Campus Units
Economics
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
6-2005
Journal or Book Title
Biomass and Bioenergy
Volume
28
Issue
6
First Page or Article ID Number
565
Last Page
571
DOI
10.1016/j.biombioe.2005.01.001
Abstract
Estimates suggest that capital costs typically increase less than proportionately with plant capacity in the dry mill ethanol industry because the estimated power factor is 0.836. However, capital costs increase more rapidly for ethanol than for a typical processing enterprise, judging by the average 0.6 factor rule. Some estimates also suggest a phase of decreasing unit costs followed by a phase of increasing costs. Nonetheless dry mills could be somewhat larger than the current industry standard, unless other scarce factors limit capacity expansion. Despite the statistical significance of an average cost-size relationship, average capital cost for plant of a given size at a particular location is still highly variable due to costs associated with unique circumstances, possibly water availability, utility access and environmental compliance.
Rights
Works produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Gallagher, Paul W.; Brubaker, Heather; and Shapouri, Hosein, "Plant size: Capital cost relationships in the dry mill ethanol industry" (2005). Economics Publications. 446.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/econ_las_pubs/446
Included in
Agribusiness Commons, Econometrics Commons, Industrial Organization Commons, Oil, Gas, and Energy Commons, Technology and Innovation Commons
Comments
This article is from Biomass and Bioenergy 28 (2005): 565, doi: 10.1016/j.biombioe.2005.01.001.