Page 242 - Plant design and economics for chemical engineers

COST ESTIMATION 213

surface of the tank is to be covered with 2 in. thickness of magnesia block, estimate
the present total cost for the installed and insulated tank. The Jan. 1, 1980 cost for
the 2-in. magnesia block was $2.20 per ft’ while the labor for installing the insulation
was $5.00 per ft*.
6. A one-story warehouse 120 by 60 ft is to be added to an existing plant. An
asphalt-pavement service area 60 by 30 ft will be added adjacent to the warehouse. It
will also be necessary to put in 500 lin ft of railroad siding to service the warehouse.
Utility service lines are already available at the warehouse site. The proposed
warehouse has a concrete floor and steel frame, walls, and roof. No heat is necessary,
but lighting and sprinklers must be installed. Estimate the total cost of the proposed
addition. Consult App. B for necessary cost data.
7. The purchased cost of equipment for a solid-processing plant is $500,000. The plant
is to be constructed as an addition to an existing plant. Estimate the total capital
investment and the tied-capital investment for the plant. What percentage and
amount of the fixed-capital investment is due to wst for land and contractor’s fee?
8. The purchased-equipment cost for a plant which produces pentaerythritol (solid-
fuel-processing plant) is $300,000. The plant is to be an addition to an existing
formaldehyde plant. The major part of the building cost will be for indoor construc-
tion, and the contractor’s fee will be 7 percent of the direct plant cost. All other costs
are close to the average values found for typical chemical plants. On the basis of this
information, estimate the following:
(a) The total direct plant cost.
(b) The fixed-capital investment.
(c) The total capital investment.
9. Estimate by the turnover-ratio method the fixed-capital investment required for a
proposed sulfuric acid plant (battery limit) which has a capacity of 140,000 tons of
100 percent sulfuric acid per year (contact-catalytic process) using the data from
Table 19 for 1990 with sulfuric acid cost at $72 per ton. The plant may be considered
as operating full time. Repeat using the cost-capacity-exponent method with data
from Table 19.
10. The total capital investment for a chemical plant is $1 million, and the working
capital is $100,000. If the plant can produce an average of 8000 kg of final product
per day during a 365-day year, what selling price in dollars per kilogram of product
would be necessary to give a turnover ratio of l.O?
11. A process plant was constructed in the Philadelphia area (Middle Atlantic) at a labor
cost of $200,000 in 1980. What would the average costs for the same plant to be in
the Miami, Florida area (South Atlantic) if it were constructed in late 1988? Assume,
for simplicity, that the relative labor rate and relative productivity factor remain
essentially constant.
12. A company has been selling a soap containing 30 percent by weight water at a price
of $10 per 100 lb f.o.b. (i.e., freight on board, which means the 1aundIy pays the
freight charges). The company offers an equally effective soap containing only
5 percent water. The water content is of no importance to the laundry, and it is
willing to accept the soap containing 5 percent water if the delivered costs are
equivalent. If the freight rate is 70 cents per 100 lb, how much should the company
charge the laundry per 100 lb f.o.b. for the soap containing 5 percent water?
13. The total capital investment for a conventional chemical plant is $1,500,000, and the
plant produces 3 million kg of product annually. The selling price of the product is