In this paper a propane refrigeration cycle has been analyzed by thermoeconomic approach. This cycle is used for obtaining required refrigeration in a natural gas liquids (NGL) recovery plant. Most of the advanced methods in thermoeconomic diagnosis are examined on power plants. In this work thermoeconomic diagnosis is applied to NGL recovery plant. The impact of the component inefficiencies on the fuel plant consumption, and the effect of a component inefficiency (intrinsic malfunction) on the rest of the plant components (induced malfunctions and dysfunctions), are analyzed and quantified. The results show that thermoeconomics is not only a diagnostic tool, but also a useful tool for optimization, which can be applied to complex refrigeration processes in NGL recovery plants. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.