LAUSR

Abstract Capital cost is frequently estimated for new and retrofit carbon capture plants as new concepts for cost reduction emerge. Capital cost during initial cost estimation of chemical plants strongly depends on the installation factor(s) of the methodology employed. How these installation factors respond to the cost of each equipment determines the total plant cost and the type of capital cost (new plant or modification project) each method is suited for. The effect of equipment installation factors on capital cost of an amine-based CO2 capture plant using the Enhanced Detailed Factor (EDF) method has been studied. Plant construction characteristic factors have also been introduced to account for different plant construction characteristic situations. The impacts of the installation factors of seven methodologies on capital cost were compared. A uniform installation factor will likely lead to overestimation of very expensive equipment and underestimation of less expensive equipment. EDF method's installation factors respond based on each equipment cost. Even though all the methods estimated the optimum Δ T m i n in the cross-exchanger to be 15°C, the cost estimated was €66/tCO2 by the EDF method, Smith's percentage of delivered-equipment factorial method and Hand's factorial method; and €69–79/tCO2 by the other methods. The results demonstrate that the EDF method is suitable for estimating capital cost for new plants and modification projects, small and large plants, and accounts for different plants’ situations.