5. Production Data from Commercial Large Scale Operation.
(See reference I (a)/5 and I (a)/6 at the end of this Section).
In the following paragraph some commercial operating data from the largest FT plant are given. Since most processing details are known in the United States, it was considered more important to report the overall results rather than describe minor operational changes during the war, which revolve around variations of space-velocity, or catalyst life and similar problems.
No basic changes were made in the actual operation of GT plants up to the collapse of Germany. The data posted below were taken from the balance sheet of the Brabag Plant at Ruhland, covering operations in 1943 and 1944. The plant in question is the largest FT unit. It is of the two-stage LP type using standard cobalt catalyst.
For the year 1943 the following figures are given; they are monthly averages based on the entire 12-month period of Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 1943.
(1) Gas Production.
| Total Synthesis gas produced | 116,736,300 m3/month. |
| CO+2H2 in gas | 79% |
| Yield of gas from brown coal briquets | 1.107 m3/ton |
(2) Synthesis.
| (a) Production: | Kondensatoel | 6306.1 ton/month | 52% |
| Primary Gasoline | 5842.0 ton/month | 48% | |
| Liquid products | |||
| total | 12,148.1 ton/month | 100% | |
| Pure gasol | 2,836.7 ton/month | 23.2% | |
| total | 14,989 ton/month | ||
| Tailgas | 42,165,100 m3/month | ||
| -30.1% of gas feed. |
| (b) Yields: | Liquid products/ton briquet | 127.4 Kg. |
| Pure Gasol/ton briquet | 29.8 Kg. | |
| Total: | 157.2 Kg. | |
| Liquid products/m3 gas | 104.1 gram | |
| Pure Gasol products/m3 gas | 24.3 gram | |
| Total: | 128.4 gram |
(3) Processing Primary Products.
| (a) |
Production of materials for sale |
Tons/month |
|
Gasoline |
6532.3 |
|
|
Gasoline in diesel oil |
569.7 |
|
|
Diesel oil |
1987.6 |
|
|
Adsorber gasoline bottoms |
557.5 |
|
|
Adsorber gasoline |
703.1 |
|
|
Paraffingatsch |
1160.5 |
|
|
Kogasin II |
2085.1 |
|
|
Liquified gases |
1228.4 |
|
|
Wax |
454.4 |
|
|
TOTAL |
15178.6 |
|
|
From Outside sources |
415.8 |
|
|
From Synthesis proper |
14762.8 |
| (b) | Yields: | |
|
Sales Products/ton briquets |
154.6 Kg |
|
|
Sales Products/ m3 Synthesis gas |
126.5 gram |
|
|
Sales products/ton Primary Product |
982.0 Kg. |
(4) Financial Statement.
| (a) | Balance: | ||
|
Out of pocket Cost |
3,005,000 RM/Month |
199.21 RM/Tons |
|
|
Overhead and license |
187,000 |
12.40 |
|
|
* Capital interest |
688,000 |
45.61 |
|
|
Amortization |
1,118,000 |
74.12 |
|
|
TOTAL |
4,998,000 |
331.34 |
|
|
Sales |
4,739,000 |
314.17 |
|
|
Loss: |
259,000 |
17.17 |
|
|
* Note the capital cost is excessive. This may have been for reasons not connected with operation of the plant. |
|||
| (b) | Cost Breakdown | ||
| (1) |
Material Cost |
RM/Month |
RM/Ton Prod. |
|
Briquets (at RM 9.60/ton) |
920,000 |
60.99 |
|
|
Outside Coke(at RM 34./ton) |
304,000 |
20.15 |
|
|
Grude Coke (at RM 23./ton) |
66,000 |
4.38 |
|
|
Raw Coal (boilers) (at RM 2.4/ton) |
14,000 |
.92 |
|
|
Outside power (at Rpfg. 1.9/KWH) |
61,000 |
4.04 |
|
|
Catalysts |
145,000 |
9.61 |
|
|
Purification (charcoal) |
18,000 |
1.20 |
|
|
Licenses |
47,000 |
3.12 |
|
|
TOTAL: |
1,575,000 |
104.41 |
|
|
Income from NaNo3 (RM 95./ton) and other chemical (RM 35./ton) |
154,000 |
10.21 |
|
|
Net Total Materials Cost |
1,421,000 |
94.20 |
|
| (2) |
Other Costs. |
||
|
Hourly Wages |
706,000 |
46.80 |
|
|
Salaries |
290,000 |
19.23 |
|
|
Other cost |
635,000 |
42.10 |
|
|
Overhead |
140,000 |
9.28 |
|
|
5% capital interest |
688,000 |
45.61 |
|
|
9% Amortization |
1,118,000 |
74.12 |
|
|
Total Operating Expense: |
4,998,000 |
331.34 |
It is interesting to compare the operating costs of HP Hydrogenation with FT synthesis. The Brabag, aside from operating the largest FT plant, those plants are given here. They are based on the second quarter of 1943.
|
FT (Ruhland) |
HP Hydrogenation |
|
|
Primary Product |
15,201.00 |
21,630 ton/month |
|
Total Production Cost |
307.67 |
251.20 RM/ton prod. |
|
Feedstocks |
||
|
Browncoal Tar |
- |
1.223 ton/ton prod |
|
Browncoal coke |
- |
0.803 ton/ton prod |
|
Brown coal briquets |
5.791 |
- ton/ton prod |
|
Utilities |
||
|
Steam |
11,635 |
3,346 ton/ton prod |
|
Water |
218,219 |
247,600 m3/ton prod. |
|
Power |
836 |
1,210 KWH/ton prod. |
|
Investment |
||
|
(Interest and Amortization) |
732.29 |
323.79 RM/ton prod. |
|
Production |
3.384 |
3.384 ton/month/employee |
The comparison may not be fair on all accounts since these plants were operated under wartime conditions with Ruhland employing about three times as many foreign workers as Boehlen. This fact may be of importance.