5.2.1. HRD unit cost estimation
The unit cost breakdown of the HRD product from the heat-integrated HRD production plant, produced for a feed rate of PFAD at 579 g s−1 (50 Mg d−1), is shown in Fig. 8, with both unit fraction in $ and percent of cost being shown. The price structure consists of fixed capital investment cost (FCI), operating cost, hydrogen cost, PFAD cost, and profit. The considered prices were the Thailand retail price at gas stations with two different PFAD costs: cost of produced PFAD, 60 $ Mg−1, and cost of purchased PFAD, 570 $ Mg−1. The retail price used in this study was 950 $ m−3[38]. For the retail price structures, it was found that if PFAD cost was at the produced price, 60 $ Mg−1, the total production cost would be 394 $ m−3, and the largest price fraction would be the HRD production cost, 232 $ m−3, that is 4.84%. The large production cost is due to the cost of catalyst, which was, in this study, scaled-up based on catalyst loading at a lab scale and which used catalyst cost obtained from an industry vendor [39]. If PFAD cost was at the purchased price, 570 $ Mg−1, the total HRD cost would be 780 $ m−3, with the largest fraction being the PFAD cost: 413 $ m−3 or 43.53%.