Professional Documents
Culture Documents
~
E. S. SDKULLU, Sun Dil Co. chased cost of major process equipment; their results '-..
are:
Basica11y, there are two types of piping-cost esti- Process Material, % Labor, % Pipi~g Total, %
mates: Solids 8 6 lit
Solids-fluids 21 15 35\
1. Itemized. These. are detailed estimates made
Fluids 49 37 85\
on the basis of finaland complete design; they re-
quire piping drawings where the exact amount and Chilton5, similarly, gives the fo11o~ng pipirg'costs
as a percentage of insta11ed process equipment cost:
specifications of piping can be found. Material and
labor costs, as we11 as cost of auxiliaries,can thus Solids-fluids 10 to 30%
be estimated in detail. These details are vital to a Solids
Fluids 7 to 60%
30 10% \
contractor, but their estimation is genera11y impracti- Haselbarth and Berk6 distinguish between \sma11
cal,at' the process engineering stage. and large insta11ations by indicating the fo11oring
2. Quick and Approximate. These estimates, which insta11ed piping costs as a percentage of total plant
do not rely on the nuts-and-bolts details of a process, cost: \
are needed to guide the development of a conceptual Range, % Average, \%
system where such details do not yet existo They must &~SmaIl (under $10 million) 2 to 8 4· \
therefore be based on gross features and major Large (abovc $10 million) 2 to 9 5 l
variables. 1
SmaIl 9 to 15 10
This Cost File will quickly review methods used Large 8 to 16 12 .
for the quick approximate estimates, and present a Solids-fluids
Fluids \ ~.
Small 8 to 20 15 \ \
new, more precise method that is based on process
flowsheets. The method integrates a11 types of proc- N elson 7 shows installed piping costs for refinery
esses into one formula, and for the first time permits Large
plants as a percentage of major 8equipment
to 25 16
material \\ ;
the estimation of incremental piping costs in case and labor cost: 1-
-1 ~ 8tHiJ-
1. Cost relationships among different pro e-
esses are of a statistical nature. As sueh, they re-
quire eorreet statistioal sampling and testing. Further-
more, data in this area are too heterogeneous and (not vio piping)
difficult to get. Therefore, a simple breakdown of l.n~
piping cost percentáges' aeeording to proeess char- PIPING INDEX, as obtained from flowsl1eet, is 3.0 for
acteristics (sueh as size, pressure, severity of cor- first process and 1.7 for second-Fig. 1
lIIustrative Example
Firially, a fun~tion of general form p% = k (Ip)n If the cost of majar process equipment is $100,GOO,
is ntted to this scatter diagram by least-squares then the piping costs in the new variant will be
method,12 The coefficients of this function, resulting increased by 0.123 X 100,000 = $12,300. So, Jones
from the ntting, give the following equation: can indicate to his supervisor that an additional in"
P% = 11 X (Ip)1.6 (2) vestment of $12,300 in piping is more than justified
Where: P = Total piping costs (material and labor) as a to save $15,000 ayear. '
percent of purchased cost of major process
equipment (excluding instruments and elec- References
tri cal items) .
1. Rudd, D. F., 'and Watson, C. C., Strategy in Process
1p = Piping index as defined in Eq. (1) Engineering," Prelimina,ry Edition.
2. CE Oost File-93, Gl'em. Eng., Sept. 14, 1964, p. 228.
This formula is a useful tool for quick estimation 3. Lang, R., Chem. Eng., Oct. 1947', p. 117.
4. Aries, R S., and Newton, RD., "Chemioal Engineering
of piping costs in the early phases of process designo Cost Estimation," McGraw-Rill, New York, 1955, p. 78.
5. Chilton, C., Chem. Eng., June 1949, p. 106..
As indicated earlier it is the nrst that integrates 6. Hasel'harth, J. E.,' Berk, J. M., Chem. Eng., May 16,
1960, p. 158. .
all categories of processes (such as solid-solid, solid- 7. Nelson, W. L., Gil &; Gas J., Nov. 5, 1956, p. 127.
fluid, etc.) into one formula, and it constitutes a 8. Miller, C. A., Chem. Eng., C'E Cost FHe-l05. Sept.
1965.
unique tool for estimating incremental piping costs 9. Sto'Op, M. L., Ind. Eng. Chem., J,an. 1960, p. 303A.
10. Rand, W. E., Cost Engineer's Notebook, Amer. Assn.
when fluid-flow modifications to any given process 'Oost Engrs. Jan. 1964.
11. Rirsch, J. :a., and Glazier, E. M., Chem. Eng. Progr.,
are being considered. Dec. 1964, p, 37. .
12. Hoel, G. P., "Inwoduction to Mathematical statistics,"
Wiley, New York, 1965.
Fur~her Refinements
Meet the Author
In practice, an experienced engineer can obtain
better results from this formula than is suggested ENGINS. SOKULLUis employed in the Technical Economics Div.
of Sun Oil CO. (1608 Walnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19103), where
above by the computed coefficient of correlation. his assignments involve economic evalu~tion, planning, optimiza-
tion and operation analysis via techniques such as linear pro-
With the help of additional information such as gramming and' computer simulation. He has M.B.A. and M.S.'
Ch.E. degrees from the University of Wisconsin; his earlier
process pressure, se~erity of corrosion, and plant education was obtained in France and Turkéy.