Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

It is an enormously complex factory with a high probability of going boom if you do something wrong, so not really, no.



There probably are ways to do it using modular components. They did this with natural gas power plants (see Wartsila power plants for example.) In that case, you can probably get it down to 2-3 years.


Natural gas power plants are relatively modular, and we can chain together units to make a bigger power plant. There is no such equivalent modular unit for petroleum processing. Each plant is highly customised to deal with a specific mix of different kinds of input oil, and to deliver a specific mix of output petroleom products. They can be reconfigured within a narrow range, but they're not highly flexible.




Join us for AI Startup School this June 16-17 in San Francisco!

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: