total capital investment and assumptions for economic, financial, operating, and market input parameters, the total revenue requirement is calculated on a year-by-year basis. Finally, the nonuniform annual monetary values associated with the investment, operating (excluding fuel), maintenance, and fuel costs of the system being analyzed are levelized that is, they are converted to an equivalent series of constant payments (annuities). 

---