In an industrial scale, common pulp washing equipment can be utilized for this fractionation step. “By conducting process simulation and financial analysis,” Chen said. “We found out that the fractionation step lowered production cost (including depreciation) to 82 cents per gallon compared to $1.25 per gallon for the process without a fractionation step.” The nonfractionated process had seven-fold higher chemical cost (mainly sulfuric acid) compared to the fractionation process, 1.8-fold higher enzyme costs, and 1.5-fold higher energy costs as shown in the accompanying pie charts.