Aspen Process Economic Analyzer

Q1: What to do if we don’t have required unit operation in APEA?

A: You can add that equipment as Quoted Equipment or if that unit operation model requires
quite for various projects then you can create that in Equipment Model Library and use for
various projects.

Q2: Estimation class consider in APEA?

A: Class 5 estimation is used in Aspen Process Economic Analyzer (Project definition level: 0-2 %).
Class 5: A Capacity Factored Estimate is a project cost estimate process defined by the AACE as a
Class 5 Estimate, Concept Screening Estimate, the estimate method is a cost of a plant is derived
from the cost of a similar plant of a different capacity, through the use of an appropriate
exponential factor, parametric models, judgment, or analogy, and expected accuracy is Low: ‐
20% to ‐50%, High: +30% to +100%
Q3: Can we copy/paste or duplicate evaluated unit operation?
A: Yes, you can do that by right clicking the Unit Operation.
Right click on evaluated unit operation and select copy.

Right click on main area and select paste.

Q4: What is impact on costing if soil bearing changes?

A: Costing will change with change of soil bearing value. Civil costing will depend upon type of
soil as well as location of project.
Q5: Where to input elevation changes in APEA if required?
A: In Aspen Process Economic Analyzer or in Aspen Capital Cost Estimator software doesn’t know
what kind of elevations user is considering. It only concerns about length of pipeline, diameter,
material, fittings etc.
Q6: Does it calculate desire return on investment?
A: Yes, APEA calculates desire return on investment value.
Q7: What is Plant location and Engineering location and what is their impact on costing?
A: Plant location: It refers to actual location of plant where it will be built. Cost parameters
were fixed when you select the plant location. So, cost of Material, Labor etc. will be fixed
depending upon location of plant.

Engineering location: It refers to actual location of engineering work will be going to done. Cost
parameters were fixed when you select Engineering location.

Let’s take an example if you are constructing a plant in Middle East but all the Engineering work
is done in Europe, so in this case material, labor cost should be considered as per Middle East
and Engineering cost for ex. Process Engineer, Project Manager etc. per hour cost considered as
per Europe.

Right click on “A” at top open decision analyzer and you can change plant and Engineering
location by drop down list.
Q8: Does it calculate pre-commissioning and commissioning cost?
A: Yes, it will take in account pre-commissioning and commissioning cost.
Q9: Does APEA allow vender selection (i.e. for pump)?
A: No, APEA doesn’t allow the user to specify vendor for specific unit operation.
Q10: Is costing of APEA just for relative calculations/costing or for feasibility of project?
A: APEA is dedicated for Process Engineers who is working for various processes at the end of
the day most economical feasible process is important.
Q11: Does APEA calculate/consider layout of model?
A: If we are importing our model from simulation then answer is Yes, it will consider layout of
model otherwise APEA doesn’t calculate layout of model.
Q12: Which one is best for EPC Companies, APEA or ACCE?
A: I believe for EPC instead of APEA, ACCE will be the best choice.
Q13: Does costing calculations vary with location in APEA?
A: Yes, for example by default you are using US as country base and if you change location to
UK then it will use BS standard instead of ASME standard.
Q14: Let’s say if I am using fuel gas in my model how APEA will calculate/consider its
composition/heating value for costing calculation?
A: It will consider the heat duty and also the consumption of utility.
Q15: Does Aspen Tech issues index patches or I have to update version up to latest one?
A: Cost Index will be updated to upgraded versions of APEA. We always recommend to use
latest version of Economic Evaluation suite.