Development of Chemical Precipitation Purchased Equipment Costs:

Filter Presses

Purchased Equipment Costs are the sum of the following cost elements:

(1) Pump Costs

(2) Tank Costs

(3) Chemical Feed System Costs

(4) Mixer Costs

(5) Clarifier Costs

(6) Filter Press Costs

(7) Sand Filter Costs

This Excel workbook consists of the following worksheets:

Unit Cost

Sizing Tool

Each cost component includes the cost of freight and associated ancillary equipment such as piping, valves, and 

controllers.

This Excel workbook supports EPA's derivation of cost element (6) using information provided in response to the Steam 

Electric Survey and vendor data.

The following worksheets support EPA's development of filter press cost equations used in the Steam Electric Cost Model. 

For wastewater flow rates <350gpm, EPA costed 2 filter presses each with 100% capacity. For wastewater flow rates >350 

gpm, EPA costed 3 filter presses each with 50% capacity.

Relates the unit cost per filter press to filter press size based on data provided by the vendor. 

See DCN SE01825.A35 as the source of data used on this analysis.

A tool to calculate the minimum required filter press size based on wastewater flow rate and 

filter press percent capacity. Assumptions, conversion factors, and vendor provided data are 

used to calculate the values. This sheet is used to quickly calculate the filter press size 

needed for a particular wastewater flow rate and desired capacity, and vice versa. This tab is 

used to develop the subsequent tabs.
2FP, 100%

3FP, 50%

Freight Develops a freight factor using filter press unit cost and estimated freight cost.

Develops a relationship between filter press unit cost and sludge flow, assuming 2 filter 

presses each with 100% capacity are used. The unit cost equation developed in the the Unit 

Cost tab was used to calculate wastewater flow rate.

Develops a relationship between filter press unit cost and sludge flow, assuming 3 filter 

presses each with 50% capacity are used.
Filter press size, cu ft Cost, $

330 $ 525,000

250 $ 405,000

25 $ 205,000

y = 1014.3x + 173777

R2 = 0.9846

 $-

 $100,000

 $200,000

 $300,000

 $400,000

 $500,000

 $600,000

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

C

ost, $

Filter press size, cu ft

Filter Press Unit Cost vs. Size
Enter a flow rate and capacity to calculate the minimum required filter press size

Flow rate 702 gpm Variables/Assumptions

Sludge flow rate 280.8 gpm Sludge factor 0.4

Sludge flow rate 2341.872 lb/min Assumed % solids in clarifier underflow sludge 11%

Solids flow rate 257.6059 lb/min % solids filter cake 50%

Solids flow rate 370952.5 lb/day Cake density 75 lb/ft^3

Cake weight 741905 lb/day FP Cycles per day 15

Cake volume 9892.067 cu ft/day FP Cycle length 1.5 hrs

Cake per cycle 659.4712 cu ft/cycle FP hours per day 22.5

Min FP size 329.7356 cu ft Capacity of FPs 50%
Conversion factors FP size (cu ft) Cost per FP ($)

8.34 lb/gal water 330 525,000

1440 min/day 250 405,000

25 205,000

Note: FP cost includes cost of associated feed pump

y = 1014.3x + 173777

R2 = 0.9846

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

C

ost Per FP ($)

FP Size (cu ft)
Wastewater Flow, GPM Sludge Flow, GPM FP Size (cu ft) Qty Unit Cost, $ Total Cost, $

50 20 46.97088 2 $221,420 $442,839

75 30 70.45632 2 $245,241 $490,482

100 40 93.94176 2 $269,062 $538,124

150 60 140.91264 2 $316,705 $633,409

200 80 187.88352 2 $364,347 $728,695

250 100 234.8544 2 $411,990 $823,980

300 120 281.82528 2 $459,632 $919,265

350 140 328.79616 2 $507,275 $1,014,550

2 at 100%

y = 2382.1x + 173777

R2 = 1

$0

$100,000

$200,000

$300,000

$400,000

$500,000

$600,000

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

Unit C

ost, $

Sludge Flow, GPM

Filter Press Unit Cost vs. Sludge Flow
Recommendation for costing 3 50% filter presses for round 2.

Assume 15 cycles per day.

3 filter presses each handling 50% of the sludge volume

Using the filter press sizing tool, calculate the maximum sludge flow rate that can be accommodated by each FP size:

Filter press size, cu ft Total Cake volume, cu ft Volume per day, cu ft Sludge Flow, gpm Wastewater Flow, gpm Cost per FP, $

330 660 9900 280.8 702 $ 525,000

250 500 7500 212.8 532 $ 405,000

25 50 750 21.2 53 $ 205,000

Total Cake Volume, cu ft =Filter press size x 2, since each press is designed to handle 50% of the sludge flow

Volume per day, cu ft =Cake Volume x Cycle per day

Sludge Flow, gpm =Wastewater Flow x Sludge Factor

Wastewater Flow, gpm Calculated by entering filter press size and capacity into sizing tool

y = 2.7768x2 + 394.06x + 195398

R2 = 1

 $-

 $100,000

 $200,000

 $300,000

 $400,000

 $500,000

 $600,000

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

C

ost per FP, $

Sludge Flow, gpm

FP cost vs. sludge gpm
Filter press size, cu ft Cost per FP, $ Approx Weight, lbs # of trucks required Shipping cost, $

330 525000 71507 2 2800

250 405000 61066 2 2800

25 205000 11279 1 1400

Assume one truck can hold 45000 lbs

Assume the cost to ship one truck 500 miles is 1400 dollars

Revised Freight factor 1.01
Freight/FP cost

0.5%

0.7%

0.7%

*Based on information from FreightCenter.com (see DCN SE01825.A1)

*Based on information from FreightCenter.com (see DCN SE01825.A1)