$2.40/kg
Minimum selling price, with its 95% range
Where every dollar of cost comes from, and how far you sit below the market.
Know which process is worth building, before you build it.
The choices that decide whether a new process succeeds are made early, on thin evidence. ProForge puts numbers on the risk in those choices and shows you the strongest route forward, while you can still change course.
01 — The problem
Most processes are chosen before anyone knows if they’ll pay.
In the first years, a team makes the choices that fix its economics: the feedstock, the recovery route, the scale. They’re made on a spreadsheet, a number from a paper and a good deal of hope. The true cost often only shows up years later, at scale, when it’s too late and too expensive to change course.
Route committed toLine weight = confidenceUncertainty○ Test× Explored, not better: route avoidedFig. 1 · Illustrative
Same founder, same science. One spends years and the raise finding a dead end. The other learns as it goes, steering every round of R&D by what it’s just found out, and closes in on the goal with confidence. Many small, well-aimed tests, instead of a few big guesses.
02 — The model
Your whole process, on one page.
Every unit, stream and assumption in one living flowsheet, tied to your costs, your carbon and your plan. ProForge puts numbers on the risks in it, so you always know your best route, and what to do next.
Risk in plain sight
Technical, cost and market risk, in numbers, unit by unit.
Everything connected
Change one number and it flows through to price, carbon and plan.
Ask “what if” freely
Try a new idea without losing your best route, and switch when the evidence says so.
03 — Copilot
A chemical engineer at your shoulder.
ProForge’s copilot works inside your model. Ask in plain language and it answers from your numbers, fills the gaps with its own research, and shows you where everything came from.
You
I want to turn sugarcane bagasse into a bio-based solvent. Is there a business here?
Copilot
Possibly. Here’s a first draft: pretreat, break down to sugars, ferment, then purify, sized at 10,000 tonnes a year draft route.
The minimum selling price lands between $2.10 and $3.40 per kg, against a market near $3.10 6 sources. Promising, but wide.
Most of that width is recovery yield and enzyme cost, both assumed for now. A small recovery run would tell you the most, fastest.
You
Why did our selling price go up this week?
Copilot
Mostly recovery yield. It was revised from 85% to 78% after Tuesday’s run lab report · 3 Nov, which raises the price by about 0.30 per kg EXP-42.
It’s still your biggest uncertainty. Repeating EXP-43 at the higher pH would tell you the most for the least effort.
You
Draft this month’s update for the board.
Copilot
Done board update · draft. Three headlines:
Your price range narrowed by about a fifth after EXP-41 and EXP-42. Carbon sits 58% below the incumbent. The next dollar goes to EXP-43, and here’s why.
Every figure links back to its source, so questions from the board have answers.
Ask anything about your process
Why a number moved, or what a route would need to pay.
Fills gaps, and asks for what it needs
Researches missing values, says plainly when it can’t find one, and asks for the data it needs.
Writes it up
Drafts updates and reports for your team and investors.
Shows its working
Every number traces back to your data or a source you can check.
04 — What you get
Answers you can put in front of a board.
Economics and environmental impact from one model, judged side by side, and your progress against the big picture.
1.3kg CO₂e/kg
Cradle to gate, 58% below the incumbent
Carbon by stage, side by side with what you’re replacing.
Recovery yield
The biggest swing in your selling price
The handful of numbers that really decide your economics.
Repeat EXP-43recovery, higher pH
Expected to narrow your price range by about 40%
The most useful next experiment, and what it’s worth.
Progress you can show
Confidence growing over time, against the big picture, and how you earned it.
Ready for the data room
Board packs and due diligence, without the scramble.
And the rest of the engineering
Mass and energy balances, capital and operating costs, scale-up scenarios and reports.
05 — Trust
Honest about what it knows.
5.1
Uncertainty in view
Results come with their uncertainty, so you can tell a real difference from noise.
5.2
Traceable numbers
You can always see where a number came from and how much weight it can bear.
5.3
Gaps stay visible
What’s missing is shown plainly, never quietly filled in.
06 — Limits
What ProForge is, and isn’t.
| It is | It isn’t |
|---|---|
| Early-stage estimates, shown with their uncertainty | A bankable plant estimate or construction design |
| A fair way to compare process routes | A general-purpose scientific simulator |
| A clear view of what drives the result | A substitute for experiments or engineering review |
| A way to raise your odds | A promise that any route will succeed |
07 — Questions
Before you start.
7.1Who is ProForge for?
Serious founders, entrepreneurs, scientific teams and the consultancies that advise them: anyone building a new production process while the big decisions are still open.
7.2How accurate are the estimates?
They’re early-stage estimates, made for comparing options. On a well-modelled plant, we aim for the tight end of an AACE Class 4 study estimate: about −15% to +20% on capital cost. Define the project further, with your own vendor quotes, and it can support a Class 3 estimate. Every result shows its range, so you always know how far to trust it.
7.3Do I need to code?
No. ProForge runs in your browser.
7.4Who owns my models and results?
You do. We only use them to provide the service to you.
7.5How do I start?
With a conversation. Send us a short note about your process and we’ll get you started. Get early access.
08 — Start
Test your route before you build it.
Get started on one real process you care about, with us alongside you.