For planning of a production plant handling  more than 50 chemical products, a comparison was made, taking into  account economic and sustainable aspects .
A conventional system with four pipelines and a pigging system with  one pipeline as shown in the diagram were used for this comparison. A  comparison between the investment costs and the annual operating costs  showed that the pigging system is clearly more advantageous than a  conventional system design.
The pipeline was made of stainless steel with a nominal diameter of  DN 50; a price of € 3 / litre was used as basis for the products. The  product loss in the conventional system was calculated with 50% of the  pipe contents.
Rinsing water, wastewater costs and energy costs were calculated at €  14 / m³. Product is changed four times a day, each time using 4 m³ of  hot water.