Page 32 - Plant design and economics for chemical engineers

PROCESS DESIGN DEVELOPMENT 15

shows what additional information is necessary to make a complete evaluation.
Following is a list of items that should be considered in making a feasibility
survey:

1. Raw materials (availability, quantity, quality, cost)
2. Thermodynamics and kinetics of chemical reactions involved (equilibrium,
yields, rates, optimum conditions)
3. Facilities and equipment available at present
4. Facilities and equipment which must be purchased
5. Estimation of production costs and total investment
6. Profits (probable and optimum, per pound of product and per year, return
on investment)
7. Materials of construction
8. Safety considerations
9. Markets (present and future supply and demand, present uses, new uses,
present buying habits, price range for products and by-products, character,
location, and number of possible customers)
10. Competition (overall production statistics, comparison of various manufac-
turing processes, product specifications of competitors)
11. Properties of products (chemical and physical properties, specifications,
impurities, effects of storage)
12. Sales and sales service (method of selling and distributing, advertising
required, technical services required)
13. Shipping restrictions and containers
14. Plant location
15. Patent situation and legal restrictions

When detailed data on the process and firm product specifications are
available, a complete market analysis combined with a consideration of all sales
factors should be made. This analysis can be based on a breakdown of items 9
through 15 as indicated in the preceding list.

Process Development
In many cases, the preliminary feasibility survey indicates that additional re-
search, laboratory, or pilot-plant data are necessary, and a program to obtain
this information may be initiated. Process development ,on,a pilot-plant or .
semiworks scale is usually desirable in order to -obtain accurate design data.-