An Order-of-Magnitude Capital-Cost Correlation for Shale/Natural-Gas Monetization Projects

With the significant growth in developing shale-gas monetization technologies, there is a critical need for quickly estimating the cost of proposed technologies and manufacturing pathways before detailed design and cost estimates are carried out. The objective of this paper is to develop an order-of-magnitude correlation for estimating the capital investment of a shale-gas monetization plant. The goal is to use this correlation along with other preliminary cost-estimation techniques to aid technology developers and process engineers in making technology-selection and design decisions prior to chartering laborious and costly techno- economic studies.