Material costs

[doorf]

Hi,

I'm looking for the costs of materials which will be used for tanks. The materials are SS304, Carbon steel, Aluminum, Fiber reinforced plastic and pyrex plexiglass. Can anyone guide me about these prices or where I can find the unit material costs as well as the cost of making vessels from these materials.

Thanks

 

[ghopkins]

Are you looking for the cost of the materials or the cost to fabricate? Or even the cost to install? What also comes into play is the cost for maintenance. I am not aware of a chart that compares the material cost of these items. I can tell you that fiberglass is composed of (of course) glass fibers and a thermosetting resin. For corrosion applications, the thermosetting resin is usually an epoxy vinyl ester such as DERAKANE or HETRON. These range in cost from $1.50/lb and $2.50/lb with an SG of 1.0 to 1.3. The glass comes in all different shapes and sizes and can vary in cost from $1.00/lb all the way to $2.50/lb for standard E-glass or ECR-glass. S-glass and carbon fiber reinforcements are an order of magnitude higher.

The cost of combining these materials and making a piece of equipment is completely different animal and varies tremendously on design temperature, pressure, geometry, etc.

What kind of equipment are you looking for?

Greg Hopkins

 

[doorf]

Hi Greg,

Thanks for your reply. I'm looking for estimation of cost of a reaction vessel for gas phase reaction. The shape will be cylindrical. The pressure will be atmospheric and temperatures in the vessel range from 20 - 250 degree C. These can be limited to lower values compatible with the operating temp. for FRP (which I think is about 150 degree C max). So I'm also interested in costs of combining these materials and fabricating a vessel. Can you point me about these costs and also the cost of epoxy painting for carbon steel? Are standard E-glass or ECR-glass cheaper because of their low temperature limitations?

Thanks

 

[ghopkins]

FRP vessels can be designed to operate up to 200C. Gas scrubbers at incinerators and power plants have used this equipment which can see temperature excursions as high as 280C.

The resin is DERAKANE 470HT - see

http://www.derakane.com.

Also, for the published article on this application, please go to

http://www.chemicalprocessing.com

and to a search for an article entitled "Handling the Heat" by Jonathan Mason and Arie van Buren in the October 2002 issue.

I would be concerned about the longevity of any coating in this type of service, but this is not my area of expertise. "Painting" a carbon steel vessel should be less expensive than fabricating an FRP vessel.

If you have a spec sheet on the vessel you want built, I can provide a price to you (for FRP construction). The information I need:
Design temp, Design Pressure, diameter, orientation (vertical/horizontal), internal mixing baffles (if any), number and size of connections, and end closures (flat/dished).

Knowing the process constituents would help as well.

My contact information:
phone: 1-513-874-2800 x119
fax: 1-513-874-2837
ghopkins@rl-industries.com

Thanks, Greg Hopkins