Economic Assessment and Possible Industrial Application of a (Photo)catalytic Process: A Case Study

Abstract Works studying the economic aspects of the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are very scarce. This work tries to offer a structured methodology for the evaluation of the costs of AOPs used at laboratory and pilot plant scale. The methodology is applied to photo-Fenton experiments as a case study; however, it can be applied to any AOP, included heterogeneous photocatalysis. The methodology includes cost of devices, analysis instruments, reagents, electricity, maintenance, labor, etc. Results show that costs related to AOP experiments can be high, as analytical equipment and experimental devices have an important weight in the total cost; therefore it is important that facilities allow different types of experiments. A very careful planning of the type, number, and duration of experiments and samples to analyze should reduce time of use of the experimental installations and the corresponding costs. Labor shows the highest percentage of total costs, which also implies a good planning to reduce time. A detailed analysis of costs per published paper is presented.