EXECUTIVE REPORT 3

01366401 – CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PLANT DESIGN

DIMETHYL ETHER SYNTHESIS FROM CARBON DIOXIDE

SUBMITTED TO
ASST. PROF. DR. AMATA ANANTPINIJWATNA

GROUP 2E
NATPAPHANON JIRAYUTHANYAWAT 61011292
ON-NAPAK LOKITSANGTONG 61011302
RUANGLADDA LIMPONGSAWAT 61011327
SIRADA AMPORNSITTIKUL 61011332
THANYAPORN SAE-TONG 61011347

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 23rd MARCH 2022

KING MONGKUT’S INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY LADKRABANG

SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL & INTERDISCIPLINARY ENGINEERING PROGRAMS
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
 G2E

1. Capital Investment
The total capital investment was calculated using the total cost of the main process equipment
installed at the plant. The total capital investment was calculated using the percentage of delivered
equipment cost technique for a fluid processing plant. Direct costs are associated with actual items or
goods, such as process equipment. Whereas Indirect costs are intangible costs that will not be recovered
at the conclusion of the plant's construction.
Table 1 Total Capital Investment
Expenses Price ($)
Purchase equipment cost 9,007,321.55
Sum of direct cost 31,165,332.56
Sum of indirect cost 12,340,030.52
Fixed-capital investment 43,505,363.09
Working capital investment 7,746,296.53
Total capital investment 51,251,659.62

2. Bare Module & Utility Costings

Cost for Equipment Type Utility Costs

Distillation Columns

Pressure Vessels
Electricity
Heat Exchangers Cooling water

Condensors & Brine

Reboilers Steam
Multicompressor
Natural gas
Storage Tank

(a) (b)
Figure 1 Bare Module Costing (a) and Utility Costing (b)

Left figure (a) showed the percentage of the overall cost of equipment for each equipment type where
the total cost of the equipment is $9,007,321.55. Overall, compressor is the most expensive (74%) due to
3 stages, while distillation columns are the cheapest (2%). This is also similar to the result of the utility cost
for each equipment as compressor consumed the most utility, but reactors contributed the least (not
shown). The right figure (b) showed the total utility usage based on different types where the total cost is
$1,927,648. Electricity consumption is the highest (64%) where cooling water contributed to only 3%.

1
 G2E

3. Operating Cost and Total Production Cost

The operating cost is the total cost needed to produce the product. It’s calculated by finding the
manufacturing cost, which is the sum between direct production cost (raw materials, catalyst, labour, utility,
etc), and fixed charges (taxes, plant overheads, insurance, etc). It is then added with general expense
(administrative cost, research and development, distribution, etc) to find the total production cost of the
plant.

Table 2 Total operating cost

Expenses Cost ($)
Direct Production Cost 3,184,795.64
Fixed Charges 5,682,975.06
Sum of Manufacturing Cost 8,867,770.70
Sum of General Expenses 3,275,278.60
Total Production Cost $12,143,049.30

4. Economic Analysis
The revenue from selling DME where the unit cost is based on the market price of diesel. Assume
market price of DME at 10% lower than diesel price because it has lower calorific value, therefore the
market price of DME is $4.57/gal.
Table 3 Revenue
Production Capacity
Product Unit cost ($/gal) Revenue ($/year)
US tons/year gal/year
Dimethyl-ether 10,800 3,842,828.04 4.57 17,569,409.80

Economic analysis is done to determine the project feasibility by looking at NPV, IRR, and payback
period. The discounted rate is set at 8% based on analysis of a similar DME plant based in the US made in
2020. The NPV is a positive value and the IRR calculated is higher than the discounted rate and also inflation,
therefore the project is deemed feasible. However, the payback period is long, at 18 years and 4 months
and 2.0 million gallons needs to be sold to breakeven due to the high fixed cost from the compressor
resulting in a low NPV. Even though profit is made, optimization is required to make the project feasible.

Table 4 Economic analysis results

Specify Calculated
Method
Item Value Item Value Item Value
Net Present Value (NPV) i 8% n 20 NPV $2,025,148
Internal Rate of Return (IRR) n 20 NPV 0 i 8.533 %
Pay Back Period (np) i 8 % NPV $2,025,148 n 18 years 4 months
2
 G2E

20
Revenue

15 Total cost
Cost (106 $/year)

10

Qbe
5

0
0 1 2 3 4
Production Capacity (106 gal/year)
Figure 2 Fixed cost analysis
5. Heat Integration and Optimization
The distillation columns need to be optimized as the utility used in this process is brine costs higher
price compared to other utility that used to cool down in the condensers and sizing distillation columns
that can be adjusted based on its feasible designing method. For example, adjusting operating temperature
and pressure closer to the feed stage temperature and pinch analysis to reduce brine consumption. Natural
gas consumption can be saved by recycling vapor streams from T1 and T2 to use as fuel for complete
combustion in furnace to heat feed stream. Heating values were used to calculate the amount of heat
released from combustion of components in the vapor streams and cost of utility saved as shown in the
Table 5 below. The payback period decreased to 17 years and 3 months from this.

Table 5 Cost of natural gas saved

Heat integration Mass flowrate (kg/hr) Cost of natural gas ($/hr) Cost of natural gas ($/yr)
Before 106.31 18.07 158,316.85
After 16.43 2.79 24,472.02
Natural gas saved 89.88 15.28 133,844.83

In conclusion, our process was analysed, and the results showed the small profitability and a 17-
year payback period on a 20-year operation schedule. Therefore, further heat integration and optimization
should be done to make the project feasible and suitable for investing.