Pilot plants cost estimating

Table 4. Pilot-Plant Cost Estimating Techniques...

Estimating a pilot plant or a microunit s construction cost can be done in several different ways as summarized in Table 9. Pilot-plant cost estimating differs from that for full-size plants because little pilot-plant cost information has been published, the personnel... 

Table 9 Pilot plant cost estimating methods...

Pilot plant costs range from 10,000 to 10,000,000, but the majority are typically in the range of 50,000 to 250,000, assuming an existing facihty is available to house them. There are three basic methods for estimating the costs to design and constmct a pilot plant similarity, cost ratios, and detailed labor and materials. 

In the laboratory or process research section a laboratory procedure for a fine chemical is worked out. The resulting process description provides the necessary data for the determination of preliminary product specifications, the manufacture of semicommercial quantities in the pilot plant, the assessment of the ecological impact, an estimation of the manufacturing cost in an industrial-scale plant, and the vaHdation of the process and determination of raw material specifications. 

Nippon Zeon estimated that the break-even cost of its tire pyrolysis pilot plant was 0.25 per tire (29,30). One study indicates that pyrolysis of tires and other polymers should be considered as a means for disposing of scrap within environmental constraints. A plant processing 81,000 t/yr of scrap could be profitable, based on sales of reclaimed products (31). 

As for costs, ECVM estimates that considering all costs the total gate fee must be around 200 per toime to break even for a 25,000 tpa plant. For pretreatment like grinding another 125 per toime might be needed. However, it is clear that reliable estimates can only be given after experience with the pilot plant has been evaluated. 

After a product has passed the critical tests as an insecticide and a preferred process of manufacture has been decided upon, full information concerning use, potential raw materials, and process is the basis for the preparation of firm cost estimates. These estimates may cover production on a small or pilot plant scale, or on a large scale. If estimates are favorable, the process information is passed along to the manufacturing unit which, as a... 

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is produced by a batch process. Since it is usually cheaper to produce chemicals if a flow process is used, the development department proposes a new process and has a process engineer assigned to design it and estimate its cost. If it is only slightly less expensive than the batch process, the new method will be dropped. If it appears that substantial savings can be realized by using the continuous process, further research and pilot-plant studies will be. insfituted to make certain it will work before the board of directors is asked to authorize the construction of the plant. 

The EDS II test program includes testing and design studies needed for a preliminary design of a full-scale pilot plant, a preliminary hazard analysis, development of a full-scale cost estimate, and a schedule for construction and operation of a facility employing the AEA technology. 

Based on data obtained during testing for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 1992, cost estimates were prepared. These estimates used a 2-gallon-per-minute (gpm) pilot plant as a baseline case, and projected the costs of a full-scale 300-gpm facility. It was estimated that the installed costs would be (US)275,000 for the 2-gpm system, and 4 million for the 300-gpm system. Annual operating costs were estimated to be 368,000 and 4 million for the 2-gpm, and 300-gpm systems, respectively. Annual secondary waste disposal costs were estimated to be 50,000 (2-gpm plant) and 8 million (300-gpm plant) (D152136, p. x). 

Table 1 details the vendor-estimated cost of operations at the BATS pilot plant in New Brighton,... 

In a previous paper ( 8), we presented results of hydro-treating SRC-II process product at several severities, and preliminary cost estimates were given. In the present chapter, previous results are summarized and results of further downstream processing pilot plant studies are presented, together with process engineering studies and updated cost estimates. More details of this study are given in a DOE report. (9)... 

The estimated PHA production cost for the two-step process is between 2.20 and 4.40/kg (27). The potential of this process has caught the attention of I-PHA BioPolymers, a Hong Kong-based company involved in environmental biotechnology development, which recently licensed the technology from the University of Hawaii. I-PHA BioPolymers plans to develop and build a pilot plant for the production of PHAs and fertilizers (28). 

Under the direction of Carter Oil, the construction of the 250 T/D pilot plant is proceeding on schedule. Figure 2 shows an artist s conception of the completed plant which details the relative position of the administration building, the coal preparation facilities, the process area and the product tankage areas. The cost outlook for the completed plant is 101 M compared to the initial estimate of 110 M. ... 

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