Commercialization of novel catalytic materials and associated catalytic processes suffers from significant uncertainty in the costs of scaling up catalyst synthesis from laboratory to industrial scales. Sensitivity analyses of a number of pathways for the catalytic conversion of biomass reveal the impact these uncertainties can have on overall process economics. For example, design reports modeling the process economics of in-situ and ex-situ catalytic fast pyrolysis indicate that catalyst cost is one of the top 12 parameters affecting the minimum fuel selling price. Thus, uncertainties in catalyst cost, especially for novel and pre-commercial materials, contribute to the financial risk involved in commercializing biomass conversion processes. This presentation will describe the development of a spreadsheet- and web-based catalyst cost estimation tool to enable rapid and informed cost-based decisions for pre-commercial catalysts early in their development cycle. The tool being developed enables researchers to easily (1) guide catalyst synthesis early in development and focus R&D efforts on areas of greatest cost; (2) make better decisions by including catalyst cost with traditional metrics like yield, selectivity, and lifetime; and (3) gain a more holistic understanding of the economic, environmental, and societal impacts of catalyst manufacture. By employing market-tested estimation methods, feedback from industry experts, an intuitive user interface, and comprehensive visualization tools, the catalyst cost estimation tool simplifies the process of preparing cost estimates for pre-commercial catalytic materials. The underlying methodologies employed by the tool to help scientists translate laboratory-scale procedures to commercial scales with environmental and recycling/disposal considerations will be discussed, as well as examples of the tool’s utility in providing catalyst researchers with early-stage cost insight for novel catalytic materials.

Catalyst cost estimation tool development: Reducing information barriers to commercialization

255th National Meeting (2018)

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