Capital and Operating Costs of Selected Air Pollution Control Systems—V

Several methods are available for estimating the capital costs of systems and each has its own degree of accuracy. These methods range from presenting overall installed costs on a per unit basis, to detailed cost estimates based on preliminary designs, schematics, and contractor quotes. The least accurate method is the equating of overall capital costs to a basic operating parameter such as tons per hour or cfm since this method only produces accuracies in the "order of magnitude" category, at best. The detailed cost estimate, in turn, can produce accuracies of ±5 % depending on the amount of preliminary engineering involved. These estimates, however, take many months of engineering effort and require process and engineering flow sheets, material and energy balances, plot plans, and equipment arrangement drawings before a cost estimate can be developed. For first-cut estimating purposes, the technique described in this article for developing capital costs for a specific pollution control system is based o...