Four inputs — capital cost, annual energy savings, maintenance rate and operating hours — return three numbers: simple payback, 3-year net savings and annualized ROI, screened against the 3-year industrial hurdle.
TOOL VISUAL
A screening-grade economics readout from four inputs: simple payback in years, 3-year net savings (3 × (savings − maintenance) − CAPEX), and annualized ROI as a percentage. Maintenance is estimated from your CAPEX and rate; net annual savings drives every downstream number.
Evaporation and crystallization projects run from $500K energy-saving retrofits to $20M+ zero-liquid-discharge trains. Most industrial companies apply a 3-year simple payback hurdle: projects above it rarely survive budget approval. Knowing your payback and ROI before the first vendor call is negotiating leverage.
Four inputs, three outputs. Defaults reflect a $2.5M MVR retrofit on a 10 t/h four-effect train saving $850K per year. Nothing is stored, nothing is sent.
1Inputs
2Results
Maintenance = CAPEX × maint_rate%
Net Annual Savings = Energy Savings − Maintenance
Simple Payback = CAPEX ÷ Net Annual Savings (years)
3Y Net Savings = 3 × Net − CAPEX
Annualized ROI = Net ÷ CAPEX × 100%
Discounted cash-flow variants (IRR, NPV) apply a discount rate and change these figures — see the reference section below.
Three headline numbers, one supporting detail block — what each means and where it misleads.
The number most plant managers quote first. Divide total installed cost by net annual savings and you get the years to recover the investment. Industrial convention: under 2 years approves quickly, 2–3 years is the standard hurdle zone, 3–4 years faces scrutiny, beyond 6 years rarely proceeds without strategic drivers.
What it ignores: everything after the payback point. A 3-year payback on a 20-year service life leaves 17 years of essentially free savings — which is why payback alone never kills a good project, but the board wants more than one number.
Cumulative net cash at month 36: three years of (savings − maintenance) minus the CAPEX. Positive means the project has crossed break-even within the hurdle window. Negative does not kill a project — it flags the case for a hurdle-rate exception.
This is the number that aligns with three-year budget cycles. A project that breaks even inside the window competes for this year’s capital; one that breaks even in year five competes for strategic capital — a different conversation.
Net annual savings divided by CAPEX, expressed as a percentage. A 30% ROI returns 30 cents per dollar invested per year. Benchmark: typical industrial hurdle rates run 15–25%; long treasuries 4–5%; S&P long-run average 10%; MVR retrofits on high-energy-cost sites routinely post 35–60%.
ROI makes projects comparable across scales: a $500K retrofit at 45% ROI and a $20M ZLD train at 18% ROI compete for the same capital pool on the same axis.
Simple screening economics deliberately leave out: depreciation tax shield (worth 10–20% of CAPEX over life), salvage value, energy-price escalation (1–3%/y historically), discount rate, downtime costs, product-revenue effects, avoided disposal costs, compliance penalties and carbon credits — estimate the carbon side separately.
Every exclusion biases the answer conservative: real projects almost always beat these screening numbers. Treat the output as a floor, not a ceiling.
This calculator applies simple, undiscounted cash-flow economics. It is a screening aid for early-stage project evaluation, not an investment analysis.
Results depend entirely on user-supplied inputs. Screening-stage CAPEX estimates typically carry ±25% accuracy; final economics require firm vendor quotations and contracted utility prices.
For a project-grade analysis, contact the engineering team with your feed data and utility context.
The Energy Comparison tool gives you the OPEX side. We give you the CAPEX side: send your duty specification and utility context, and receive a budgetary quotation — the missing half of your ROI calculation — within 5 business days.
Send your feed characterization (TDS, COD, main salts, viscosity), throughput and product targets — we respond with a preliminary process route within two business days.