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Feasibility Study

The document discusses the key considerations and steps involved in conducting a feasibility study for a proposed chemical manufacturing process. It outlines that a feasibility study involves both a technical evaluation and an economic evaluation to determine if the detailed design stage should proceed. The technical evaluation covers assessing alternative processes, equipment needs, site selection, environmental impacts, and determining if the process can be designed and built. The economic evaluation includes a market survey, analyzing costs and selling prices of materials, identifying market size and trends, and estimating capital costs and payback period. The goal is to evaluate feasibility before committing to the expensive detailed design stage.

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Najihah Ramli
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448 views10 pages

Feasibility Study

The document discusses the key considerations and steps involved in conducting a feasibility study for a proposed chemical manufacturing process. It outlines that a feasibility study involves both a technical evaluation and an economic evaluation to determine if the detailed design stage should proceed. The technical evaluation covers assessing alternative processes, equipment needs, site selection, environmental impacts, and determining if the process can be designed and built. The economic evaluation includes a market survey, analyzing costs and selling prices of materials, identifying market size and trends, and estimating capital costs and payback period. The goal is to evaluate feasibility before committing to the expensive detailed design stage.

Uploaded by

Najihah Ramli
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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FEASIBILITIES STUDIES OF A CHEMICAL MANUFAC TURING PROCESS

Feasibility study:
1. Technical evaluation
2. Economic evaluation
Feasibility study of a project is performed to determine whether the
detailed design stages should be undertaken.
Many aspects that need to be considered, such as:
Legal implications
Political influences
Etc
These should be considered before the expensive detailed design stage
commences

1. Technical evaluation
Alternative processes
Equipments need in each case
Site selection and plant layout
Environmental consideration
etc
It is necessary to identify any items of equipment that pose particular or
unusual design problems, or which are very expensive or hazardous.
The feasibility study should determine whether it is possible to design and
build a chemical plant for a particular manufacturing process.
Any external factors, such as:
o Discharge levels
o Stability of raw materials supply
o Etc
that may influence the operation of the plant should be noted.

Process Selection
Process selection considerations:
- Flow diagram PFD and P&ID

- The Reactor, the heart of chemical process


- Product purity
- Process conditions, high or low pressure; gas-liquid phases, etc

- Process data
- Energy efficiency

Site Selection and Plant Layout

Some important factors for Site selection:


- Designation as a heavy industrial development area
- Prior existence of similar chemical plants and location of other industrial

center
- Existing infrastructure; road, electricity, gas, water, etc.
- Appropriate terrain, sub-surface, drainage, etc
- Suitable access for transportation of raw materials and chemicals, and for

the construction of a chemical plant


- Proximity of major transportation networks; roads, railways, airports,
waterways, and ports.

Site Selection and Plant Layout (Contd)

- Availability of local workforce and distance from local communities


- Availability of domestic water and plant cooling water
- Environmental discharge regulations

- Proximity to both the raw materials supply and the market for the product
chemical
- Existence of services equipped to deal with a major industrial accident
- Climatic conditions; humidity, maximum wind velocity and its prominent

direction, rainfall, etc.


- Proposed or possible government restrictions regarding industrial
development or discharge emissions

Site Selection and Plant Layout (Contd)

- Space for expansion


- Price of land
- Public opinion

- Possibility of earthquakes, subsidence, avalanches, etc.


- Availability of government regional development grants or tax incentives,
subsidies, etc

Plant Layout Strategies

1.

Flow-through layout, plant items are arranged (sequentially)in the order


in which they appear on the process flowsheet.
- Minimize the process pipe runs and pressure drops

- Often adopted for small plant


2.

Groupings of similar plant items, e.g. distillation columns, separation


stages, reactors, heat exchanger, etc.
- Easier operation and maintenance, lower labour costs, minimizing

utility transfer lines and reducing energy required for transfer


materials.
- Often used for larger plants

Environmental Considerations

Environmental Impact Assessment:


1.

The treatment of unwanted chemicals (by-products), and the


concentration of liquid discharges and gas emissions during normal

operation/start-up/shut-down
2.

The handling of major chemical accident or spill, including all chemicals


within the plant and any subsequent reaction products, their
containment and cleanup.

2. Economic Evaluation
Market Survey
a. Economic analysis:
Determine the cost of all raw materials used in the process.
Determine the current selling price for the proposed chemical.
Determine whether the combined purchase costs of raw materials is
more than the selling price of the product.
b. Identify the market for the chemical:
Location and size
Local or export
Analyze the sales and production trends over the last five years
c. Identify the main (traditional) uses/application for the product:
Markets can dissappear quite quickly
Survey any new uses or applications for the product
d. Establish the production capacity for the proposed plant:
Preliminary calculation can be performed

e. Obtain the capital cost data for an existing similar plant


f. Estimate the number of year of possible plant operation:
Determine the pay-back period for the plant capital cost.

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