Published September 1980
For Process Economics Program reports, in the past, we have usually added a standard fixed percentage to the capital investment for control of water, air, and land pollution. In this study we have developed a convenient method to approximate the capital and operating costs for pollution control in specific chemical plants or complexes. We believe that this method will improve the accuracy of pollution control estimates in future PEP reports and at the same time provide a better understanding of the nature of these costs and how they might be minimized. Sufficient information is provided to enable PEP users to independently estimate or compare the pollution control costs of other plants or processes.
Sections 4A, 4B, and 4C briefly describe operations with present or potential application to the abatement of water, air, and land (solids) pollution. Their areas of utility are indicated and information is provided to enable one to roughly relate equipment size to pollutant stream flow rate. Previously published capital costs for these operations, where available, are also reported.
Section 5 details the procedures used in this study to derive module capital costs and operating requirements for the above pollution abatement operations. Module capital cost curves and tables of operating requirements, so obtained, are included. These cost data apply to a PEP Cost Index of 290 and a time base of January 1, 1979.
Section 6 illustrates the use of the above module cost curves and operation data to estimate the capital investment and operating costs of pollution control for a methanol plant, an ethylene plant, a wet process phosphoric acid plant, and a multiplant complex for making acrylonitrile, ethylene, propylene, hexamethylenediamine, and methanol. These estimates are compared with similar estimates derived independently elsewhere.
