Recent questions in Plant Design and Economics

Which of the following methods for calculating profitability does/do NOT consider the time value of money?rate of return on investmentdiscounted cash flow rate of returnp...

In a certain project, $15 \%$ of the total investment is the working capital. The minimum acceptable rate of return is $4.95 \%$ and the period of evaluation is $15$ year...

​​​The capital cost $\text{(C C)}$ of an industrial equipment varies with its capacity $(S)$ as $\text{C C} \propto S^{\beta}$. The rule-of-thumb value of the exponent $\...

It is proposed to install thermal insulation in a residence to save on the summer-monsoon season air-conditioning costs. The estimated yearly saving is $20$ thousand rupe...

The capital cost of a distillation column is Rs. $90$ lakhs. The cost is to be fully depreciated (salvage value is zero) using the double-declining balance method over $1...

​​​​​For purchasing a batch reactor, three alternatives $\mathrm{P}, \mathrm{Q}$ and $\mathrm{R}$ have emerged, as summarized in the table. For a compound interest rate o...

A design engineer needs to purchase a membrane module $(\mathrm{M})$ for a plant. Details about the two available options, $\text{M1}$ and $\text{M2,}$ are given in the t...

The purchase cost of a new distillation column is $\text{Rs. 10 lakhs}$ with an installation factor of $5.8.$ The cost of the capital is to be annualized over a period of...

Pumps $A$ and $B$ are being considered for purchase in a chemical plant. Cost details for these two pumps are given in the table below. The interest rate is $10 \%$ per a...

A compressor with a lite of $10$ years costs Rs $10$ lakhs. Its yearly operating cost is Rs $0.5$ lakh. If the annual compound interest rate is $8\%$, the amount needed a...

Information for a proposed greenfield project is provided in the table. The discounted cash flow for the fourth year is Rs ___________________ crores (rounded off to one ...

Turnover ratio is defined as$\dfrac{\text{Fixed capital investment}}{\text{Gross annual sales}} \\$$\dfrac{\text{Gross annual sales}}{\text{Fixed capital investment}} \\$...

A company invests in a recovery unit to separate valuable metals from effluent streams. The total initial capital investment of this unit is Rs. $10$ lakhs. The recovered...

Operating labor requirements $L$ in the chemical process industry is described in terms of the plant capacity $C ( \text{kg day}^{-1})$ over a wide range $(10^3-10^6)$ by...

A viscous liquid is pumped through a pipe network in a chemical plant. The annual pumping cost per unit length of pipe is given by $$C_{\text{pump}} = \dfrac{48.13\: q^2 ...

Annual capacity of a plant producing phenol is $100$ metric tons. Phenol sells at INR $200$ per kg, and its production cost is INR $50$ per kg. The sum of annual fixed ch...

Consider two competing equipment $A$ and $B$. For a compound interest rate of $10\%$ per annum, in order for equipment $B$ to be the economically cheaper option, its mini...

A taxi-car is bought for $Rs\: 10$ lakhs. Its salvage value is zero. The expected yearly income after paying all expenses and applicable taxes is $Rs$ $3$ lakhs. The comp...

The cost of a new pump (including installation) is $24,000$ Rupees. The pump has a useful life of $10$ years. Its salvage value is $4000$ Rupees. Assuming straight line d...

Two design options for a distillation system are being compared based on the total annual cost. Information available is as follows:$$\begin{array}{clcIcIcI|cI|c}\hline&...

Terms used in engineering economics have standard definitions and interpretations. Which one of the following statements is $INCORRECT$?The profitability measure 'return ...

A vertical cylindrical tank with a flat roof and bottom is to be constructed for storing $150\:m^{3}$ of ethylene glycol. The cost of material and fabrication for the tan...

The cost of two independent process variables $f_{1}$ and $f_{2}$ affects the total cost $C_{T}$ (in lakhs of rupees) of the process as per the following function :$$C_{T...

A proposed chemical plant is estimated to have a fixed capital $(FC)$ of $Rs$. $24$ crores. Assuming other costs to be small, the total investment may be taken to be same...

A polymer plant with a production capacity of $10,000$ tons per year has an overall yield of $70\%$, on mass basis ($kg$ of product per $kg$ of raw material), The raw mat...

A cash flow of Rs. $12,000$ per year is received at the end year (uniform periodic payment) for $7$ consecutive years. The rate of interest is $9\%$ per year compounded a...

A plant manufactures compressors at the rate of N units/day. The daily fixed charges are Rs. 20000 and the variable cost per compressor is Rs. 500 + 0.2 N$^{1.3}$. The se...

The purchase cost of a heat exchanger of 20 m$^{2}$ area was Rs 500000 in 2006. What will be the estimated cost (in Rs to the nearest integer) of a similar heat exchanger...

Heat integration is planned in a process plant at an investment Rs. 2x10$^{6}$. This would result in a net energy savings of 20 GJ per year. If the nominal rate of intere...

A batch reactor 1x10$^{5}$ kg of a product per year. The total batch time (in hours) of the reactor is k$\sqrt{P}{_B}$, where ${P}{_B}$is the product per batch in kg and ...

In the year $2005$, the cost of a shell and tube heat exchanger with $68\:m^{2}$ heat transfer area was $Rs.\:12.6$ Lakh. Chemical Engineering Index for cost in $2005$ wa...

A furnace installed at a cost of $Rs.\:24$ Lakh is expected to serve its useful life of $5$ years. Salvage value of the furnace is $Rs.\:8$ Lakh. The interest rate compou...