PlantBench / Freezer and IQF ROI calculator
Freezer and IQF ROI calculator
IQF freezers often fail a casual payback test because the electric load is large. This sheet makes that cost visible, and shows what price or yield has to be true for the machine to earn its keep.
Energy is the point
A planning figure near 0.15 to 0.25 kWh per pound is common for a fluidized-bed IQF. The default uses 0.17 kWh per pound on the new machine, against a much smaller existing load. At the default volume and an $0.085 industrial rate, the extra power is tens of thousands of dollars a year. If your tariff is higher, change the price. Pick your state for an industrial average, then replace it with the rate on your bill. Do not borrow someone else’s.
Demand charges and a short season are not in the model. A ratchet can matter more than energy on a vegetable calendar. Treat a fast payback as unfinished until maintenance has looked at the tariff.
Where the savings have to come from
Labor on a tray freeze or a hand pack-out is real and usually smaller than the power bill. The case that closes is grade: less clump, less drip, fewer downgrades, or a frozen SKU you could not sell before. Put that in product value or in yield points.
If you leave product value at a raw vegetable price, the model will often say the freezer does not pay. That means the premium is missing from the sheet, not that you should ignore the kilowatts.
Yield points versus a higher price
Two points means pounds you sell instead of dumping, reworking, or selling as a lesser grade. It does not mean the product got colder. If the gain is a better price on the same pounds, raise dollars per pound and leave the yield points alone. Using both double-counts the same upgrade.
Capital
The default $950,000 is a placeholder for a production IQF, not a used blast cell and not a whole engine room. If this purchase forces new refrigeration capacity, add it to capital. Otherwise the payback belongs to a machine the plant cannot run.