Competition in pricing

The main requirements for a flooring composition are that it should be hard, durable and competitive in price with other materials. This calls for highly filled... 

Polyester resins have been widely accepted in the manufacture of boat hulls, including minesweepers. Such hulls are competitive in price with those built from traditional materials and are easier to maintain and repair. 

For example, vibration-based systems are relatively competitive in price. The general spread is less than 1,000 for a complete system. However, the capabilities of these systems are not comparable. A system that provides minimum capability for vibration monitoring will be about the same price as one that... 

A hydrogen-based economy could be the ideal scenario for personal transportation. The ultimate goal is a fuel cell car that is competitive in price and performance with the internal combustion vehicle. Some early users will pay a premium for new technology, but most drivers will not pay 20-30% more for similar performance. 

AIN replaces BeO in many applications since it is competitive in price and does not present the problems of toxicity in manufacture. It may replace A1203 as a substrate for silicon chips because of its better heat conductivity and its closer match in thermal expansion. 

The fact that adhesives based on renewable resources may not be fully competitive in price or performance with today s production adhesives should not be a deterrent to their development and optimization. 

We estimate that biotechnology will be competing with approximately 30 percent of the total chemical market by 2010 on the basis of lower cost and/or superior product features. Approximately 10 to 20 percent of basic and intermediate chemicals could be affected by production through modern fermentation. Specialties will be replaced by enzymes and natural flavors, pigments and additives. Polymers will face competition from biopolymers that are competitive in price with both polyester and nylon. 

Polybutadiene, CAS 9003-17-2, is a common synthetic polymer with the formula (-CH2CH=CHCH2-)n- The cis form (CAS 40022-03-5) of the polymer can be obtained by coordination or anionic polymerization. It is used mainly in tires blended with natural rubber and synthetic copolymers. The trans form is less common. 1,4-Polyisoprene in cis form, CAS 9003-31-0, is commonly found in large quantities as natural rubber, but also can be obtained synthetically, for example, using the coordination or anionic polymerization of 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene. Stereoregular synthetic cis-polyisoprene has properties practically identical to natural rubber, but this material is not highly competitive in price with natural rubber, and its industrial production is lower than that of other unsaturated polyhydrocarbons. Synthetic frans-polyisoprene, CAS 104389-31-3, also is known. Pyrolysis and the thermal decomposition of these polymers has been studied frequently [1-18]. Some reports on thermal decomposition products of polybutadiene and polyisoprene reported in literature are summarized in Table 7.1.1 [19]. 

By an early appraisal of the potentialities for a new product in the market place some very basic questions may usually be answered, such as these What are the hopes that the product will be competitive in price Does the apparent marketing pattern fit in with the long-range goals of the company Would the product satisfy a widespread need or would it serve just a very specialized area of the total market involved In the latter case, as we have seen too often, a new product may be the perfect answer for one small segment of the market which has problems peculiar to itself however, the inclination of the developer of the product is to inflate the potential sales to a volume sufficient to cover the entire industry concerned. 

To be competitive in price, the production of bulk chemicals by biological means requires among others, the use of available, cheap, and metabolically acceptable raw material. These should allow for high productivity and final concentration of the desired metabolite. For simple and straightforward downstream processing, negligible formation of side products, and minimal use of other chemicals are important. 

The efficiency of the steam reformer fuel processor of 96.6% was much higher than the autothermal reformer efficiency (88.8%), which in turn also increased the system efficiency (38.7% compared with 35.5% for the autothermal reformer) [443]. The heat removal required for the two air coolers was much lower for the steam reformer (about 2.1 kWcompared with 3.4 kW for the autothermal reformer). This in turn reduced the size of these components, which was a substantial benefit because the air coolers contributed significantly to the overall system size. The volume required is a stringent factor, especially in mobile systems. All the benefits of steam reforming clearly have the drawback of a more complex reactor design, which needs to be addressed by suitable manufacturing techniques in order to become competitive in price and not just in performance (see Section 10.2). 

These heads are very popular in pressure vessels (Fig. 9.1c and d). Their thickness is usuaEy the same as the cylinder to which they are attached. This reduces considerably the weld build-up shown in Fig. 9.2. Thus, because the required thickness in areas away from die knuckle region is less than the furnished thickness, the excess can be advantageously used in reinforcing nozzles in these areas. Many mills can furnish such heads in various diameters and thicknesses that are competitive in price. 

A clear material, vacuum forms well and has an exceptionally high impact strength and remains tough at considerable extremes of temperature. Its use has so far been limited to speciahst apphcations due to high cost, but the material is likely to become more competitive in price. 

Tallow affords derivatives with a predominantly C16-C18 chain length for the shorter C10-C14 chain length derivatives coconut oil is the preferred material. As other oils have become available in quantity and competitive in pricing they too have been adopted by surfactant manufacturers. Today, tallow and coconut are joined by palm, rapeseed and soya bean oils as fatty acid feedstocks for nitrogen surfactants using the nitrile process [1, 2]. New oils on the horizon such as meadowfoam, crambe and lesquerella have yet to make any significant impact, while other oils remain unexplored [3]. 

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