PNNL

Abstract

Conversion of distributed feedstocks (e.g., associated natural gas, biomass, and carbonaceous wastes) could provide about a small fraction (~6%) of the liquid fuels now used for transportation in the U.S. or nearly half of the chemical products now made from petroleum. However, those resources tend to be available at small local rates in geographically distributed sites, and they are difficult or expensive to transport to a distant processing center. Modular, and likely intensified processes that can be numbered up, promise to enable utilizing such distributed resources. Very early stage economics evaluation of new processes requires cost estimates for the components, which are likely smaller than can be accommodated by the 0.6 power law typically used in chemical engineering, we present a functional form for a correlation that represents the capital costs of the components of even very small modular facilities.