Question

A stover-to-ethanol plant produces 40,000 tonne/ year of ethanol and contains 8 functional units: feedstock handling, pretreatment, simultaneous saccharification/fermentation distillation, solid/ sirup separation, wastewater treatment, boilers, and turbogeneration/utilities (McAloon et al., 2000). Estimate the FCI of the plant using the empirical correlation based on the work of Bridgwater and Mumford (1979).

Answer 1

$88 Million

Step-by-step explanation:

Data provided in the question:

Amount of ethanol produced by stover-to-ethanol plant, F = 40,000 tonne/ year

Number of functional units, N = 8

Now,

For F < 60,000 tonne/ year

The FCI of the plant is given as

FCI = 458,000 × N ×
`\text F^(0.3)`

On substituting the respective values, we get

FCI = 458,000 × 8 ×
`\text 40,000^(0.3)`

or

FCI = 3,664,000 × 24.0225

or

FCI = $88018398.52 = $88 Million