Aluminum Extrusion & Profile Manufacturing worked example

Aluminum Billet Preheat Energy Cost with billet preheat furnace load of 210 kW: a worked example

Here is what the math looks like when conditions slip. We hold every other input steady and drop billet preheat furnace load to 210 kW, then walk the calculation through step by step. Estimate billet preheat energy use and cost from furnace load, heat time, electricity or gas-equivalent rate, and billets processed.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Billet preheat furnace load: 210 kW (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 420)
  • Billet preheat runtime: 6 hr (held at the documented default)
  • Electricity rate: 0.11 $ / kWh (held at the documented default)
  • Billets processed: 96 billets (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Billet preheat energy used = billet preheat furnace load × billet preheat runtime.
  • Billet preheat energy cost works out to 139 $ at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Billet preheat energy used works out to 1,260 kWh at these inputs.
  • Preheat energy cost per billet works out to 1.44 $ / billet at these inputs.
  • Billet preheat energy cost per hour works out to 23.1 $ / hr at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where billet preheat furnace load sits at 420 kW and the headline result is 277 $, this scenario comes in 50% below the baseline at 139 $.
  • The practical read: the gap between this scenario and the baseline is entirely attributable to billet preheat furnace load, so recovering it is worth quantifying in dollars before considering equipment or staffing changes. It assumes the furnace draws at its stated load for the whole runtime; real furnaces cycle on thermostat, so a measured average load gives a far truer cost than nameplate kW.

Results at a glance

  • Billet preheat energy cost: 139 $ (headline result)
  • Billet preheat energy used: 1,260 kWh
  • Preheat energy cost per billet: 1.44 $ / billet
  • Billet preheat energy cost per hour: 23.1 $ / hr

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Aluminum Billet Preheat Energy Cost calculator, set billet preheat furnace load to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.