Techno Economic Analysis

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Cx Bio techno-economic assessments (TEAs) are built by an interdisciplinary team with expertise in fermentation, bioprocessing, environmental sciences, chemistry and finance.

 

After doing a TEA you should have answers to certain key questions:

 

• What are the main ins and outs of the process

• What are the cost hotspots 

• Where should you focus RnD to drive down costs 

• What is the minimum selling price of the product

• What are the main equipment pieces needed 

• What is the Net Present Value and Internal Rate of Return for a given target product price

 

These questions can assist you in raising capital, making RnD choices, submitting grant applications, and more. 

How do we get these answers? The TEA methodology usually includes the following steps:

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1. Establish the Process Flow Diagram (i.e. define the production chain)

2. Calculate a mass balance and choose the baseline scale

3. Select equipment

4. Scale equipment to the appropriate size

5. Determine equipment price scaling factors

6. Calculate equipment purchase cost

7. Calculate equipment installation and other costs

8. Calculate capital costs (Capex)

9. Calculate energy usage

10. Calculate operational costs (Opex)

11. Optimize process for heat exchange and water recycling

12. Calculate revenue for products and co-products

13. Financial analysis for Minimum Selling Price, NPV, IRR, and others

14. Sensitivity Analysis

15. Compare with literature data

16. Interpretation and reporting

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Does that seem like a lot? The difficulty is less in the methodology and more so in the availability of data. Since we are a team of scientists, we understand the science behind the projects we work on, which means we can help you address knowledge gaps in your production chains. Furthermore, we have collected several large datasets over the years which inform our modeling. These include equipment datasets, DSP datasets, reactor datasets, biological performances, and so forth. This is crucial because many projects at lab or pilot scale need to extrapolate their proof of principal work to industrial scale, and often don't know what data to use. We can help there.

 

We also understand that some parameters in the models will take years for you to narrow down. That's fine. Models are not only answers to questions fixed in time, but also tools to give answers in the future under new assumptions. Cx Bio models are living models, easy to use for anyone without specialized training or software, that are future-proof and easily updated as you get more information. 

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Our techno-economic analysis are not built by automation, they are built by experts and customized to your needs.

 

We offer three types of TEAs: Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3, depending on the level of detail you need for your particular stage. Get in touch with us to see what suits your needs best.