equipment_sizingcostingefuel
Screening-level sizing and cost model for a catalytic oligomerisation unit converting light olefins to jet-range (kerosene-range) hydrocarbons, including recycle of light ends, primary separation, utilities, and equipment-purchase CAPEX with scaling curves.
Select an oligomerisation catalyst/flowsheet archetype to apply different reference CAPEX and utility intensities.
Mass yield of jet-range hydrocarbons from olefin feed at steady operation (single-pass lumped yield).
Nameplate light-olefin feed rate entering the oligomerisation section (battery limits).
Average utilisation over the year (includes downtime and turndown).
min 10 · max 100 · step 1 · %
Jet-range hydrocarbon outlet flow
Unsaturated jet-range hydrocarbons produced (average hourly, at nameplate)
Light-ends recycle flow
Recovered light ends recycled back to the reactor section
Annual olefin feed requirement
Total olefin required at battery limits per year
Annual jet-range hydrocarbon production
Based on capacity factor and hours per year
Light ends generated
Non-jet fraction (C3–C8-like) leaving oligomerisation section before recovery
Number of reactor trains
Major oligomerisation reactor trains (parallel units)
Reactor straight-side height (per train)
Derived from assumed aspect ratio H/D
Reactor internal diameter (per train)
Cylindrical approximation using aspect ratio H/D
Reactor volume per train
Catalyst bed volume proxy per parallel reactor train
Primary separation column height
Typical installed height assumption for screening
Primary separation column diameter
Simplified flux-based sizing for the main separator/distillation column
Total plot space required
Installed footprint with access/integration margin
Specific equipment purchase CAPEX (scaled)
Clamped specific CAPEX after applying power-law scaling
Total equipment purchase CAPEX
Purchased equipment only (excludes installation/indirects/owner’s costs)
CAPEX bucket: reactors + catalyst system
Share of equipment purchase CAPEX
CAPEX bucket: primary separation
Share of equipment purchase CAPEX
CAPEX bucket: recycle compression
Share of equipment purchase CAPEX
CAPEX bucket: auxiliary systems
Share of equipment purchase CAPEX
Annual fixed O&M cost
Fixed operations & maintenance cost component
Annualized catalyst replacement cost
Periodic replacement annualized over a replacement interval
Annual utilities cost
Electricity + heat based on specific intensities and user prices
Net heat duty (average)
Indicative heating/cooling duty allocated to the unit operation
Electric power (average)
Includes recycle compression and auxiliaries in a lumped specific intensity
Annual electricity consumption
Total electricity over the year at the selected capacity factor
Recycle compressor power (average)
Indicative electricity subset attributed to recycle compression
Amortization period used with the discount rate in the CRF.
Decimal fraction (e.g., 0.08 = 8%). Used in the capital recovery factor (CRF).
Blended electricity price used for unit electricity cost (and for indicative upstream electricity reporting).
Use as a purchased feed price or as an internal valuation for olefin intermediate in an e-fuels route.
min 0 · max 5000 · step 10 · EUR/t
Annual olefin feed cost
Feedstock cost using user-provided olefin price
Levelized cost (incl. olefin feed)
Total annual cost divided by annual jet-range production
Cost of thermal energy (e.g., steam, hot oil, or fuel-based heat) for net heat duty.
Levelized processing cost (excl. olefin feed)
Useful when olefins are an internal intermediate with a transfer price
Levelized cost per energy (incl. olefin feed)
Total annual cost divided by annual product energy (LHV basis)
Calculator context
This calculator provides a pre-feasibility (screening) estimate of material flows, key equipment sizes, plot space, utilities, and costs for a catalytic oligomerisation unit that upgrades light olefins into unsaturated jet-range hydrocarbons. It is intended for global use (no country-specific pricing embedded) and uses standard screening practices: mass-yield balance, rule-of-thumb equipment sizing, and power-law CAPEX scaling.
The model converts a user-provided olefin inlet rate to jet-range product and light-ends by a single-pass yield, then estimates recycle, utilities, and major equipment geometry.
Key equations (variables defined in parentheses):
E-fuels scaffold integration: the calculator also reports equivalent upstream H2 and CO2 per tonne of hydrocarbon (stoichiometric from a representative jet-range hydrocarbon) and an indicative power-to-fuel efficiency using a default upstream electricity intensity (IEA/IRENA/Fraunhofer/Concawe-aligned ranges).
58 assumptions used in the calculations
Prevents division-by-zero and undefined operations during scaling and CRF calculations.
Market range Not applicable
Converts percent inputs to fractions for calculations.
Market range Fixed
Used to convert capacity factor to annual operating hours.
Market range Fixed
Converts tonnes to kilograms.
Market range Fixed
Converts MWh to kWh (and used inversely for kWh to MWh in expressions).
Market range Fixed
Used to convert MJ-based LHV to MWh-based energy output.
Market range Fixed
Used to express LHV in kWh/kg when computing efficiency.
Market range Fixed
Used in cylinder volume and area relations for reactor/column geometry.
Market range Fixed
Used for non-negativity clamps (e.g., max(x,0)).
Market range Fixed
Used for minimum unit counts and margin multipliers (1 + margin).
Market range Fixed
Used in geometric relations (e.g., area/diameter conversions).
Market range Fixed
Used to compute cube roots via x^(1/3) in the DSL.
Market range Fixed
Defines the reference capacity at which the technology-specific reference CAPEX values apply.
Represents economies of scale for equipment purchase costs with throughput.
Prevents unrealistically low specific CAPEX when extrapolating to large capacity.
Prevents unrealistically high specific CAPEX when extrapolating to very small capacity.
Captures modest reduction in fixed O&M fraction with increasing plant size.
Market range -0.2 to 0.0
Lower bound for fixed O&M fraction to avoid underestimation.
Upper bound for fixed O&M fraction to avoid unrealistic escalation at small scales.
Represents consumables, waste handling, minor chemicals not captured elsewhere, proportional to product.
Adds access, pipe-rack, maintenance, and congestion allowance to equipment footprints.
Represents pumps, instrumentation, small exchangers, control room skids, and pipe-rack space not explicitly sized.
Defines a maximum practical catalyst bed volume per train for screening; larger plants add parallel trains.
Provides a reasonable fixed-bed reactor height-to-diameter ratio for preliminary geometry sizing.
Approximates liquid-phase density of mixed light olefins under typical process conditions for volumetric sizing.
Represents a screening LHSV for oligomerisation fixed-bed operation (volumetric throughput per catalyst volume).
Approximates installed reactor skid footprint per unit of reactor base area (includes clearance and piping).
Defines an allowable volumetric throughput per column cross-sectional area for screening diameter sizing.
Typical installed height for a primary distillation/separation column in screening layouts.
Avoids unrealistically small diameters for constructability and hydraulics in screening.
Approximates installed footprint per unit of column base area (clearance, platforms, piping).
Represents fraction of light ends recovered and returned to the reactor section after primary separation.
Represents screening electricity needed per tonne of recycled light ends compressed/handled.
Installed footprint proxy for compression skids per MW of compressor power.
Screening net heat duty intensity for solid acid (zeolite) oligomerisation flowsheet.
Screening net heat duty intensity for SPA fixed-bed oligomerisation flowsheet.
Screening net heat duty intensity for nickel-based oligomerisation flowsheet.
Screening electricity intensity for zeolite fixed-bed oligomerisation including recycle compression and auxiliaries (lumped).
Screening electricity intensity for SPA fixed-bed oligomerisation (lumped).
Screening electricity intensity for Ni-based oligomerisation (lumped).
Reference purchased-equipment CAPEX at the reference capacity for zeolite fixed-bed oligomerisation.
Reference purchased-equipment CAPEX at the reference capacity for SPA fixed-bed oligomerisation.
Reference purchased-equipment CAPEX at the reference capacity for Ni-based oligomerisation.
Represents annual fixed O&M as a fraction of equipment purchase CAPEX for tech 1.
Represents annual fixed O&M as a fraction of equipment purchase CAPEX for tech 2.
Represents annual fixed O&M as a fraction of equipment purchase CAPEX for tech 3.
Allocates total equipment purchase CAPEX to the reactor section (reactors, catalyst handling).
Allocates total equipment purchase CAPEX to separation equipment (columns, exchangers).
Allocates total equipment purchase CAPEX to recycle compression and related rotating equipment.
Allocates remaining total equipment purchase CAPEX to auxiliaries (pumps, small exchangers, control skids).
Used to convert catalyst bed volume proxy to catalyst mass inventory for replacement costing.
Represents fraction of the geometric reactor volume treated as effective catalyst bulk volume for inventory estimation.
Provides order-of-magnitude catalyst replacement cost for screening.
Annualizes catalyst cost by dividing inventory cost by a periodic replacement interval.
Approximate H2 required per kg of jet-range hydrocarbon produced from CO2, using representative hydrocarbon composition (e.g., C12H26).
Approximate CO2 required per kg of jet-range hydrocarbon produced from CO2, using representative hydrocarbon composition (e.g., C12H26).
Represents upstream electricity requirement (e.g., H2 production + CO2 capture + intermediate synthesis) per kg fuel, excluding this oligomerisation unit’s electricity which is added separately.
Lower heating value for jet-range hydrocarbons used to convert mass to energy and compute efficiency.
